Send an anonymous text message
When teens face mental health challenges today, they're often caught in a difficult position – reluctant to walk into a counselor's office yet desperately needing support. School Pulse fills this critical gap with an elegantly simple solution that's changing outcomes for vulnerable students nationwide.
Iuri Melo, co-founder of School Pulse and a clinical social worker with 20 years of experience, joins the MindShift Power Podcast to share how their text-based support service creates a lifeline for struggling teens. What makes this approach revolutionary is its proactive nature – rather than waiting for crisis, School Pulse reaches out to students twice weekly with relevant, engaging content about managing anxiety, building relationships, and handling conflict. This consistent touchpoint establishes trust that pays dividends when real crises emerge.
The results speak volumes. With an astonishing 97% retention rate, students clearly value this service that allows them to text anonymously about everything from academic struggles to suicidal thoughts. School administrators receive invaluable data about their student population while maintaining confidentiality. Most importantly, real interventions are happening – from connecting abuse victims with protection services to preventing potential school violence through early identification.
"Whatever we talk about, we begin to control. Whatever we don't talk about controls us," Melo explains, highlighting why creating safe spaces for honest communication is transformative for teen mental health. By meeting students where they are – on their phones – and offering judgment-free support, School Pulse bridges the communication gap between struggling teens, overwhelmed school counselors, and concerned parents.
Are you concerned about the mental health of teens in your community? Discover how School Pulse is creating meaningful connections and preventing tragedies before they happen. Visit schoolpulse.org to learn how your school can implement this life-changing service.
To learn more about School Plus, please click below.
Mental health resources:
https://schoolpulse.org/schools/schoolpulse/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Fatima Bey (00:01):
Welcome to MindShift Power Podcast, the only
international podcast focused onteens, connecting young voices
and perspectives from around theworld.
Get ready to explore the issuesthat matter to today's youth
and shape tomorrow's world.
I'm your host, fatima Bey theMindShifter, and welcome
(00:24):
everyone.
Today, we have with us UriMello.
He is out of Utah and he is theco-founder of School Pulse, and
I'm going to let him tell youabout himself and why he's here
today.
How are you today, uri?
Iuri Melo (00:39):
Fatima, I am fabulous and thank you so much for
inviting me.
I'm ready to rock and roll withyou.
Girl, let's go.
Fatima Bey (00:46):
All right, so tell the audience about yourself.
Who are you?
Iuri Melo (00:49):
Sure, so I'm, first of all, I'm a married man.
I'm a father of five seriouslyincredible kids that I'm just
inspired by all the time.
I've actually been a licensedclinical social worker for about
20 years, mostly in privatepractice, and honestly, the
experience that I've gotten as aresult of that just meeting
(01:09):
people knee to knee, righteyeball to eyeball, like I'm
sure you've done, fatima is justso incredible.
About seven years ago I startedSchool Pulse and I'm sure we'll
chat about it a little bit moreor maybe even kind of how I
started that.
But really what we do, or whatwe want to be specifically for
schools and for adolescents, iswe just want to be a fabulous
(01:32):
solution that is coherent, thatis streamlined and that provides
kids with proactive tools to besuccessful in their
relationships obviouslysuccessful in schools and often
schools are really concernedabout suicide prevention and
student wellness and things likethat and we just want to
provide schools with an easysolution that they can apply and
(01:55):
adopt immediately.
So, just very briefly, that's alittle bit about me.
I live, like I said, like youmentioned, I live in Southern
Utah, which is about an hour and45 minutes away from Las Vegas.
It's just this wonderful place.
Love to rock climb, love to run, love to spend time with my
kids.
It's a good time.
Fatima Bey (02:14):
So tell us a little bit more about School Pulse.
You explained it briefly, butwhat is School Pulse?
Iuri Melo (02:22):
Yeah.
So School Pulse is a servicethat we offer to schools and
districts, and even statewide.
So schools have kind of amandate, or districts have a
mandate throughout the countryto provide suicide prevention,
to provide mental healthsupports and resources for
students and for parents.
And so what we've done is we'vetaken a lot of time to listen to
(02:44):
principals, to listen to schoolcounselors, to listen to
superintendents and find outwhat it is that they want, what
problems are they attempting tosolve, what challenges are they
facing when they're having todeal with students?
And what we found is and thisis not going to be news to you
is that school counselors andadministrators are just
(03:05):
overwhelmed.
They're overwhelmed not justwith the demands that are given
to them through the state, butthey're also overwhelmed with
the demand that students areputting upon them.
I mean we know that 60 to 70percent of teachers are dealing
with students who are goingthrough mental health concerns,
(03:27):
mental health challenges.
We know that our rates ofdepression, our rates of anxiety
, our rates of student suicide,our rates of students who are
self-harming are well above thenorms, the highest that they've
ever been and this of course, istranslating into schools, right
.
And so here are these principalsright.
