Dear Parent(s) of Judge Health Student:

You are receiving this letter because your son/daughter is currently taking Health at Judge Memorial Catholic High School. We want to inform you of an important presentation we made in their class last week.

The Health class, as guided by Coach James Cordova, has been or will be studying topics such as stress management, grief, suicide, and problem solving. We, the counselors and Coach Cordova, came together to do an interactive class with the students about these topics. We want to include you on some of the main points of emphasis that we covered so that you can follow up with a discussion at home. We take the mission of Judge Memorial Catholic High School seriously and value your partnership in the process of raising healthy teens.

The mission of Judge Memorial Catholic High School, as a faith based community, is to partner with parents in fostering the integration of students' spiritual, intellectual, emotional, physical and social development in a safe, caring, respectful environment to empower them to become builders of a more just society.

Some of the main points that you might want to discuss with your teen are below:

1. Stress is a risk factor for many issues that teens might be faced with (i.e. depression, substance abuse, suicide, eating disorders, and many others). “Little” stressors (i.e. homework, “bad hair day”, being on time, etc.) can build up if not dealt with in an appropriate manner and become a “big” stressor. It is important to have some strategies for handling stress, whether they are an accumulation of little stressors or a big stressor, such as a death of a loved one or divorce. Ask your son/daughter about the demonstration we did and the stress ball that they received. You might also ask your child what he/she does to handle stress in their life (coping skills).

2. There are many myths and misconceptions about teen suicide, so we reviewed some of those with the students. We emphasized that suicide can affect anyone, whether they are depressed or seem to “have everything going for them”. We discussed the importance of taking any threat of suicide or harming of oneself seriously and to go to an adult for help (counselor, parent, teacher, coach, etc.). We covered in more detail the process of getting help for a friend and how they can do that. We validated that this might be a scary process and their friend might be angry at first, but that it is worth the risk to save a life. We also gave them the Valley Mental Health crisis number (261-1442) that they can use for themselves or a friend any time of the day.

3. We read a moving story about "Kyle" which we have included in this mailing for you to read as well. In relation to the story, we had the students make a "gift card." This included a list of ways that they can be a gift to others (e.g. eating lunch with someone who sits alone), and how they can give a gift to themselves (stress relievers like exercising, listening to music, taking a walk, etc). They also included the crisis hotline number on these cards. We encouraged them to keep this card in a safe place (i.e. wallet, purse, backpack) so that they could find it easily and refer to it in times of need. Ask them if they want to share this with you and respect their answer.

4. The students also received a Problem Solving Worksheet and Bookmark for homework that asks them to work through a problem by using a seven-step process. We did an example together as a class. We will have blank copies of these available in the counseling office in case they want to use this process to solve a problem in the future.

We really enjoyed our time with the students and think that they benefited as well. Your follow-up is crucial in getting our messages to stick. We have included with this letter a list of resources for youth that you can use at your discretion. We appreciate your support and welcome any questions, comments, or feedback on these topics.

Sincerely,

Ms. Mary Chris Finnigan, Mr. Dan Del Porto, Mr. Jerry Burchett, Ms. Bobbi Morgan Ms. Victoria Cabal and Coach James Cordova