Middletown City Schools help teens struggling with mental health

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (WXIX) -Teenagers with Middletown City Schools have been working together all year long to help other teenagers struggling with mental health.

About two dozen teenagers are working with other students to help them get through mental health through the Middletown Hope Squad.

The teenagers, who other students nominate, help their peers with stress, studying, homework.

Letting others know that they have someone to talk to is an excellent way to prevent suicide, some of the teenagers said.

“Personally, if I talk to an adult, I feel judged. I’m like, ‘oh are they like my generation right now, do they think I’m weird or like is this how they grew up,’ so just talking to somebody my age is like ‘oh they could have gone through it too’ or they know how I’m feeling,” HOPE Squad member Nora McGuffey said.

According to the Hope Squad Adviser Kayla Wandsnider, the need for the squad has been very high, especially within the pandemic.

She says that the students are “are saving lives of our other MHS students almost daily.”

According to the National Institute for Mental Health, suicide is the second leading cause of death in people between the ages of 10 and 34.

Middletown City Schools will also be launching this at the middle school level. Officials say that they hope that students who join the squad at the middle school level will be able to help others when they get to the high school level.

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