(03:47):
Who's really the primary roleis?
We want to provide someeducation for these kids, but,
of course, when we're not wellright, when we're not mentally
well, when we're not emotionallywell, learning becomes very
difficult, and oftentimes ourdecision-making, you knowmaking,
is challenged during that timeas well.
And so our goal is, in a verysimple way, is we want to
(04:09):
provide tools for theseadministrators, we want to
provide tools for thesecounselors.
In fact, we've created the mostrobust, the most complete
mental health resource for teensin the country, our program,
which we offer in a variety ofways.
We provide live text-basedsupport to students, and one of
(04:29):
our roles and I think this isreally important to me, fatima
is, I think a lot of times, Ifind that we kind of enter this
passive and reactive mode.
In a sense, we're almost kind ofwaiting for crisis to happen,
and then we're kind of jumpingat the intervention right, like
we're waiting until students aresuicidal, and then we provide
(04:53):
resources in front of them.
And what we wanted to do isreally come to students
proactively right and build whatin psychology we call our
protective factors right, thethings that create confidence,
the things that build ourability to learn, instead of
just focusing on the riskfactors.
(05:15):
And so we proactively go tostudents via email, we
proactively go to students viatext and then we provide them
with live text-based support inaddition to our incredible
resources that we provide toschools.
I kind of jokingly say thatthis is like a Nobel
Prize-winning service that we'reoffering, but the reality is we
(05:37):
have had those kinds ofconversations with students who
are just actively suicidal orwho may be self-harming, or who
may even have homicidal ideationor who are reporting physical
or sexual abuse.
And we're just honored, to behonest, we're just honored to be
there, to provide support andto help to connect those
(05:57):
incredible students number oneto their personal network of
parents or guardians and then,of course, to the professionals
at the school, and we've beenincredibly successful.
We're just so grateful.
Fatima Bey (06:10):
I love, love, love, love, love what you guys do and
I believe in it because theredoes need to be a realistic
solution for our youth.
A lot of them we're talkingabout America right now in the
US they're lost, really lost,and they're not really being
(06:30):
given.
We're so politically correctthat we're not actually solving
any problems and that is hurtingthem tremendously.
And a lot of them they're notgoing to talk to the principal
and the staff there, because alot of staff there, because a
lot of the staff has to beclinically trained robots, so
(06:50):
they're less human in theirapproach and of course, this
isn't everywhere, but I'mtalking in general terms and
there's a very large disconnect.
One of the reasons I started thepodcast is because there's a
large disconnect between theadults who serve our youth and
our youth, and I love that youguys make that connection.
So let's take a deeper diveinto how you do that.
(07:10):
So you explain to us now.
You and I have talked aboutthis ahead of time.
So you send out text messages.
How do you send them out andwhat's in them?
Iuri Melo (07:22):
I love that.
So, one of the things that wedo in fact, I'm going to do one
a little bit later today and wedo it in a variety of ways but
when we walk into a school,right, I mean, the very first
thing that we want to do is wewant to deliver, like immediate
value, right.
And so one of the easy thingsthat we can immediately do is we
(07:42):
literally grab kind of a well,schools usually do this,
obviously like they provide aroster of their parents, a
roster of their students and webegin our proactive email
campaign.
And this is the simplest thingthat we do, and this is just one
thing that we do.
And every Monday, we deliverwhat I call kind of our student
success activities of the week.
(08:02):
Right, anything ranging fromyou know how to build confidence
, how to test better, how toimprove our relationships, how
to get rid of your states, right, these are just questions that
students have asked how to dealwith anxiety, how to deal with
stress?
Fatima Bey (08:17):
how to deal with depression.
Iuri Melo (08:19):
It's huge and we'll be happy to talk about that a
little bit as well.
But what we're talkingspecifically about with our
text-based support and that'sjust one piece that we offer
it's pretty innovative, but weactually provide schools with
these really cool posters withreally positive sayings and then
with the QR code, and studentsliterally just walk up to those
(08:41):
with their phone, they scan itand that's all they need to do.
They don't have to download anapplication.
Fatima Bey (08:47):
It's not an app.
Iuri Melo (08:48):
They don't have to create an account, they don't
have to create a password, theyjust immediately get a text on
their phone it's kind of wildthat says hey, welcome to School
Pulse.
And from that moment on, thatstudent is going to receive
proactive support every Tuesdayand Friday.
What that means is weproactively text them Tuesday
(09:10):
and every Friday, but then we'reavailable seven days a week
from 8 am to midnight, 365through the summer.
So this is one of the ways thatwe can walk into a school and
immediately amplify theirefforts, multiply their efforts,
because in a matter of secondswe could be chatting with
(09:30):
hundreds of their students, andespecially after school.
Right, I mean principals,administrators, counselors.
They need to go home too.
Fatima Bey (09:39):
They have to be with their own families.
They're overwhelmed.
They can't do everything theywant to do.
They are.
Iuri Melo (09:43):
Yeah, they are and, like you said, they're
overwhelmed.
They can't do everything theywant to do.
They are, yeah, they are, andwe actually recognize.
I think one of the things thatI've learned is I mean, we've
now chatted with hundreds andhundreds of schools and with
staff and I think that they'reactually trying really hard.
I mean, with maybe some fewexceptions of individuals that
may be struggling themselves,but I think they're trying.
I think they certainly see thechallenge.
(10:05):
I think they see the struggle.
They certainly feel it rightBecause it's happening in their
school, it's impacting theculture and atmosphere in their
school, but oftentimes they'rejust overwhelmed.
I'll give you an example, forexample, school counselors.
I think school counselorsreally want to counsel you.
Yeah, a lot of them do.
I think they spend a lot oftime dealing with scheduling and
(10:28):
things that are also necessary.
They're important.
I think they get it.
They end up dealing with theseother things that are less about
actually supporting theindividual student.
I agree, and so I think our roleis we want to come in number
one.
We want to give them awesometools that can assist them in
that process, but we also wantto multiply their efforts by
(10:51):
providing this additional levelof support that's just available
to kids and, by the way, toparents.
We have lots of parents who optin.
Everything is transparent.
We want parents to know exactlywhat's being sent to students,
and so we have lots of students,that lots of parents who
participate and, by the way, whonot only participate to kind of
see the incredible content thatwe're selling, we're sending to
(11:15):
students, but they themselvesare chatting with us about their
own struggles, whether it'sparents that are going through a
divorce or they're dealing withtheir own sadness, their own
anxiety, their own trauma, andwe just provide that level of
support which is really unheardof.
It's fabulous.
Fatima Bey (11:36):
What I'm hearing is that, by using a text message
method of reaching students,you're reaching people where
they are, which is a principle Italk about and teach a lot.
It's very important and you'realso a liaison between the
adults and the youth, and that,to me, is key in what is
absolutely necessary In ourschools and I'm speaking in
(12:00):
general terms the environmentsare, like I said so, politically
correct.
Real, actual conversationsthat'll give actual results are
not allowed to take place, soyou guys allow that little
leeway where they can just saywhatever they want to you and
you know, and you can reply orhelp them or however, but give
us an example of what some ofthese text messages look like.
Iuri Melo (12:20):
You bet I mean I'll give you an example of one just
yesterday and I think it'simportant to realize that, how
important the proactive piece intexting is.
I think that that's really akey part.
So it's the fact that we're notpassively waiting for students
to come to us.
We proactively reach out tothem Tuesday and Friday.
(12:43):
Tuesday with our brand newstudent activity, our brand new
student videos which, if you'dlike, I'd love to provide.
These are just free resourcesthat your parents, that your
listeners can use, but weprovide that every Tuesday.
It's fun, it's attractive, it'seasy to engage in.
And then on Friday, we actuallydo a variety of things.
We deliver other inspirationalcontent and then we also do four
(13:09):
questionnaires that kind of goevery other week and we measure
students' academic effort, wemeasure their opinion of how the
culture and atmosphere is attheir school.
Oh, that's an average data.
It's not individual to thestudent, to the school, which
(13:32):
actually allows it, informs themright it informs their ability
to intervene and to see, like,what is the actual pulse of my
student body, right, and so weprovide that to schools which
educates them and informs theirintervention tactics right in
the future.
But the texting what I wasgoing to jump in specifically
(13:54):
about proactive texting is 80%of our engagement with students
happens as a response to ourtext to them.
So, for example, our busiestdays on our inbox per se right
is our Tuesdays and Fridays by Imean by by a lot, because
that's when we proactively tapthem on the shoulder and say,
(14:15):
hey, check this out, like, hey,take a look at this, hey, what
do you think about this?
Or how are you feeling today,or how has your week been.
And when students are engagedwith, they respond, and that's
when we have these magicalconversations.
So, for example, yesterday weactually had a student that
reached out to us and told usabout two things.
(14:38):
They were actually talkingabout a student that was a
friend of theirs and she says Iwas having I mean, I'll
paraphrase, of course, but I washaving a conversation with a
friend of mine and while we werein the midst of this discussion
, she reported that she wasbeing hit at home, right, and
then, throughout thatconversation, she also expressed
(15:00):
some suicidal ideation.
And so this dear student andI'm telling you this is just
like heartwarming stuff thesestudents just reach out to us
and say, hey, like what should Ido?
My friend just said this shouldI call the Division of Child
and Family Services?
You know what do I do next?
Right, we support the students,we just love them really.
(15:41):
And then we do everything in ourpower to connect that student
to the counselor at our school,which then contacted a counselor
at the other school and gavethem the information about that
student that was reporting somephysical abuse and some suicidal
ideation.
Right, and I think that that'sthe strength of our program.
