What started as one assembly and walk to discuss mental health, hope and healing at Woodgrove High School two years ago has spread across the county.

What started as a conversation among a half dozen Woodgrove High School students a few years ago has blossomed into a countywide movement to make sure their classmates know they aren’t alone in their everyday stresses.

After seeing a rise in teen suicide over the past few years, Loudoun County’s elected leaders have made it clear that the schools need to do more to support and identify students who feel overwhelmed.
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Armed with more funding for mental health professionals, the school system is rolling out two new initiatives that will debut with the start of the school year.

Woodgrove High School’s We’re All Human group hosted its second assembly and walk today to raise awareness for teenage suicide prevention. We’re All Human members spoke about their struggles with depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges, and how involvement in the club has helped them work to overcome them.

Teenagers at several high schools in Loudoun County, Virginia, participated in suicide prevention walks on Wednesday. The event began in honor of a student, Ryan Bartel, who took his life. News4's David Culver reports.

Adults don’t always understand the social pressure facing teens; even though they say they do.
That was the message delivered Wednesday, April 19th, at Woodgrove High School by Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall, a mental health therapist.

The efforts of a few Woodgrove High School students to provide support to classmates struggling with mental illness has multiplied, and they’re asking the community at large to join the movement.

Woodgrove High School’s We’re All Human group hosted its second assembly and walk today to raise awareness for teenage suicide prevention. We’re All Human members spoke about their struggles with depression, anxiety and other mental health challenges, and how involvement in the club has helped them work to overcome them.

Suzie Bartel isn’t just a can-do person. She describes herself as someone who can’t just stand by when she sees a problem. She has to respond. So when her son Ryan took his own life on Oct. 15, 2014, she got to doing.

After a wave of teen suicides around the county over the last year, Chairwoman Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) brought Loudoun County together Nov. 7 to figure out how the community can do a better job at suicide prevention.

County Chairwoman Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large)’s teen suicide prevention forum at Inova Loudoun Hospital on Monday night brought together people from across age groups and professions with a single message: “There’s always hope.”

After at least five Loudoun County Public School students committed suicide last year, a mother who lost her son is stepping up to help provide the training she believes students are missing.