Intermountain St. James Hospital Partners to Bring Suicide Prevention – and Safe Lives – to Rural Schools in Montana
The Butte School District recently joined with Intermountain St. James Hospital to prioritize the behavioral health of students.
In the form of a large check, Intermountain St. James Hospital donated $25,000 to the Butte Education Foundation to help launch Hope Squad programs across Butte Silver Bow schools.
“The Hope Squad provides peer-to-peer support and suicide prevention for our students,” said Jim O’Neill, county superintendent of schools and vice president of the Butte Education Foundation. “Students will be nominated by their peers to participate. From there, the squad will meet regularly with trained advisors to talk and learn about mental health.”
This donation comes after the 2024 Montana Prevention Needs Assessment surveyed Butte students from grades 8 through 12.
Out of the 634 students who participated, more than 30% indicated that they have considered suicide.
“Suicide is now one of the leading causes of death among students, which is a reality that calls us to listen more closely, and provide support and understanding,” said Karen Costello, president of Intermountain St. James Hospital. “Students will be taught age-appropriate suicide prevention topics including how to connect peers to help and hope. We believe this program will help reduce the stigma around suicide and instead will empower students to ask for help when they need it.”
The need for this program was echoed by school staff, who emphasized that when students are struggling, they are more likely to share with other children rather than their parents.
“Kids are already familiar with each other,” said Chris Kellogg, principle of Ramsay School. “They’ll be able to realize that they can talk to their peers about things that are on their mind and have the confidence that they’ll be heard.”
O’Neill echoed this statement expressing that, “kids talk to kids,” and schools where the Hope Squad Program has been implemented, like in Dillon, are already seeing the benefit.
For parents like Shari Charron, community health program manager at Intermountain Health, this program is much needed.
“As a parent working in settings with behavioral health, I’m grateful this program will be available for my daughter when she goes into middle and high school,” said Charron. “I know I won’t be the person who she will always want to talk to, but there might be a peer who can reach out to her in a different way than I ever could.”
Students selected for the Hope Squad Program will be nominated by their peers before being reviewed and approved by staff and the parents of each nominated student.
With funding from St. James Hospital, the Butte School District plans to start implementing trainings for students and advisors after the holidays.
“I’m thankful to Intermountain Health for bringing funding to support behavioral health specific to our youth here in Butte Silver Bow,” said Kellogg.
About Intermountain Health
Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, over 400 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://news.intermountainhealth.org/. For more information, see intermountainhealth.org/ or call 801-442-2000.
