Nearly every member of the sophomore class at Martha’s Vineyard High School is now prepared to help when teenagers suffer mental health and addiction emergencies, whether on campus or after school.
“We think it’s a great training to equip you all with the skills to support your peers and recognize signs in yourself and others,” principal Sara Dingledy told the 10th-graders Wednesday morning, as they gathered in the cafeteria for a pancake breakfast.
“Yes, it’s class, but I’m incredibly happy that you guys now have the skills to help support the community during a time that I think is still going to be challenging over the next few years,” Ms. Dingledy said.
About 180 of the school’s 190 sophomores took part in the six-session Teen Mental Health First Aid program, which was required unless a student or family chose to opt out or discontinue, school district behavioral health coordinator Kim Garrison told the Gazette.
Amy Lilavois, Matt Malowski and Chris Roberts pass out shirts to students on graduation day.
— Ray Ewing
Ms. Garrison joined Ms. Dingledy Wednesday to congratulate the teenagers, who in lieu of a diploma each received a long-sleeved T-shirt emblazoned with the mottos: #BETHEDIFFERENCE and CLASS OF 2024.
“You get to wear it proudly to show… you are the only [mental health] first aiders for teens on Martha’s Vineyard,” Ms. Garrison said.
“You’re the first group. I think that that’s very, very important and you should all be really proud of yourselves,” she added.
Developed by the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, which partnered with Lady Gaga to launch the program more than two years ago, the teen mental health first aid course is designed to teach students in grades 10 through 12 how to recognize and assist peers in crisis until a responsible adult can take over.
The students’ T-shirts also bear the words LOOK, ASK, LISTEN, CONNECT, FRIENDSHIP. These are shorthand for a mantra the class chanted with Ms. Garrison on Wednesday: “Look! Ask! Listen! Help connect your friends! Friendship is important!”
Federal Covid-19 relief money funded the Vineyard program, Ms. Garrison told the Gazette as the students lined up for their T-shirts and breakfasts. Next fall, she said, seniors as well as sophomores will have the training so that by the end of the next school year every grade above ninth will be prepared to help peers in trouble.
Evan Bettencourt displays program’s T-shirt.
— Ray Ewing
Sophomore Bailey Moore, 15, of Oak Bluffs said the course provided her with knowledge she could have used in the past, when an acquaintance was going through a tough time.
“It was a great program,” Ms. Moore said. “They really make it feel like I could do something.”
While aimed chiefly at mental health crises, the course also teaches teens what to do in substance abuse emergencies. Ms. Bailey said she learned how to stabilize someone who has passed out from drinking alcohol, by propping them against a backpack so they won’t choke if they vomit.
“I didn’t know how to do that,” she said.
Classmate Bryce Cioffi, 15, of Chilmark, said he hadn’t previously known if a peer needed assistance, but he feels confident now that he can step up in the future.
“I thought it was a good class,” Mr. Cioffi said. “I like how it taught us to help… You’re more aware.”
