By Barbara A. Preston | October 29, 2025
Montgomery High School students who experience mental health issues such as depression or suicidal thoughts will have help in the form of a new peer-to-peer-program. The Montgomery Township School Board narrowly approved it in September with a 5 to 4 vote, and the program begins this school year.
The program, Hope Squad, was endorsed by multiple district educators. And, a Belle Mead resident who is helping to fund the program, spoke at a recent school board meeting about her niece’s experience with depression and how this program may have saved her.
Director of Guidance and Wellness Cory Delgado spoke in favor of the program: “We are looking to bring in more preventative proactive programming,” he said. “We are amazing at triage and reaction, but in the height of this mental wellness epidemic that we’re experiencing, not just here in Montgomery but across the country, we have been conducting an ongoing search for preventative programs for our district.”
He described Hope Squad as, “An amazing enhancement to the environment of our schools.”
Belle Mead resident Christine Hoffman spoke about why she supports the program so strongly that is a donating a large sum of money to help provide the Hope Squad to Montgomery students.
“My niece Jordan, who is my sister’s oldest daughter, was sweet, caring, and bright,” Hoffman said. “Jordan started her own business while in [Montgomery] high school and continued it in college. She did social media presence for PJ’s Pancake House as a freshman and sophomore in college.
“At the beginning of her junior year at Rutgers, she was admitted to the business school. Everything seemed great, and then it just wasn’t. Things changed very quickly, and my sister did everything she could. She had no idea where to go, what to do, and unfortunately we lost my niece.
“It’s been almost three years since she died. In our grief, we discovered Hope Squad, an amazing research-based program with a decade of research behind it. It’s not just about suicide prevention, it is about total mental health. Self care, setting boundaries, making good choices."
Belle Mead resident Christine Hoffman (center) speaks to the Montgomery School Board. She is donating funds to the school for the Hope Squad program in memory of her niece. Principal Heather Pino-Beatty and Guidance Director Cory Delgado stand with her.
“The best way I can describe it is that in elementary school, we have the buddy bench where, if somebody needs a friend, they sit on the buddy bench and someone else goes over and asks them to join. This is a buddy bench for the older kids,” Hoffman said.
The program teaches students to recognize when there is something different in a friend’s behavior, or a change in another student. It teaches students how to be compassionate, how to reach out to that student and then guide that student to get help — from an adviser or an adult who has the skills to help.
Hoffman described Hope Squad as a “QPR program—Question, Persuade, and Refer. The students are not solving the problem, we’re not asking them to be counselors... just to see what is going on around them and how to get help.”
Hoffman said she has two children of her own in the Montgomery School District, one in high school and one in middle school. She also has two nephews in the district.
“The idea that my children might have the opportunity to be part of this program either as a hope squad member or just part of the community that is getting these resources is very important to me.”
CDC data indicates that suicide is a leading cause of death among youth. Hope Squad aims to reduce youth suicide through peer intervention, education, and stigma reduction.
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MHS Principal Heather Pino-Beattie said, “I have had the unique position of standing in front of my students and my staff not once, but twice, as I watched my school get turned into a funeral home because we lost two students to suicide.
“There is nothing that prepares you for that. We have to do everything we can all the time to protect our kids. And, it’s often the kids who are out in front, doing all the right things, the ones that capture everybody’s attention, who are charismatic, who are leading people — that we lose. And I’ve got a building of 1600 of them.
“I am thrilled to provide them with this resource, it is going to be a homerun.”
School Board member Ting Wang asked to table the item. “I believe it would be good to have a chance [for] the community to know [more] about this and give them some time to react.”
Board member Ania Wolecka-Jernigan said, “If I look up the organization [Hope Squad] the CDC notably talks about that there’s not enough data gathered yet on this particular program. One area I am concerned about is: The CDC talks about the stress that it takes on the students that participate in the program. So I think tabling this particular item would be appropriate so we can really dive into some of the additional info and review that.”
Board member Franco Harris responded, “First, whatever the CDC has on its platform right now is questionable. And, second, the Hope Squad is trying to instill a culture of care among the students, and to destigmatize mental health. It’s important to have that in school.”
Wokecka-Jernigan responded, "This is a big burden we are putting on our students. From a parent’s perspective, … I’m not sure what the training for the students look like … I want us to go into it with the eyes wide open, to understand what we’re asking of our kids..."
Board member Michelle Dowling asked Wokecka-Jernigan: “Are we saying that the school hasn’t gone through that due diligence? Again, that is their role. I need to assume they have gone through all that. Why would they put this program in place if they didn’t feel it was going to be valuable to the students?
Superintendent Mary E. McLoughlin noted students who wish to participate in the program must secure permission from their parents.
The program was approved with yes votes from the following board members: Patrick Todd, Maria Spina, Michelle Dowling, Cookie Franco-Herman, and Christine Harris.
Four board members abstained: Ting Wang, Ania Wolecka-Jernigan, Joanna Filak, and Vanita Nargund.
>> Hope Squad is recognized by the Suicide Prevention Resource Center’sBest Practices Registry.
>> "Student network helps address mental health needs in schools" PBS Jan. 16, 2024
