![]() The intermediate school’s Junior Hope Squad, made up of about 30 fifth- and sixth-graders, focuses on basic mental-health themes such as why kindness and inclusion is important and how it feels to be left out. “Even when parents and school staff have excellent training on the warning signs, what’s missing is training for students.” Sally Conway, executive director of the foundation launched in her sister’s memory, told me that Hope Squad can fill a critical gap. The Loncar family, residents of Highland Park, lost 16-year-old Grace to suicide in late 2016. The Grace Loncar Foundation is responsible both for bringing the Hope Squad idea, which originated in Utah, to the district’s attention and providing about $10,000 for the counselors’ training. ![]() Gilbert also echoed what I’ve heard from other North Texas districts that have implemented Hope Squad: “We must equip the students because they are the ones who will really know what’s going on with other kids.” Students nominated the 30 members of the Hope Squad team, all seventh and eighth graders, because of their trustworthiness and “these kids feel a lot of responsibility,” he said. When I later described the young teens’ intense focus and savvy responses to middle school principal Jeremy Gilbert, he wasn’t the least bit surprised. Your job is to link these kids to adults who can get them help. Repeatedly, Arnold and co-trainer Christen Armer linked the lesson back to Hope Squad’s suicide-prevention mission: You are the eyes and ears of the school. During the candid 30-minute session, counselors reviewed the question-persuade-refer model for helping struggling students, then drilled into details of what trainer Margaret Arnold introduced as “some heavy stuff related to people who take their life.”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |