Counseling Programs

At the beginning of each school year, school counselors provide training in suicide recognition and reporting to staff members at each school. The Counseling Services Team also presents guidance lessons for students.  Additionally, the Kindness Crew members at secondary schools are trained to recognize and alert Counseling Services team members of students that might be struggling. 

Whether it is in teaching the school faculty, doing guidance lessons with students, or providing parent meetings on suicide recognition, intervention and reporting, it is always best to approach the subject from a proactive stance. If teachers, students and parents are empowered by understanding suicide and equipped with the tools to address it, the problem can often be addressed before there is an unnecessary death. Together, all of us can provide a support system to help our students find a safe haven when they are troubled.

Crisis Text Line: 

Crisis Text Line serves anyone, in any type of crisis, and provides access to free, 24/7 support and information through texting. Call or Text 988 for support.

More information on the Crisis Text Line.

Mental Health 24 Hour Hotlines: 

• Suicide and Crisis Center of North Texas: 24/hr Crisis Line: 214-828-1000 
• Transicare Mobile Crisis Outreach Team: 866-260-8000 
• National Hopeline: 1-800-442-HOPE 
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255 
• Trevor Lifeline: 1-866-488-7386 
• 911

Community Resources (PDF document)

Parents Can Make a Difference 

Parents can help prevent suicide by recognizing warning signs, identifying risk factors (characteristics that may lead a young person to engage in suicidal behaviors), promoting protective factors (characteristics that help people deal with stress and reduce their chances of engaging in suicidal behaviors), and knowing how to talk to their children and seek mental health services. You can empower yourself and your teen by following these 7 steps. 

1. Know your facts 
2. Recognize the warning signs 
3. Know the risk factors 
4. Know the protective factors 
5. Take preventive measures 
6. Talk to your teen about suicide 
7. Last but not least, seek mental health services  

Read the complete blog post from the American Psychological Association:  7 Essential Steps Parents Can Take to Prevent Teen Suicide. 

If you have questions or concerns, please contact your child’s campus counselor or social worker. Parents can use the Counseling Resources link above as an aid to finding mental health services. 

If you are reporting a bullying incident or have questions or concerns about a bullying incident, please contact the campus administrator or visit the Bullying/Harassment Reporting Forms and Title IX Information website.

Bullying is one of the most prevalent and widely discussed topics associated with school safety. GPISD professional school counselors and social workers are particularly aware of bullying behaviors and the consequences of these behaviors in our schools.  Counseling Services focuses on building and implementing effective bullying prevention programs and character development programs that promote positive behavior, specifically kindness and respect at each campus in GPISD.

Bullying Prevention Campus Activities

GPISD School Counselors take a proactive approach to bullying prevention through campus programs and activities as well as classroom guidance lessons which include the following:

• Staff presentations and school-wide bullying prevention strategies
• Guidance curriculum
  • Social Emotional Learning lessons for Elementary Students
  • Bullying Awareness and Prevention Guidance Lessons at All Levels
• Campus-level events designed to promote kindness as a method to prevent bullying in our schools
  • Quarterly Events/Lessons to include
    • October Bullying Awareness and Prevention Month Activities
    • April Month of Service Activities
  • Stand4Kind Kindness Crew Clubs for Elementary Students and Secondary Students
• Counseling support for
  • Students who have been victims of bullying
  • Students who have bullied other students

Bullying Prevention Resources for Parents

According to StopBullying.gov, bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. Behavior is considered bullying if it materially and substantially disrupts the educational environment and/or infringes on the rights of another student(s) at school.

Bullying is often confused with another type of aggressive behavior: mutual conflict. It is not bullying when two kids with no perceived imbalance of power disagree, have an argument, or fight. Although both situations are serious and require intervention, each requires different prevention and response strategies.

Parents play a key role in preventing and responding to bullying. If you know or suspect that your child is involved in bullying, check out these resources found at StopBullying.gov:

• Learn the warning signs
• Learn who is at risk for being bullied and at risk of bullying others
• Learn to talk to your child about bullying 

Complete Parent article from StopBullying.gov

Additional Resources:

• National Crime Prevention Council
• Pacer’s National Bullying Prevention Center

About the Start with Hello Program (Print Version - PDF)

What is the problem? 

• Social isolation is the feeling of being left out, lonely, and treated like you are invisible. At every school and in every community there are children who feel like they have no friends and quietly suffer through each day -- especially at lunchtime and other moments where friends gather together.
• Young people who are isolated can become victims of bullying, violence and/or depression.
• As a result, many further pull away from society, struggle with learning and social development and/or choose to hurt themselves or others.

What is the program?
Start with Hello is designed to help students and school staff members create and sustain an inclusive school culture / community by implementing three simple steps:

1. See Someone Alone
2. Reach Out + Help
3. Start with Hello

How is Start with Hello implemented?
In Grand Prairie ISD, every campus has a student-led Kindness Crew club sponsored by the campus Counseling Services team. The counselors and/or social workers train Kindness Crew members to lead the Start with Hello program and activities.

What is child abuse?

Child abuse is defined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as any recent act or failure to act on that results in a child’s serious physical or emotional harm, sexual abuse, exploitation or death.

GPISD Counselors provide staff trainings to promote awareness and proper reporting procedures for all forms of child abuse. Because the law mandates any person who reasonably suspects that a child is a victim of abuse or neglect to report to the police or via the Texas Child Abuse Hotline, trainings are updated annually and information is always available in each campus counselor’s office.

To report Child Abuse, Neglect or Exploitation contact the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services: 1-800-252-5400

In Grand Prairie ISD, school counselors and/or social workers oversee the Handprints on Hearts Mentoring Program at the campus level. Volunteer mentors are paired with a student or a small group of students in various grade levels at each campus. The mentor works to build relationships with the students and to offer encouragement and guidance to help mentee students reach their full potential as students and as individuals.

What is mentoring?

• The purpose of mentoring students is to help them along their path to becoming thoughtful, engaged, self-aware citizens.
• Mentoring is about encouragement and inspiration. It is about investing time and energy in other people because other people matter to us.
• Mentoring is about believing in the unlimited potential of every young person served while allowing them to reach their potential in their own unique time frame.

What are the benefits of mentoring?

Results of successful mentoring relationships showed that students experienced improved achievement rates, improved sociological and emotional support, enhanced skills development as well as greater personal growth.

SUCCESSFUL MENTORING RELATIONSHIP

ENHANCED SELF-ESTEEM OF THE STUDENT

EMPOWERED STUDENT, READY TO SUCCEED

Why should YOU become a Mentor?

• You have the potential to change a young person’s life
• Many of us are who we are today because someone decided to mentor us

Why promote Kindness and Compassion?

In Grand Prairie ISD, counselors and/or social workers supervise the Be Kind initiative as a method to prevent bullying in our schools and to foster empathy in our students. The student and staff members of the Kindness Crew Clubs at each campus sponsor kindness and compassion events to encourage students to become emotionally connected and to cultivate respect for others. 

In addition, Kindness Crew members at secondary campuses are trained to recognize signs of suicide and to alert Counseling Services team members if a student may be struggling.

Kindness Crew Clubs

Every campus in Grand Prairie ISD has established a Kindness Crew at the elementary and secondary level. 

These clubs bring together staff and students in a commitment to change the culture of the school by promoting kindness and compassion in the school community by doing the following:

1. Getting everyone involved. Kindness Crew Club community service projects are intended to involve the entire campus and include but are not limited to

• Grand Prairie Big Event Projects
• GPISD Social Work Hub
• North Texas Food Bank Food Drives

2. Encouraging others to be kind and to perform acts of kindness

• Kindness Crew Club members lead by example
• Kindness Challenges
• Intentional Acts of Kindness Calendar

3. Each campus should promote an atmosphere of kindness by

• Displaying posters
• Having word or quote of the week announcements
• Sponsoring projects that involve the whole campus
• Other activities created by campuses to promote kindness

Service Learning

School Counselors at each campus in Grand Prairie ISD offer service-learning opportunities for all students.  Benefits for students include: 

• Service learning can improve character values and responsible behavior 
• Service-learning can improve academic outcomes for students 
• Service-learning can promote a sense of connectedness to the school and the community 
• Service-learning can promote social-emotional skills