GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Brown County Schools Are Looking To Add Help For Students.
Counselors, administrators, and staff are training to bring Hope Squads to their school.
Once they are trained, they will train the students that make up the squad.
“These kids are picked as peer-nominated students and then they are trained on different ways to help their peers. These students are the eyes and ears of the school,” said Erin Bongers, A public health nurse in De Pere.
The idea started in 2004 and has grown.
The program has a group of students watch for warning signs for suicide or other mental health concerns and start the help process.
“If they see something then they can report that so that things don’t get missed.”
Bongers says sometimes the teachers and staff are not always aware of what is going on, but students tend to know.
Friday’s training in Brown County is being done by Dr. Greg Hudnall who founded Hope Squad. It will be up to each school to decide to implement it.
Bongers says over 60 people are signed up for Friday’s training.
Currently, more than 600 schools in 18 states and Canada use the program. Brown County has one school currently with the program in place.
