Case Study: Tri-Point School District
Mental Health Support for Staff & Students for a Rural School District
The Challenges of Mental Health for a Rural School District in Illinois
Tri-Point is a small, tight-knit school district in rural Illinois where everyone knows each other by name. The community faces some tough challenges, including high rates of poverty and home instability. In recent years, the community was shaken by the tragic loss of a student to suicide and the heartbreaking overdose death of a student's parent. These incidents have underscored the urgent need for mental health support, which is hard to come by in rural areas like this.
The burden of providing mental health support in this community has largely fallen on the school district, which has added stress to the already full plates of Tri-Point’s teachers and administrative staff. Mental health was becoming everyone's problem, but no one had the tools or resources to take it on effectively. Recruiting a counselor or social worker was challenging in a rural area, and families were struggling to provide the support their children needed.
To address this issue, Tri-Point’s former superintendent won multi-year grant funding to provide mental health services and support to the community.
A Vision for School Community Mental Health
The district wanted to create a sustainable solution that would last beyond the initial funding and make a lasting impact.
There was a need for a cultural shift across the district to bring together staff from different schools and grades and to foster a sense of community and shared responsibility.
Tri-Point’s vision was to build a program that would grow year after year, creating a common language and approach to mental health.
They wanted to involve students in meaningful ways, such as peer counseling and group activities, and strengthen relationships between staff and students.
Empowering Educators & Students with Mental Health Skills
That’s where Live Big Community came in. We partnered with the high school principal to kick off a three workshop pilot program with a group of freshman and sophomore girls, along with a few dedicated teachers from the junior high and high school.
It was clear to everyone involved that a seed of positivity, hope and empowerment had been planted with that pilot. Building on this initial success, we partnered with the district to create a staff workshop focused on wellbeing and resilience where members of the Tri-Point team shared their experiences and made space to work on their mental health skills. After the student pilot and the staff wellbeing workshop, we recruited the first group of “Guides” –– school staff members who wished to be trained to use the Live Big Community curriculum with groups of students.
Tri-Point’s Guides participated in multiple days of professional development where they not only learned how to use and customize the curriculum, but also experienced its transformative effects themselves.
In addition to training Guides, Tri-Point’s high school principal worked with the superintendent and the school board to revise graduation requirements and adjust the course schedule to integrate mental health programming into the school day, freeing up teacher capacity to guide student groups through the Live Big Community curriculum.
Removed Speech class from graduation requirements
Integrated Speech concepts into the existing English curriculum
Freed up a class period for the English teacher (a trained Live Big Guide)
A full class period can now be used to prep and guide Live Big Community groups
“Live Big has provided me with understandable, foundational concepts, and the confidence and direction to implement them. Facilitating Live Big with my students has allowed me to immerse myself in a culture that encourages me to show up as my most authentic self while being an example to students to do the same.”
Kayla Highland, High School English Teacher
TRI-POINT CUSD 6-J, IL
The Impact
Sustainably Shifting School & Community Culture
The results have been nothing short of inspiring. Mental health skills now have a dedicated spot in the school schedule, giving the educator Guides the time they need to prepare and lead group sessions.
Tri-Point staff members have gained valuable skills for their own mental health, boosting their confidence, resilience, and leadership. Students are more aware of the program and eager to get involved, which shows just how much it resonates with them. The success of the program is evident in the feedback we’ve received from staff and students, who have shared their personal stories and expressed their gratitude.
Looking to the Future
Looking ahead, Tri-Point is renewing Guide training and seeking additional grant funding to support bringing new Guides on board, including male staff members and a new school counselor. What started in the high school is expanding to other grades and groups to address a wide variety of issues, including stress and anxiety, depression and suicidality, managing major life choices and transitions, as well as attendance and student engagement. The partnership between Tri-Point and Live Big Community has created a sustainable, impactful program that will continue to benefit the district for years to come.
Students Improved Mental Health Skills
This self-assessed student data is from a program for a group of seniors at Tri-Point High School led by two teachers who were trained as part of the Live Big Guide staff training program and used the Live Big Community Curriculum.
100%
of students increased their social emotional skills
100%
of students increased their self-efficacy & confidence skills
100%
of students increased their resilience skills
89%
of students increased their self-observation skills
78%
of students increased their self-leadership skills
“A Life-Changing Program”
3 Tri-Point Senior Girls Share About Their Live Big Community Experience
What the Tri-Point Staff Says…
Under this MTSS umbrella, we looked to bring SEL programming to our small rural community--no small feat when access to mental health services is sporadic and frankly, a long drive for most of our population. Enter Lex and Bree and Live Big.
Their beautiful dream and fledgling company came to us when funds and need collided to allow partnershiip to support our female students. As principaI I was hesitant at first, but the caring and devotion provided by the company founders and the meticulous planning and potential of the program was contagious.
In year one we worked with Lex and Bree to create a series of workshops for 16 freshmen and sophomore students; and created the opportunity for all our senior girls in year two with the goal of building their resilience and connectedness to self and community. Encountering real-talk and vulnerability, our girls reciprocated. And we adults whose role was intended to guide and learn, immersed ourselves as well in shining a light on our fears and strengths, our dreams and insecurities.
Having a common language among our staff to talk with the girls proved invaluable as big and hard events rocked out little school community: a student suicide, our basketball team witnessing the death of an opponent, the overdose death of a parent. And these were in addition to the already normally turbulent times that is high school: changing friendships, broken hearts, failing grades, leaving. The culture shift we experienced as a result of two rounds of Live Big has convinced us that this is not a program for a couple years while grant money flows, but Living Big is how our students walk and how we support them when life makes them and all of us feel small. We have shifted graduation requirements and academic curriculum to embed Live Big in our offerings.
We have trained our staff and watched these staff members take ownership in delivering both in word and by action. And we have listened to our students talk openly about finding their power and shutting down their voice-of-small. While we continue to strive for academic success, we come more fully to recognize that AP scores and SAT percentiles are secondary to self-leadership and finding the courage to Live Big!
Kellee Hill, Former Principal
Tri-Point School District, Illinois