NAMPA, Idaho — Union High School in Nampa is teaming up with one pop star's mental health program to help students cope with trauma and address their mental health.
Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation is teaming up with 35 high schools across the country to help students who are on the verge of a mental health crisis, suicide, or dealing with substance abuse.
School officials say this partnership with Lady Gaga is critical for these students to succeed inside and outside of the classroom.
"It’s very different from traditional school they are not set up into different grades, they are kind of based off of credits and I believe that a lot of the kids that come into this school are behind credit-wise," Jesse Tangen, the school's therapist, said.
For the 150 students that attend Union High School, traditional schools didn't work out.
"Two days a week our students are out in the community and they get internships in areas they are interested in pursuing after they graduate," Melisa Laprath, the principal for Union High School, said.
The school is doing everything they can to help their students with their classwork and mental health.
"Most of our students have some sort of first or secondary trauma that they have dealt with in their life," Laprath said.
Union High School's work with their students are the reasons why the school was selected out of thousands throughout the country to work with Lady Gaga's Born This Foundation.
"A lot of past traumas, a lot of PTSD, a lot of anxiety, depression, things like that, I talk about grief a lot, I talk about suicide a lot," Tangen explained. "I work in here two days a week doing mental health counseling and I’m always full."
The foundation flew her out to Sacramento, where she received training from John Hopkins University and the National Council of Behavioral Health to implement what Union High School calls teen mental health first aid.
"So really giving them the skills to cope with the trauma on their lives is really essential and it needs to happen for them to excel in their education as well," Laparth said.
"What do I do if my friend comes up to me and says they have been thinking about suicide, who do I contact, things like that then there is a whole section on substance use challenges as well," Tangen said.
This program is something that Tangen believes would be beneficial for other schools across Idaho.
"We already live in a rural state where there are not a lot of resources available and a lot of stigma attached, I know Idaho is always in the top ten highest suicide rates and part of that is access to care," she said.
Tangen plans on training all students who are 15 or older teen mental health first aid in November.
"I’m hoping to see a shift in maybe their awareness of others and awareness of what’s going on around them," she said.
Depending on the program's success at this Nampa high school and the 34 others around the nation, this teen mental health first aid program could be expanded.