The health and safety of students and staff at Parma City Schools will always be one of the top priorities in the district, and this past fall, the district held a Mental Health Summit for student leaders representing all three high schools.
The approximately 75 students who participated in this special event had been selected by their peers to become mental health ambassadors through the Hope Squad program. A nationwide, peer-to-peer suicide prevention program, Hope Squad helps reduce youth suicide through education, training, and peer intervention. More information can be found at their website.
“Wellness is part of teaching the whole child,” said Marian Armstrong, a counselor at Parma Senior High, who helped organize the Mental Health Summit. “We are teaching these students life-long skills on how to take care of themselves and how to take care of others.”
During the Summit, students participated in team-building exercises, lessons, and training provided by personnel from OhioGuidestone and Recovery Resources. In addition, the Cuyahoga County Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board provided Question, Persuade, Refer (QPR) training, which teaches students how to recognize signs of crisis and gives them the tools they need to get a peer to a trusted and caring adult. Those who attended the Summit are now “QPR certified.”
“We aren’t teaching them to be therapists,” said Armstrong. “We are teaching them how to recognize signs of a mental health crisis, how to be a trusted peer, and how to get help for someone in need. All three schools have been working hard on their Hope Squad Programs, and it’s just a fun day,” Armstrong added. “My hope for students is that they take away the importance of us needing to take care of each other. Just saying ‘hi' to someone might make their day and save their life.”
Students also worked on self-care and positive affirmations while at the event.
Gage Wellman, a tenth-grader at Normandy High School, said the day was filled with great resources that he will use throughout his life.
“Covid really took a big hit personally for me and this is a really hard time for a lot of people, so I think this event is a great thing to have,” he expressed. “It was really outstanding to see all these resources in our hands. I really appreciated that.”
Viviana Cabrera, an eighth-grader at Parma Senior High School, felt hopeful after attending the event and was honored to be seen as a trusted friend and peer in her school.
“You really have to be patient with people and give them the chance to not only open up but also be able to understand them and put yourself in their shoes,” she described. “That’s one of the biggest things I took away from this day. We need to give everyone a chance. I hope other people can also get trained and have the opportunity to help others.”
Adonia Vlahopoulos, an eleventh-grader at Valley Forge High School, attended the district's Mental Health Summit before and was happy to see PCSD bring it back again.
“I think it’s really great that schools are putting a focus on mental health,” she shared. “There are a lot of things on the internet that might not be totally correct. It’s nice to have the schools working with us to have trusted resources to learn what’s real and what’s fake and how things really work, especially when dealing with the human mind. With Covid going on, we were isolated and had a chance to self-reflect, but now we can come together and help get through this together. It’s really nice to see this happen.”