Stafford Student Selected for National Suicide Prevention Squad
“I know from firsthand experience it’s scary to go out and ask for help yourself.”
By Martin Davis
ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
Mountain View High School student Andrew Sayasithsena spent part of every Monday this past year meeting with more than two dozen other volunteers to identify and discuss ways to connect with fellow students who might be struggling emotionally.
They’re all members of a first-year program at Mountain View called Hope Squad, a peer-mentoring program with 1,600 high school chapters nationwide dedicated to preventing teen suicides.
“When I identify someone needing help, I tend to go out of my way to speak to them,” Sayasithsena said. “To make them seen and known, which is a big issue in our community. I know from firsthand experience it’s scary to go out and ask for help yourself.”
Sayasithsena said over the course of the year he had 20 interactions with students about whom the group had concerns. Thankfully, those students’ issues were “relatively minor,” and didn’t require referring the student to an adult. But the connections were still important—and a factor in Sayasithsena’s recent selection, after three rounds of screening, to the National Hope Squad.
Sayasithsena was the only member chosen from Virginia.
The students selected will get together in virtual meetings once a month, and Sayasithsena said he’s looking forward to learning from others about the challenges they’ve faced, and what’s worked for them in helping others.
Hope Squad was started in Provo, Utah, by Gregory Hudnall, a high school principal, after a series of student suicides rocked the Provo community. When he learned that one of the students had given his watch to a friend before taking his life, and had told others that his family would be better off without him, Hudnall decided to take action. Both had been warning signs, but none of the other students recognized them and had told an adult.
Hudnall realized the potential of harnessing peer support with proper training in suicide prevention, and started Hope Squad soon after.
The Hope Squad training—at Mountain View and the 1,600 other schools around the country—focuses on several learning objectives:
· Gatekeeper Training: Students learn in age-appropriate ways about suicide warning signs and what to do when a peer is in crisis.
· Building Relationships: Students learn about effective communication and how to mediate conflict.
· Cultivating Empathy: Students work to foster kindness and create welcoming environments for all.
· Developing Resilience: Students aim to manage emotions, expectations, and change.
· Understanding Ourselves: Students build healthy habits for self-care and stress management.
· Bullying Prevention: Students understand the impact of bullying and how to prevent it.
· Developing Emotional Intelligence: Students increase awareness to strengthen leadership capabilities.
· Constructive Choices: Students learn to face challenges and develop good decision-making skills.
This past year was the first time Mountain View had a Hope Squad chapter, with 28 volunteers serving the school’s 2,300 students. Sayasithsena said most high school students struggle with a number of stressors—social media, deciding what college to attend, figuring out where to find a job—that can have a piling on effect.
“Everyone wants to be successful in everything they do,” he said. “Everything is becoming more competitive, and that raises the bar for everyone.”
For students who can’t reach that bar, the pressure can build.
Rebecca Gannaway, a Hope Squad advisor and school social worker, said students also struggle with personal connection, and regulating emotions. The Hope Squad program at Mountain View tries to help students develop skills in those areas not only through peer intervention, but through intentional outreach activities at the school.
One of the main points of focus, Gannaway said: “Don’t forget about checking in on yourself.”
Sayasithsena said one of the most important things he’s learned through Hope Squad is that there’s “no one root” when it comes to mental health issues.
“Everyone is unique,” he said. The challenge in working with students who are struggling is finding the right solution.
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Martin Davis is a co-founder of The FXBG Advance. He is currently editor-in-chief of The Virginia Free Press, which is launching later this summer.