Well, September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

Mental health is a big focus in our schools.

There is a program where students help students, called Hope Squad.

We went to Coronado High School to learn how this squad helps build a positive school culture.

(Quinn Hyde) I think we're dealing with probably one of the most competitive times ever to be a kid.

♪♪ In my freshman year, somebody passed away of suicide.

And that really hit me hard because I didn't know them, but I sat right next to her.

And it really like, it really struck a chord with me.

(Matt Poleski) The mission of Hope Squad is to make sure that we never have another student take their own life.

♪♪ (Taylor Stevenson) So what is Hope Squad?

So all of you guys are gonna be Hope Squad mentors.

Hope Squad mentors are trained peers who recognize the warning signs of suicide, who offer support, and also who directs students to the right person for help.

(Kayla Woods) I think that a lot of students are often very scared to talk to adults.

They think they're getting their friends in trouble if their friend comes to them like, Hey, I'm struggling, but don't tell anyone.

That's why we have peer-to-peer suicide groups.

Today we were doing activity stations centered around mental health topics like gratitude and self-care and community outreach.

-Hope Squad actually offers like a bunch of services.

Like we have one meeting a month or two meetings a month where we actually review different mental health strategies.

So we actually are super prepared to, like, deal with whatever comes to us and to connect our peers to what they need.

-So I get to talk them through like, Hey, we're here just as listeners, and if you need to, we have 9-8-8, our National Suicide Hotline.

We have SafeVoice, which you can go to at any time.

-The biggest thing we're trying to do is cultivate the culture where it's safe to come and talk to one another, that we can communicate about mental health on campus peer-to-peer, with adults, with people off campus in the community.

We're building that connection of promoting mental health and mental well being.

-We are Hope Squad!

-What a wonderful resource.

And we want to remind you about another resource, SafeVoice.

SafeVoice is available 24 hours a day to students and parents.

You can provide an anonymous tip about anything from students at risk of hurting themselves to bullying to violence.