Students help prevent suicide in peers by joining Hope Squads on San Antonio campuses

It is a path to reducing teen suicides, led by kids themselves.

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For the first time, San Antonio schools are adopting groups of students called Hope Squads, trained to help their peers struggling with mental health.

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The story is the next in KSAT’s extensive series on kids’ mental health.

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Southwest Legacy High School junior Emily Moreno used to struggle with her mental health.

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“Until it got too far, and I just realized yes, I need to talk to someone. There’s more kids like me who suffer in silence that are too scared to speak out,” Moreno said.

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When asked what it felt like to finally let her feelings out, she said “it was so much relief.”

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“It felt, it was like rainbows and unicorns! I loved it, I felt so comfortable for once,” she said with a beaming smile.

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Now she wants to be part of helping other people feel better, too.

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That’s why Moreno joined the Hope Squad, a nationwide effort that allows kids themselves to help prevent suicide in their peers.

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“I think that having somebody your age means a lot more to a lot of people,” said Southwest Legacy High School senior Noah Reyes.

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Reyes is one of at least 30 students on his school’s Hope Squad.

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They were all peer-nominated, went through months of training and just announced to the school who they are.

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Now they’re ready for kids to confide in them.

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“The first thing you do is take them absolutely seriously. Not everybody has friends, that’s the truth, but we kind of serve as a placeholder for those people and kind of a connection to go to other adults,” Reyes said.

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If a student is in crisis, the Hope Squad brings that person to one of the counselors on campus from the organization Communities in Schools, which oversees the local Hope Squads.

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“Across all of our spaces we have definitely seem more suicidal ideation. And it’s just escalated throughout the years,” said Communities in Schools San Antonio CEO Jessica Weaver.

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Weaver said Hope Squads are changing that.

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“The research has shown that it has reduced suicide rates and (the program) had not been in San Antonio,” Weaver said.

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There are more than 2,000 Hope Squads across the nation, including in Texas. The first in San Antonio are within Southwest, East Central, and Northside ISDs.

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“It’s a good feeling knowing that I’m there for the people. And they know I’m there,” Reyes said.

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“I just let them know, ‘Hey, it’s okay to talk, I’m always here for you no matter what, and I don’t want you to feel this way, and just put it out on social media and have no one to talk to,’” Moreno said.

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It’s proof that just a little bit of hope can change everything.

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Any district interested in setting up a Hope Squad at one of their campuses can call Communities in Schools at 210-520-8440, email cissa@cissa.org or visit the website.

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Originally published at https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2026/01/30/students-help-prevent-suicide-in-peers-by-joining-hope-squads-on-san-antonio-campuses/