Fort Lee School Joins With Lady Gaga For Mental Health Program

FORT LEE, NJ — Fort Lee High School has been selected to help pilot a mental health training program sponsored by Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation.

The program, called the teen Mental Health First Aid training, is being piloted at just 35 high schools in the United States. It teaches high school students about common mental health challenges. It is designed to equip them with the knowledge they need to help foster their own mental wellness and support and help others.

The training teaches 10th- to 12th-graders about mental illnesses, and how to identify and respond to a developing mental health or substance abuse problem in others. Students learn a five-step action plan to help their friends who may be facing a crisis, such as contemplating suicide, and including a trusted adult in the process.

Fort Lee Superintendent Ken Rota said the school's administration is "excited" to have the chance to participate in the program.

Rota said a number of district staff members have received youth mental health first aid training already from the Bergen County Division of Mental Services. To be eligible for the pilot, 10 percent of school staff must be certified in youth mental health first aid. The number of Fort Lee staff who are, "far exceeds" that amount, county officials said.

"The district's high rate of participating in that program may have been a factor in our selection," Rota said.

Bergen County Freeholder Joan Voss, a former Fort Lee High School teacher.

"Losing a single child to suicide, is one child too many," Voss said in a statement. "I am proud, but not surprised that this wonderful institution, which I still think of as home is the only school in New Jersey to qualify for this important teen mental health initiative."

Lady Gaga, born Stefani Germanotta, and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta founded the Born This Way Foundation in 2012, which works to prevent bullying and empowering youth.

Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle said that the partnership comes at a "crucial time."

"As New Jersey experienced 100 documented suicides amongst 15- to 24-year olds in 2017 alone, the highest number and rate since the 1990s," said Vainieri Huttle, a Democrat representing New Jersey's Legislative District, which includes Fort Lee. "As teens in New Jersey and across the nation report alarming rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts, it is evident that now, more than ever, we must do more."

The pilot program compliments the county's Stigma-Free initiative, a county-wide program that works to reduce the stigma often associated with mental illness. The initiative works to make people living with mental illness the chance to feel supported by their community and decrease feelings of isolation and shame.

Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation earlier this year requiring all public schools to include mental health instruction in kindergarten through 12th grade health curriculums.

"Governor Murphy took an important step in August by signing legislation into law that requires schools to teach their students about mental health," Vainieri Huttle said. "Now, Fort Lee High School has taken this one step further."

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Email: daniel.hubbard@patch.com