And you're absolutely right,flackyman, it is amazing to
(16:01):
realize, but we've been teens,we know how that is too.
Walking from that schoolclassroom or hallway and into
that counselor's office is notan easy walk.
It is not.
It is not an easy walk.
They don't quite know what toexpect.
They don't quite know if that'sthe right place.
Fatima Bey (16:19):
They also don't know if they can trust us.
So often kids don't yeah.
Iuri Melo (16:21):
They don't know if they can trust you.
Yet I think you're absolutelyright.
Fatima Bey (16:23):
And that matters.
Iuri Melo (16:24):
And I think that that's the beauty of our service
.
Right Is is this, is thisanonymous right we reach out, we
actually don't know who thatstudent is and that anonymity
other than yesterday suicidalideations being sexually
assaulted at home being abusedin any kind of way sexual or
physical or whatever.
Fatima Bey (16:59):
What about school shootings?
Has anybody ever reported that?
Iuri Melo (17:04):
Anybody ever reported that I have.
We have a lot of schools in alot of different places
throughout the United States.
I mean all the way fromCalifornia to New York, to
Florida, to Washington, to Idaho, and so there's just a variety.
But I'll tell you an example,and this was I don't know if you
recall it was in December, Iactually don't remember the
(17:25):
exact date, but it was inWisconsin.
I actually don't remember theexact date, but it was in
Wisconsin.
There was that school shooting.
Isn't it sad that those thingsare happening so often?
It's just a tragedy that weserve in Wisconsin and there was
a student there who was willingenough they had built enough of
(17:54):
a rapport and a trustingrelationship with us that they
expressed some homicidalideation to us, that they
expressed some thoughts likethat.
And number one, we're just sohonored, right, why does that
matter so much?
I constantly tell people like,whatever we talk about, we begin
to control.
Whatever we don't talk aboutcontrols us.
(18:15):
And so when kids, yeah, andwhen kids come to us, and even
just the act of expressing itright, of getting it out of
their heads and saying it orwriting it or texting it, that
in and of itself is therapeutic.
And so when students expressthat, not only were we able at
that point right to obviouslyprovide support and resources,
(18:38):
but we were able to identifythat student and connect them to
their principal, who was ableto intervene.
And so on that day, the verysame day, we had one very tragic
incident and another incidentthat no one will ever know about
because we were able tointervene.
And of course I'm not trying tosay that we stopped the school
(19:00):
shooting, because I can't saythat particularly.
All I know I can say you did, isthat we yeah, I think 99.9,
particularly All I know I cansay you did 99.9% chance that
you did, yeah, and all I can say, right, is that we had a dear
student that was willing enough,that was brave enough to share
some of his own mental concernsand we were able to intervene.
(19:21):
And we've had that all the wayto other specific situations
where we have schools with lotsof gang activity and we have
students who have reportedschool shootings, gang shootings
, or sometimes even in the midstof those things happening.
We've had them warn aboutspecific events that were going
to happen.
And the beauty of it is all theway from students who have
(19:44):
reported right, I mean thatthere was physical or sexual
abuse going on even within theschool.
So, and schools are justgrateful, right, they're just,
they're just doing the best thatthey can.
We know that they'reunderfunded, overrun, in a sense
.
Fatima Bey (19:57):
Yeah.
Iuri Melo (19:57):
And so we're just happy to come in what I feel is
is an incredibly affordable andeffective way and just provide
some additional supportincredibly affordable and
effective way and just providesome additional support.
Fatima Bey (20:08):
So I think that's awesome.
And I also want to point outthe fact that students will let
you know about something as assensitive as I'm being abused at
home.
Uh, we'll let you know that youknow what these guys are
beefing is about to be ashootout.
The fact that they feel willingto open up to you and say that
to me, that says how effectiveyou actually are, Because it is
not easy to get teens to respondto anything adults do really.
(20:33):
And if they feel safe that'ssomething I learned about teens
If they feel safe, they'll openup.
But they have to feel safe first.
They have to feel like there'snot going to be an attack.
There's not going to be.
You can't say this oh, that'snot right, Don't say it that way
, there's not going to be any ofthat crap, it's just going to
be.
You need help, we can help you.
What can we do?
And just that simple basicfoundation of just that makes a
(20:59):
difference.
And then being able to feellike, okay, it's safe.
They don't know who I am.
I can be honest, I can expressmyself, because unfortunately,
in today's modern school society, expressing their self in
reality is not allowed.
So how are you supposed to get,how are we supposed to get our
(21:25):
kids to fix anything if theycan't even really express
themselves because they're goingto be shut down one way or the
other?
And there are exceptions tothat, but when I'm speaking in
general terms, but for theschools where that's not true,
they're the exceptions and notthe rule, and I think that's
part of the problem.
But what I like is that you'reoffering a solution and you're
not saying I'm going to replaceeverything in your school.
