To respond to youth mental health crisis, North Texas teens turn to each other
If you or a loved one is experiencing a crisis or suicidal thoughts, there is help available. Call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
Esau Canales wants to be the CEO of a tech company when he grows up.
The 13-year-old wants to invent things that help people, he said.
But he’s already helping people as a member of his school’s Hope Squad, a group of students at La Academia de Estrellas in Dallas that works to help students struggling with their mental health and prevent self-harm and suicides.
Esau was one of more than 1,000 North Texas middle and high schoolers who convened in Arlington on Jan. 15, all of them representing their schools’ peer support groups. These groups — many of them known as Hope Squads, like Esau’s group — are trained to help a peer who is struggling. On Wednesday, students got additional training and support for their work helping a friend or fellow student in need.
In the last five years, suicide has been the third leading cause of death in Tarrant County for children between the ages of 10 and 19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 130 children and teenagers in the county have died by suicide between 2019 and 2023, according to the data. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for teens and young adults statewide.
Research has found that factors like social media and the COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to worsening mental health for kids and teenagers, leaving communities desperate for solutions to help their young people. But peer support groups, like those that convened in Arlington, have proven to be an effective intervention, counselors and young people themselves say, providing an essential system of support for when a child or teen is struggling.
The first Hope Squad formed in 2015, at a school in White Settlement’s school district, said Amy Pool, the thrive education manager for the Grant Halliburton Foundation. The foundation, along with the Jordan Elizabeth Harris and Grace Loncar foundations, hosted the Arlington conference, and supports schools throughout North Texas when they form peer support groups.
At Jesuit College Preparatory School in Dallas, counselor Corey Marr has seen a clear shift in his students’ willingness to talk about their own mental health since Jesuit’s Hope Squad formed there five years ago. The squad works like this: After students are nominated by their peers, they go through training to learn how to notice if their peers are struggling, and how to share that information with a counselor or other adult.
Marr said the program works because students on the squad know and see things that adults in a child’s life won’t. Kids will notice if their friend has stopped posting on social media, or if they’re posting something concerning. Kids will hear whispers through the gossip network, or notice if a friend-of-a-friend has started to isolate. If they see these red flags or others, students at Jesuit will tell Marr or another faculty member about their concerns.
All of these observations, Marr said, can only be made by students, not adults.
When a member of the squad makes a referral, Marr or another adviser will check in on the student in question. Today, he said, his students feel more comfortable talking about their feelings, thanks to a culture shift helped by the Hope Squad. Marr said he can now openly ask a student how they’re feeling, or if they need help.
Before the Hope Squad, such a question “would have instantly put that person in a shell,” he said.
Peer-to-peer support groups are founded on these simple ideas: First, that a young person is more likely to confide in another young person. And second, that a young person trained to talk about mental health can determine whether a peer is struggling, and when to get an adult for more help.
It’s a misconception that talking about suicide increases any person’s risk of suicide, even for children and teenagers, Pool said. When a student who has been struggling can share with a peer or a counselor, they don’t have to carry that pain alone, she said.
“It makes them feel like they’re connected to somebody else who knows and understands and cares about them.”
For Makena Duncan, president of the Hope Squad at New Tech High School in the Coppell school district, the group has allowed her to pass on what she’s learned from her own struggles. When the 17-year-old was in middle school, she “didn’t feel seen,” she said. Now, she wants to make sure that others feel seen by her and her fellow Hope Squad members.
Last year, when a friend was in crisis, Makena said the Hope Squad made all the difference in how she could handle the challenging situation.
If she hadn’t been part of the Hope Squad, “I don’t know what I would have done,” she said. “But I knew how to help myself, and I knew how to find support” through her peers.
How to get help
If you are struggling, know that there is help available.
- If you are in crisis, you can call or text 988 and you’ll be directed to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. You can also reach the online chat at chat.988lifeline.org.
- Veterans can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, and then press “1” to be routed to the Veterans Crisis Line.
- If you need help finding mental health resources, you can call the Here for Texas mental health navigation line at 972-525-8181 on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
