Purpose: Provide a club for students interested in learning about and helping enhance mental

health among students in their school. Ongoing training in mental health topics is an integral part

of the club. Topics include understanding mental health, anxiety, discouragement, listening skills,

what to do when a peer is in crisis, and more.

·      Meeting location, times, frequency and duration

·      Selection of students

·      Training of students

·      Selection and implementation of club projects

  Include the following roles.

• Discussion Leaders: assisting with topics of concern to other children and adolescents

• Referral Agents: helping youth get connected to appropriate specialists

• Peer Listeners: helping others sort-out concerns, brainstorm ideas, and provide practical help

• Peer Educators: assisting others in learning and using important mental health and social information

• Role Models: helping others learn appropriate coping behaviors

• Peer Outreach: reaching out to peers who seem troubled or lonely

School Mental Wellness Support Team  Consists of school personnel, parents and community

representatives. Determine mental health needs in the school and how it can support and increase

initiatives for enhancing mental health wellness and services including support for a Student

Mental Health Wellness Club in the school.

Members should include a minimum of:

-2 In-school mental health professionals (e.g., counselors, social workers, psychologist)

-2 Faculty members

-2 Parents

-1 Student representative

-1 School administrator (recommended)

-1 Community representative (recommended)

Team Tasks

-Building support for school mental health initiatives

-Soliciting and selecting members

-Meeting location, frequency and times

-Identifying Support Team coordinator(s)

-Identifying Student Club facilitators

-Coordinating training for facilitators

The School Counselor's Role

School counselors are responsible for determining the needs of the school population and for

implementing interventions designed to meet those needs, such as peer support programs. In

collaboration with school staff, school counselors:

-follow the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors as they relate to peer support

programs, including safeguarding the welfare of students participating in peer support programs

and providing appropriate training and supervision for peer helpers (ASCA, 2016; QPR, 2019)

-use best practices when developing and implementing peer support programs (Berger, et al.,

2018)

-create a selection plan for peer helpers reflecting the diversity of the population to be served

-develop a support system for the program that communicates the program’s goals and purpose

through positive public relations

- monitor, assess and adjust the program and training on a continual basis to meet the assessed

needs of the school population the program serves

-report results to all school stakeholders (e.g., students, teachers, administrators, parents,

community)

How to Start a Mental Health Club

Hakeem Rahim, Ed.M, M.A. Hakeem Rahim, Ed.M, M.A., Mental Health Awareness Expert, Motivational Speaker, Author

Published Feb 23, 2015

Do you have students that are interested in mental health and they would like to form a club? As

an educator, administrator or support staff what do you do? Where do you start? Learn about

where to begin, current clubs out there, and how you can showcase your club’s achievements. 

Quick Logistics

The first and probably obvious logistical part is finding out what is your school’s policy on

forming a club? After checking your school’s rules and criteria, you’ll have your outline for

forming a mental health club. Let’s dive in.

Why form a Mental Health Club in the First Place?

If your students approached you about forming a mental health club and you’d like to know more

first, Mental Health.gov provides a great overview of what is mental health. You also may want

to know about more about stigma and mental illness as one of the key functions of mental health

club is to address stigma.

Mental health clubs can serve a number of purposes: they can promote mental health awareness

and education with in your school; they can provide an ongoing space for students to have a

stigma-free place to discuss mental health; they can provide a bridge between community mental

health resources and your school community; and they can give an opportunity to lead projects

based on mental health and focused on reducing stigma.

Mental health clubs are not support groups; they serve as a space where like-minded students can

spearhead activities and discussions that combat stigma. However, since it is a stigma-free space,

topics and issues may come up which should be mentioned to your school’s social worker or

school psychologist. In fact, as a club advisor, having a relationship with the school’s mental

health professional is a great example of busting stigma.

Activities for Mental Health Clubs

Besides having weekly, biweekly or monthly meetings, mental health clubs can do any number

of projects. Here are examples of Mental Health Clubs.

4 What’s Next Framework, students learn how to effectively cope with distress by “reaching in”

and utilizing independent coping strategies, “reaching out” by seeking and accepting help outside

of themselves, or a combination of the two. This process is then followed by an assessment of

how well their chosen coping methods are working and encourages them to reevaluate if needed.

The program consists of 3 to 5 thirty-minute modules, conducted by a facilitator utilizing

electronic and downloadable materials and training provided by the Jordan Porco Foundation.

Learn more at 4whatsnext.org. (The Jordan Porco Foundation was founded in 2011 by Ernie and Marisa Porco after they lost their son, Jordan, to suicide when he was a freshman in college.)

Peer to Peer Depression Awareness: University of Michigan Depression Center

How does it work? Every year, participating high schools nominate individual students (or

groups of students) to attend an annual mental-health training at the University of Michigan.

There, clinical psychologists and professors train the high school students on signs and

symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses. Clinicians also teach them

mindfulness strategies. The goal? Educate the students so they can then educate their peers. After

the 6-hour training, students then brainstorm ideas for creating mental-health awareness

campaigns in their individual schools. They work together with their individual faculty mentors,

and then return back to school to put their proposed P2P plans into action.

Erika’s Lighthouse also provides schools all over the country with free access to educational

programming about mental health, including lesson plans, discussion guides, and activity

materials, such as their popular “student check-in” cards, which ask students whether they want

to see a counselor, don’t want to see a counselor, or need to see a counselor immediately.

Teachers give out the cards at the end of class, and all students are required to fill them out. This

way, no one’s singled out.

Brunswick High School Sources of Strength

116 Maquoit Rd. Brunswick, ME 04011

In 2018-19, Sources of Strength trained 30 Brunswick students to serve not only as resources

for their peers, but to design school awareness campaigns around trauma, mental health, and

suicide prevention. At Brunswick High School in Maine, peer leaders create mental health

awareness campaigns. The idea, explains Brunswick counselor Mary Kunhardt, is to help create

a positive school culture that breaks the silence around these issues and "recognizes that

everyone has ups and downs. Peer leaders listen, connect to adults and spread hope."

The Sources of Strength program identifies potential student leaders from every school social

group. "We know that students most likely talk with their friends before talking with adults,"

Kunhardt says. "So, if at least one friend from each group has ears on their peer group, they will

be the first to hear if a person is struggling."

Garey High School Peer Counseling

800 S. Garey Ave. Pomona, CA 91766P

Garey has a formidable team of between 80 and 90 peer counselors, each one handling ten

clients. Each undergoes training in empathy, active listening and basic social and emotional

skills. The school invites Pomona County mental health agencies to speak to the students, and

local parent groups are brought in to talk about red flags and warning signs that can be easy to

miss. "We do a lot of role-playing" Santillan says. "I went through a lot early in high school and

I wanted to make sure that other students don’t go through it alone" says Lyann.

During the school year, between 80-90 students at Garey High School serve as peer counselors.