The Summit Magazine Spring 2022

Fighting the Stigma of Mental Health

By Tracy Law, PhD ’85

Describing Hope Squad, Summit’s peerto-peer support group, Cate Pilon ’22 summarizes the group’s purpose with directness and clarity: “Mental health is constantly overlooked because it’s not easy to see, like a broken bone. But physical and mental health are both important. Hope Squad members are outlets for students in need.”

It was 2018, years prior to the mental health crisis blamed on COVID-19, that Upper School counselor Mike Fee brought the Hope Squad program to The Summit.

He recognized that for every suicide there are many more adolescents who attempt it. Members of Hope Squad are nominated by classmates as the individuals most seen as empathetic listeners. They receive training on suicide risk factors, mental health education, peer advocacy, how to talk about suicide and depression and how to use the research-based QPR (Question- Persuade-Refer) approach to involve an adult.

“While it sounds like a heavy responsibility to place upon an adolescent,” Mr. Fee says, “it is important to recognize that these students have likely been doing these tasks already. They are now better equipped to respond. The training is very intentional. This fits us, who we are.”

Past Hope Squad member, Jessie Headley ’20, a student at St. Louis University, agrees: “Many adults do not understand what we go through or see the signs of distress as well as we can see in each other.”

Equally important in the program is the goal of creating a culture of health and hope. Mia Cavallo ’24 explains: “The overarching impact of Hope Squad on our community is rooted in positivity and striving to better the world we live in.” Cate echoes this adding, “The core value and mission is not exclusive to the squad members because it acts as an example to all students to live out. Everyone deserves love and attention.”

Meeting weekly during the school year, the 23-member Hope Squad schedules activities to foster this kind of supportive community, such as the annual Hope Week in the fall. Efforts range from smaller moments such as chalking hopeful messages outside, passing out rubber ducks with inspirational messages, and creating gratitude-oriented hand turkeys, to larger efforts involving speaking to Health classes, outreach to underclassmen, or mentoring small friend-groups.

Savannah Brizendine ’22 organized the most recent Hope Week and says, “It was indicative of how simple it is to show kindness and spread joy. It’s incredibly rewarding to see all our hard work pay off and start to break the stigma surrounding mental health.”

As the program marks its fourth year at The Summit, we can witness its impact on the current members and community and on our alumni, like founding member Connor Woodruff ’19. Now a student at the University of Dayton, Connor says, “I learned so many skills such as talking with people and how to listen to those who need a little extra support, which is incredibly useful in college because of how stressful it is. I’ve also used the selfcare exercises we learned to help my own mental health. The Hope Squad program needs to be in every school across the globe. If I could go back in time, I would have tried to get that started when I was a freshman instead of going into my senior year!”

Advisors of the Summit’s chapter continue to be inspired by our members’ dedication to talk openly about mental health struggles. What we do best at The Summit is relationships, and this also dovetails beautifully with the Sisters of Notre Dame’s pragmatic approach to social issues. We are better because of the commitment of these young women and men.

“They have an innate sense of the importance of recognizing and acknowledging the need to affirm and support the emotions of their peers,” says Mr. Fee. “They have a life long skill and those who come into contact with them will benefit from their empathy and benevolence. This gives me HOPE.”

Founded in Utah, Hope Squads are now in more than 1,110 schools in 35 states plus Canada. Recent data identifies more than 30,000 trained Hope Squad members in the US, with over 5,000 students having been referred for adult help. Grant Us Hope, the Ohio-based umbrella organization for the state’s Hope Squad program, estimates that there are now 400,000 Ohio high school students with access to Hope Squad support. And the need for organizations like this grows daily. Even before COVID-19 exacerbated the problem, suicide was the second leading cause of death in the US for the 10-24 age group.