MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — Being a high school student can present some challenges, which is why many schools in the state have established “hope squads,” made up of students to help each other talk through difficult times and to prevent suicide.
This week, walking into Middletown High School, there are messages of positivity all around because it’s Hope Week, an effort to break the stigma of mental health.
What You Need To Know
- The Hope Squad at Middletown High School comprises 30 students from all grades
- Several times a year, the Hope Squad puts on Hope Week to encourage students to be kind and to remind them they’re always available to talk
- This year Lakota East's and Middletown's Hope Squad are coming together the week their football teams play each other
- The Hope Squads will sport t-shirts, hand out stress balls and bracelets and share messages of hope and kindness
Stephanie Cooper is making sure as many students as possible have one of these shirts in their hands come Friday.
“You’ll wear it to school on Friday, yes?" Cooper told one student. "Okay! And if you make it to the football game, make sure to keep it on!”
That’s because the Hope Week shirts are more than just a red shirt, but a way to show that there is hope for kids that struggle. The week is put on by the Hope Squad: 30 students that are always available to talk.
“Our kids are on board, our staff is all on board district wide and I think that says a lot about our goal, which is to break the stigma," Cooper said. "We can’t talk about mental health, well our kids have suffered a lot of trauma and life is hard sometimes.”
A lot of those struggles have come out of the last two plus years because of the pandemic.
“COVID did some damage to our babies and so we put a lot of work in," Cooper said. "Weekends, two to three in the morning, but these children, they’re saving lives.”
But thanks to students like Avery Back, those students have a trusted peer to talk to.
“There’s people here to help you no matter you’re going through and that no matter what you think, there might be someone who’s also experienced this and they want to help you," Back said.
“We know that teenagers don’t want to talk to adults about their problems so it’s easier for them to approach a high school kid where they’re kind of going through the same things," Cooper said.
In partnership with Hope Week at Middletown and Lakota East, the two teams playing each other Friday night will join, wearing shirts and sharing messages of positivity in one goal to help each other.
“I do a lot here," Cooper said. "But this, this is pretty incredible.”