You are saying I'm going tocome alongside and work with the
school Because, like you said,in some schools they are trying
(21:49):
the best they can, but they arelimited resources.
And what are those resources?
Are humans, Limited resources,funding employees, limited
resources with actual digitalresources, whatever it is, but
having a space where kids cancome and actually be honest and
real, but having a space wherekids can come and actually be
honest and real, that's a really, really, really big deal.
Iuri Melo (22:08):
So text message what text messages you send out to to
the team yesterday.
I love it.
Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll, youknow, I'll, I'll open it up
right now.
We actually had, so I'll justopen it up.
I hope I didn't lose him.
I still on your screen, yeah,yeah, oh, I guess we're just
recording.
That's right.
(22:31):
That's right.
So here's the message that wentout.
That's right.
Sorry about that, sorry, I'mjust rolling down to it because
I.
So here's the one that went outon Tuesday, right?
So we actually have a video,and this is not just questions
that students will ask usspecifically about, like
following the crowd, but theseare actually, you know things.
Once again, as we've spoken toschools, as we speak to school
counselors, as I speak toprincipals, who at times have to
(22:51):
deal with disciplinary issuesas well, right, but we actually
sent out a video.
It's a following the crowdvideo and the question that
comes out there's a little imagethat just says following the
crowd, and then there's aquestion below it that just says
have you ever gotten in troublefor following the crowd?
Right, this is a tough choice,for sure, but I think I have
some ideas for you.
Check out this video and takethe quiz, and we just provide a
(23:14):
link right there.
The kids can open it, they canwatch a short, inspiring, fun
video that's not cheesy, Ipromise, and they can take a
little quiz and they can justkind of see where they're at.
The one below the one above thatis on Friday, we send lots of
content that I think is kind offunny.
We actually have a littlepicture of a person sleeping in
(23:35):
a room with a mosquito and thenthere's a little thing that says
if you think you're too smallto make a difference, try
spending the night in a closedroom with the mosquito.
And then just a little quotethat says start where you are,
use what you have and do whatyou can.
And it's just that simple.
I mean, there are just littlemessages, just like that we have
(23:55):
.
The previous Tuesday we had onespecific video about how to deal
with fighting and conflictbetter.
So it's just we're constantlyproactively.
Once again, that's kind of thekey.
We're proactively Okay.
We want to plant these ideasinside their mind that are
benign, and I really want to saythis because you're right,
(24:33):
fakima, we are walking intostate and federal institutions
and so our content has to bebenign, it has to be friendly,
it has to go out to parents.
It has to go to schools in away that schools can look at all
that content and go.
I can absolutely send this to aparent and it's not going to
(24:54):
blow up in my face, right.
Fatima Bey (24:56):
Because a lot of times administrators are just
fearful, right.
I don't even know what I canshare.
Iuri Melo (25:01):
I don't know what I can talk about.
I don't know what I can share,uh, and so what?
We've worked incredibly hardwith schools to make sure that
our content right.
Number one is growth mindset,specific is positive psychology.
It's full of that and it's fullof cognitive strategies, right,
that are kind of the goldstandard, in a sense, that will
(25:23):
assist these students in a waythat is not politically charged,
that's not going to offend them, and we have had countless
parent board meetings to addressthese things and not once even
all the way from the mostliberal to the most conservative
throughout the country, right,and we have had parents.
(25:45):
Our resources are available toall, they're transparent to
everyone, and we've heardnothing but just extraordinary
reviews from them.
Fatima Bey (25:56):
This is awesome.
Iuri Melo (25:57):
Yeah, it's very important.
Fatima Bey (25:59):
What are the other methods?
I know that there's moremethods than just texting.
What are the other methods that?
What are the other things thatSchool Pulse does?
Sure?
Iuri Melo (26:07):
Yeah.
So the email is I alwaysmentioned that one first because
that's just the easiest.
The email is I always mentionthat one first because that's
just the easiest, right?
I mean, we can walk into aschool and immediately the
school can adopt this approachof just sending one proactive
email we don't want to spampeople.
One email per week where wedeliver that student success
activity that matches the onethat's happening at the school
(26:30):
for the week.
So this goes out to everyparent so that they can be aware
like hey, here's what we'refocusing on this week.
It goes out to every studentand this is just a simple way to
make sure that we are reachingevery student.
So at schools they usually kindof have a tiered system.
They want to make sure thatthey do things that reach every
student.
They want to make sure thatthey provide some additional
(26:52):
support for students who may bestruggling, and then at the tier
three level, they want to makesure if there are students who
are really struggling, they canprovide those supports.
And so one of our jobs is to bea whole school tier one type
solution.
That means we want to providetools that will not burden staff
.
Yes, yes, yes, once that emailcampaign is started, they don't
(27:14):
have to touch it.
So this is like a one touch andthen let it go, plug and play.
True, plug and play.
The text is another one ofthose right Once the student is
opted in unless there's anemergency, that we're going to
communicate with that school,like we are literally offering
that support.
