Students play key role in new program for MS Coast teens struggling with mental health

Editor’s Note: This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org

Five Ocean Springs High School students have personal reasons for supporting a suicide prevention program in Jackson County schools.

Each of them has counseled friends through mental health crises, struggled with the common issues teens face, or both. They all served last year on the Principal’s Student Advisory Council and talked about doing something to promote mental health.

The students hoped their efforts could save lives. Several Jackson County students had died by suicide since April 2022, most recently Ocean Springs Middle School student Aubreigh Wyatt , who was only 13. Aubreigh took her own life on Sept. 4.

“It was all so hard for them to understand because of the finality of it,” said middle school behavior specialist Tory Murray. “It’s not a temporary thing.”

In 2023, the Centers for Disease Control reports, 40% of high school students said in response to a youth survey that they experienced feelings of hopelessness. The CDC’s Youth Risk Behavoir Survey, released Aug. 8, showed that 20% of high school students “seriously considered attempting suicide,” while 9% tried to die by suicide.

Concerned adults in Jackson County had by 2022 started working to help struggling teens. They settled on a program that the counties four school districts are rolling out this school year: Hope Squad .

Hope Squad is unique in that students help students because a struggling child is more likely to talk with a peer. Hope Squad members then connect that peer with a trusted adult.

The four school districts — Jackson County, Ocean Springs, Moss Point and Pascagoula-Gautier — are rolling out Hope Squad this week and plan to continue the program in the coming years.

The Singing River Foundation, which supports Singing River Health System’s philanthropic initiatives, and the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce raised funds for the program from Coast businesses, said chamber CEO Paige Roberts. She hopes the program can be expanded statewide.

“What we know of it is that it creates a culture of inclusivity and kindness,” Roberts said. “In doing that, the kids will be more aware and more trained in the idea of their own feelings, how their feelings and behavior affects others but also how to look out for each other.

“Because when you have a true culture of inclusivity and kindness, nothing else can survive.”

Teen ‘instantly’ regretted suicide attempt

In its suicide prevention efforts, the Singing River Foundation brought motivational speaker Emma Benoit of Louisiana to the Coast in July 2023. She spoke at a mental health summit in Gulfport about her suicide attempt in 2017 at age 16.

“At Singing River Health System, we recognize that mental health is a cornerstone of overall well-being,” a recent statement from the foundation said. “At the beginning of 2023, we made it a priority to focus on the mental health of our children, understanding that early intervention and support can have profound impacts on their future. We have continued hosting community events throughout the year to support these vital initiatives.”

Benoit has told her story to many groups, including students. She also shares her story in a documentary , “My Ascension.”

By age 12, Benoit has said, she was suffering from anxiety and depression. She felt like she should just deal with her problems and didn’t confide in anyone, although she now sees silence can be deadly. As a teenager, the popular cheerleader didn’t believe she had the right to feel so depressed.

She talks about the moment that she tried to end her life.

“I was filled with instant regret and I was basically reminded of all the reasons that I did have to live, all of the reasons that I did have hope, and only when it was nearly too late,” she said in one video.

Emma learned about Hope Squad as she began to heal and share her story. If a Hope Squad had been in her school, maybe she could have talked to a peer, she said. Maybe she wouldn’t have tried to end her life, an act that left her in a wheelchair.

When she visited the Coast, Emma told Singing River and chamber representatives about Hope Squad, Roberts said. They checked into the program and liked what they learned. Benoit spoke again in October at a mental health summit the foundation, chamber and Pascagoula-Gautier School District sponsored at Pascagoula High.

In December, representatives from the county’s four school districts visited schools in Oklaloosa County, Florida, to see Hope Squad in action. Okaloosa schools started their program in 2021.

“I just really think this is going to be such a good program,” said TaLaceia Lamb, a school counselor at Colmer Middle School in Pascagoula who made the trip to Florida.

MS educators visit Hope Squads

Educators in Okaloosa County, Lamb said, have so far been pleased with Hope Squad’s positive influence on students. Lamb hopes the program will spread positivity and kindness in Jackson County schools. She and all other Hope Squad advisors in Jackson County school districts have received training to work with the Hope Squads being set up in each school.

Lamb and the Hope Squad advisors in Ocean Springs said they’ll be introducing the program to students this week. The students will nominate fellow students to serve on the Hope Squads. They’ll understand before nominations begin that they should nominate students who are easy to approach, include others, are good listeners and show kindness.

“What I hope is this is going to help (students) connect, and not just with their phones, so they can have support and new friends,” Lamb said.

Hope Squad members will learn, among other things, the risk factors and warning signs for suicide, how to help struggling peers and get them support, and how social media influences mental health. They’ll also learn more about self care.

Lamb and other counselors have their own ideas about which students would be good for Hope Squad, but they’re interested to see the students’ picks. Advisors will select Hope Squads from the student nominations. Colmer, a school with 530 students, will start out with 10 to 15 Hope Squad members, Lamb said.

She and other counselors think the program will work because the students will be directly involved. It’s not just another box teachers must check off their list of duties.

Also, Hope Squads will meet and learn on a regular basis about suicide prevention and topics such as bullying. They’ll learn to tell the difference between someone who is having a bad day and a fellow student experiencing serious problems.

The students at Ocean Springs High who looked into mental health programs that might work in their school will be on its inaugural Hope Squad. The district’s student services director, Cecilia Zahedi, expects the 1,965-student high school to have about 40 Hope Squad members.

One of the Ocean Springs High students who will be on the Hope Squad, 10th-grader Janyah Glasco, said her peers have always felt they could confide in her. She cares about mental health and wants to help others feel better.

“I think Hope Squad will make people more comfortable talking about their problems,” Glasco said.

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