LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's the mission of this Las Vegas teenager, Dariene Tellez, to shed light on an issue many of us deal with — mental health.
On the east side at Las Vegas High School, a local version of a national program was started called Hope Squad. Tellez is the junior behind it, leading the program at the school after learning about its national counterpart.
Knowing how important it is to find mental health resources in the valley, I had to meet her.
Let me introduce you to Dariene Tellez
She says she took the problem seriously after being nominated for the squad. The program is even shaping her future.
"I get a lot of inspiration from trying to help people. I think mental health, psychology, all of that," Tellez told me.
Conversations surrounding mental health aren't too common at high schools, but Tellez is aiming to change that.
"Hope Squad — I like to call it like a student council but for mental health, so we curate a lot of school events," Tellez said.
At the national level, Hope Squad is a suicide prevention awareness program, and a handful of Clark County School District students have launched it at Las Vegas High School. Once she learned her school was doing it, Tellez joined.
Joe Moeller: So, when I was in high school 15+ years ago, it wasn't really something that many talked about — mental health. Do you find a lot of kids here are talking about it?
Dariene Tellez: Not really. I feel like although I hear it here and there some places, I mostly hear it within like whisper conversations, and it's typically hidden behind like certain words or phrases.
Close to a dozen students in the program create student body events to bring awareness to suicide prevention. According to the CDC, about 20% of teens in the United Statees have considered suicide.
"Like, on the first day of Hope Squad meeting, and they kind of gave us like a rundown of what we should do. To see the warning signs, the different types of like services that we can use or resources that we can give out to students, and that definitely helped," Tellez said.
School social worker Stephanie Watman and counselor Zoey Thomas are the program's advisors.
"They're [students] supposed to be peer-nominated so we don't — teachers and admin and staff — don't have any say in what students are in it. Peers have to nominate other peers and then they go into like a full day training," Watman told me.
Both said students like Tellez are going to create change.
"She just really has taken this to heart..." Watman said.
"And I think it's also huge because like Ms. Watman said, she like she takes ownership because she's been there, so she can relate to these kids like she gets it and she understands what people are going through," Thomas said.
As a junior, Tellez is already thinking about universities after high school, but her goal is to continue the work she's starting here.
"I wanna find a career that has something to do with mental health or psychology," Tellez said.
More than a dozen campuses across CCSD currently have a Hope Squad team in place.