The school doesn't have totouch that.
Fatima Bey (27:32):
Go ahead.
Speaking of texting, I thinkyou mentioned in a very
important number to me that Ithink the audience needs to hear
.
So anytime we're opted intosubscribe to this, you get this
text, blah, blah, blah.
We often unsubscribe, right,sure, sure.
What is the percentage ofunsubscribe from these teenage
(27:53):
students that get text messagesfrom you?
What is the unsubscribe ratefor school books?
Iuri Melo (27:59):
I'm glad you asked that because it really is
amazing and it honestly amazesme because I want you to think
that in some of these cases,fatima, we are proactively
texting students for years.
Wow, like it's wild.
It's wild Like we have studentsthat will go and our program
(28:21):
specifically targets aboutseventh grade to 12th grade.
So it's kind of middle, middleschool, junior high, that's kind
of where our content is focused, but we have less than 3% of
students opt out of our service,which is just awesome.
Fatima Bey (28:36):
What?
Less than 3%?
I think that's crazy.
Less than 3% opt out?
I think that's actually crazybecause I can't think of
anything else where that's thecase, even like outside of
school, just anything.
Iuri Melo (28:46):
And just think Tuesday and Friday, like I mean
you're going to get a littletext Tuesday and Friday, like I
mean you're going to get alittle tech and and of course,
right, we, we try to make thecontent attractive, funny,
engaging, and of course thisdoesn't mean that students
engage with us on a week to weekbasis.
I mean we have students whowill go and just in a sense
receive our content for monthsand then they will talk and then
(29:10):
they'll kind of go on a pauseand then you have to plant seeds
and wait for the buds to sprout.
Fatima Bey (29:17):
And that's what you guys do you plant seeds.
I'm always talking aboutthought seeds, everything.
Fatima Bay, the mind shifter,is talking about thought seeds,
because that's what I do too.
But you're planting those seedsin our youth and then you see
the manifestation of the.
You know the buzz starting tosprout up Months later, a year
later, the fact that they don'tunsubscribe and they're done
(29:39):
with high schooling.
They still taking your messages.
To me, that says that it addsvalue.
Now, one key thing before we goI want to make sure that we
point out as well is you helpstudents to connect with their
parents.
How do you do that?
Iuri Melo (29:53):
So we do it in a variety of ways and that's
always our first line of defense.
So when you have number one,I'll tell you this way.
So our proactive emailing thatgoes out to parents, that's what
we actually we believe inparent development, right.
So we want to assist parents.
So part of our proactivecampaign to deliver these
(30:14):
student success tools to parentsis to do that, is to help to
engage them with their ownstudent who may be struggling
with their academic grades, whomay be struggling in their
sports, who may be strugglingwith their friends, who may be
struggling, and we're literallyproviding parents in a very easy
way with tools that they canconnect with their kids.
(30:35):
So that's one way, right, as weproactively just deliver this
to them, so that we're givingthem resources that are fun,
that aren't geeky or dorky butthey're fun, and that are packed
with actual solutions andtactics, not just kind of
metaphorical or justphilosophical.
(30:56):
And trust me, I actually.
I mean, I love to talk theory,like I really do, like I could
talk philosophy and abstractthings all the time.
I just enjoy that, to be honest.
But I realized that, withparents and students, we have to
deliver steps like do this andthis and this, try this, because
(31:18):
I would feel like that'shelpful.
So that's one way.
The other way, of course, iswhen we're actively engaging
with students right over text,and students report these things
to us, and our goal is alwaysto connect that student first to
their family, like that's wherewe ought to be connecting them,
and the way that that happensis we actually we ask the
(31:41):
student for their own personalinformation so that we can
connect them to their parent.
I will tell you, though, I wouldsay about 85% of our
interventions happen through theschool, so that means the
student is more willing to giveus the name of their counselor,
or the counselor at the schoolor the student.
(32:02):
We usually ask for thestudent's identification number
so that then we can connect themto the counselor, and then the
counselor connects them to theparents.
More often than not, that's howour interventions work, is they
go through the professionals atthe school, connects them to
the parents.
More often than not, that's howour interventions work is they
go through the professionals atthe school and then to the
parent, but they end there,which is really where they ought
to be right.
That's where we want thoseinterventions to go.
Fatima Bey (32:24):
And that's the liaison piece you mentioned
something else.
Iuri Melo (32:26):
Oh yeah, that's right .
That's right.
And you mentioned specificallywhat are some of the other
things that we offer, and I'lljust share one more, one of the
things that we do, just becauseI really love this one, because
we're constantly trying to solvefor the problem right.
What is the problem right?
And one of the things that wesee.
In fact, I was having aconversation I'll be honest here
(32:47):
with one of my own kids, wentand spoke to the vice principal
specifically about kind of adisciplinary issue and as I was
talking to this principal, hesaid Yuri, this is what I do all
day.
