Hope Squad funded at two schools

Contracts have been finalized between Park County and two school districts for the creation of Hope Squads to help prevent self-harming behavior among children.

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The Hope Squad program will be available to high schoolers at Livingston Public Schools and to middle schoolers at Gardiner Public Schools, according to Travis Horton, who directs the Park County Health Department.

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Hope Squad is intended to identify signs of mental distress in peers on campuses and provide a safe environment for open conversations about mental health and problems that youth face today. It’s also intended to organize community awareness events, encourage peer-to-peer connections, empower students to advocate for themselves and others, and collaborate with mental health professionals.

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An anonymous donor has provided $13,800 to implement Hope Squad in Livingston and Gardiner. County commissioners approved an amended memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the donor at their May 5 meeting. The MOU had been executed months ago to provide $7,200 to implement Hope Squad at Park High School. The MOU was amended May 5 to account for additional funding for Gardiner Public Schools.

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“These funds are used to pay for two years of registration with the Hope Squad for each of those schools as well as training for their advisors,” Horton told commissioners May 5. “Gardiner ended up with four advisors, and Park High has one, and one standing in, basically.”

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The funds also will pay for “all expenses related to materials and student training included in the annual program license,” according to the MOU.

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“Park County will deposit the Donation into a restricted account designated solely for Hope Squad,” the MOU reads.

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During the May 5 meeting, District 2 Commissioner Bryan Wells thanked Horton for promoting the program.

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“I’m really happy to see Gardiner join,” Wells said.

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Hope Squad is a peer-to-peer suicide prevention program that has its origins in a Utah school district where there had been youth suicides annually in the 90s. After a fourth grader committed suicide on school grounds in 1997, a task force was formed and led to the creation of the Hope Squad program in 2004. More information about the program is at www.hopesquad.com.

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Originally published at https://www.livingstonenterprise.com/news/hope-squad-funded-at-2-schools/article_88bbac4c-37f0-4ad6-ad2f-2120f15f73b2.html