BLADENBORO — West Bladen High School has been chosen for a program targeting mental health for students, a release says.

The teen Mental Health First Aid pilot program will be through the National Council for Behavioral Health with support from Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.

“We are thrilled to introduce teen Mental Health First Aid to our community and will be implementing this with all tenth-grade students,” Angela Mendell said in a release. She’s a behavior support specialist at Bladen County Schools and the district liaison for tMHFA. “The program will teach high school students to recognize and respond when their friends are experiencing the early stages of a mental health or addiction problem.”

Tulisha Pridgen, behavior support specialist for Bladen County Schools, will also be working on this training with the students throughout the rest of the school year. There will be a five-week rotating schedule, with the program designed to educate students about mental illness and addictions, and how to “identify and respond to a developing mental health or substance use problem among their peers,” the release said.

“We’re thrilled West Bladen is one of the first U.S. high schools to participate in teen Mental Health First Aid,” Chuck Ingoglia said in the release. He’s president and CEO of the National Council for Behavioral Health. “Teens trust their friends, so they need to be trained to recognize signs of mental health or substance use problems in their peers. The number one thing a teen can do to support a friend dealing with anxiety or depression is to help them seek support from a trusted adult.”

The school is one of 40 sites selected in the second cohort of the program. The release says students will learn an action plan to help their friends in the middle of their mental health problem or crisis, and involving a trusted adult. The district also has trained staff as well to help with this program.

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Bladen Journal