It's one of the vice principals, a good friend of mine, and he
said I spend all day dealingwith discipline issues, all the
(33:09):
way from tardiness to disruptingthe behavior environment, the
learning environment, tofighting, to gossiping, to
relationship issues, to kidssaying discriminatory stuff in
the hallways.
I mean you can imagine all ofit, right?
And he says I spend all daydoing that.
And so what we did is we createdthese activities.
(33:32):
As part of it, with our videosthat can be assigned
individually, we've identifiedthe 23, the 24 topics, the 24
areas that principals say weconstantly deal with these
things and we have providedthese activities that they can
assign individually to thestudent and the parent.
(33:53):
So this is another way that weconnect those parents is
whenever and I call this this iscalled our restorative practice
, or restorative justice is kindof a common term that's
utilized in schools.
So we provide schools withthese ready to deliver
assignable activities that theycan assign.
Let's say, a student is dealingwith tardiness, instead of just
(34:13):
suspending them.
Or maybe they're fighting, ormaybe there's substance misuse
going on, instead of justsuspending or expelling these
students, what we want to offeris these positive alternatives
to suspension.
Let's not suspend, let's notexclude.
Instead, let's teach them,let's educate them.
(34:34):
They're not there yet.
Let's give them the tools tosucceed.
And that's another way is whenthose principals or vice
principals assigned thoseassignments, the parent is
included, so the parent isn'tleft in the dark.
It's a really easy way for themto become part of that solution
which we know will deliverbetter outcomes in the long haul
(34:54):
anyways.
Fatima Bey (34:55):
So if there's a school that is interested in
adding school pulse to theirsystem, or if there's a teenager
out there that wants to justbecome a part of school pulse,
how do they find you?
Iuri Melo (35:09):
You know, if you go to our website, that's the
easiest way Just go toschoolpulseorg and that's pulse
as in your heart, pulse, uh.
So schoolpulseorg, and thereyou can find a way for you to
reach out to myself, uh,individually.
And then also there we actuallyhave a little demo number.
So if you have a student, or ifyou have, or you yourself, or
(35:31):
if you as a parent want toengage, we have a demo number
that runs exactly like our textcampaign to the students.
So it's no different and you'restill receiving live support.
You're welcome to go to ourwebsite and get your student,
your teen, opted into that.
In fact, I mean you can join inyourself and see it for
yourself and then, if you loveit, add your kid to it.
(35:52):
I think you will love it and,for whatever reason, if you
don't don't, I mean it's assimple as that, but it's right
there for you.
I think you'll be impressed withour resources.
If you want, fatima, I willshare some of those with you,
all of our videos.
We'd love to give you all ofthose so that your listeners can
access our mental healthresource.
(36:12):
That's.
The other thing that we offeris that comprehensive library
that's just accessible toschools.
We created that very brieflybecause, as we've looked now
through thousands of schools'websites, we honestly find that
schools have nothing.
They have no mental health, nostudent wellness, no student
(36:35):
success resources available, andI honestly just couldn't
believe that, and so we justcreated it for them, and that's
one of the first things that wegive schools the moment we walk
in is we give them anindividualized link with their
own logo and just our incredibleresources that they can put
there Just immediately, increaseaccessibility to good, positive
(36:59):
, evidence-based, vetted content.
Fatima Bey (37:02):
And that is awesome.
Well, for the audiencelistening, your schoolpulseorg
will be in the show notes or thepodcast description, so you can
just click on the link thereand make sure you explore his
site.
There's a lot of resourcesavailable there.
And thank you, erie, for comingon.
(37:23):
I really do appreciate all thatyou're doing for our youth and
and for you coming on the show.
Iuri Melo (37:29):
You've been an absolute pleasure.
Keep mind shifting, keepshifting those minds.
I love your nickname, the mindshifter.
It feels very mysterious, mindshifter.
I love it, I love it.
Anyways, I really appreciateyou.
You bet it's good to make afriend.
Fatima Bey (37:48):
And now for a mind-shifting moment.
I want you to think about this.
What School Pulse is doing herein the US is desperately needed
at every school in the US Arealistic way for our youth to
(38:16):
get some help that they need.
We all know there's not enoughtherapists out there for what's
really needed, and even then tofind the good ones is slim
pickings.
I absolutely love that.
School Pulse is doing somethingrealistic to help our youth.
The anonymity that they offeris a part of it.
What I want you to think aboutwe know what School Pulse is
doing to help our youth.
(38:37):
They're being a part of thesolution.
What are you doing?
What are you doing?
And if the answer is nothing,okay, what can you do to make a
difference for our youth, adifference you don't have to
save the world.
Are you making a difference forsomeone in your neighborhood,
(38:59):
for your niece or nephew thatyou know is hurting?
I want you to ask yourself whatam I doing?
Thank you for listening.
Be sure to follow or subscribeto MindShift Power Podcast on
any of our worldwide platformsso you, too, can be a part of
the conversation that's changingyoung lives everywhere.
(39:22):
And always remember there'spower in shifting your thinking.
Welcome to MindShift Power Podcast, the only
international podcast focused onteens, connecting young voices
and perspectives from around theworld.
Get ready to explore the issuesthat matter to today's youth
and shape tomorrow's world.
I'm your host, fatima Bey theMindShifter, and welcome
(00:24):
everyone.
Today, we have with us UriMello.
He is out of Utah and he is theco-founder of School Pulse, and
I'm going to let him tell youabout himself and why he's here
today.
How are you today, uri?
Iuri Melo (00:39):
Fatima, I am fabulous and thank you so much for
inviting me.
I'm ready to rock and roll withyou.
Girl, let's go.
Fatima Bey (00:46):
All right, so tell the audience about yourself.
Who are you?
Iuri Melo (00:49):
Sure, so I'm, first of all, I'm a married man.
I'm a father of five seriouslyincredible kids that I'm just
inspired by all the time.
I've actually been a licensedclinical social worker for about
20 years, mostly in privatepractice, and honestly, the
experience that I've gotten as aresult of that just meeting
(01:09):
people knee to knee, righteyeball to eyeball, like I'm
sure you've done, fatima is justso incredible.
About seven years ago I startedSchool Pulse and I'm sure we'll
chat about it a little bit moreor maybe even kind of how I
started that.
But really what we do, or whatwe want to be specifically for
schools and for adolescents, iswe just want to be a fabulous
(01:32):
solution that is coherent, thatis streamlined and that provides
kids with proactive tools to besuccessful in their
relationships obviouslysuccessful in schools and often
schools are really concernedabout suicide prevention and
student wellness and things likethat and we just want to
provide schools with an easysolution that they can apply and
(01:55):
adopt immediately.
So, just very briefly, that's alittle bit about me.
I live, like I said, like youmentioned, I live in Southern
Utah, which is about an hour and45 minutes away from Las Vegas.
It's just this wonderful place.
Love to rock climb, love to run, love to spend time with my
kids.
It's a good time.
Fatima Bey (02:14):
So tell us a little bit more about School Pulse.
You explained it briefly, butwhat is School Pulse?
Iuri Melo (02:22):
Yeah.
So School Pulse is a servicethat we offer to schools and
districts, and even statewide.
So schools have kind of amandate, or districts have a
mandate throughout the countryto provide suicide prevention,
to provide mental healthsupports and resources for
students and for parents.
And so what we've done is we'vetaken a lot of time to listen to
(02:44):
principals, to listen to schoolcounselors, to listen to
superintendents and find outwhat it is that they want, what
problems are they attempting tosolve, what challenges are they
facing when they're having todeal with students?
And what we found is and thisis not going to be news to you
is that school counselors andadministrators are just
(03:05):
overwhelmed.
They're overwhelmed not justwith the demands that are given
to them through the state, butthey're also overwhelmed with
the demand that students areputting upon them.
I mean we know that 60 to 70percent of teachers are dealing
with students who are goingthrough mental health concerns,
(03:27):
mental health challenges.
We know that our rates ofdepression, our rates of anxiety
, our rates of student suicide,our rates of students who are
self-harming are well above thenorms, the highest that they've
ever been and this of course, istranslating into schools, right
.
And so here are these principalsright.
(03:47):
Who's really the primary roleis?
We want to provide someeducation for these kids, but,
of course, when we're not wellright, when we're not mentally
well, when we're not emotionallywell, learning becomes very
difficult, and oftentimes ourdecision-making, you knowmaking,
is challenged during that timeas well.
And so our goal is, in a verysimple way, is we want to
(04:09):
provide tools for theseadministrators, we want to
provide tools for thesecounselors.
In fact, we've created the mostrobust, the most complete
mental health resource for teensin the country, our program,
which we offer in a variety ofways.
We provide live text-basedsupport to students, and one of
(04:29):
our roles and I think this isreally important to me, fatima
is, I think a lot of times, Ifind that we kind of enter this
passive and reactive mode.
In a sense, we're almost kind ofwaiting for crisis to happen,
and then we're kind of jumpingat the intervention right, like
we're waiting until students aresuicidal, and then we provide
(04:53):
resources in front of them.
And what we wanted to do isreally come to students
proactively right and build whatin psychology we call our
protective factors right, thethings that create confidence,
the things that build ourability to learn, instead of
just focusing on the riskfactors.
(05:15):
And so we proactively go tostudents via email, we
proactively go to students viatext and then we provide them
with live text-based support inaddition to our incredible
resources that we provide toschools.
I kind of jokingly say thatthis is like a Nobel
Prize-winning service that we'reoffering, but the reality is we
(05:37):
have had those kinds ofconversations with students who
are just actively suicidal orwho may be self-harming, or who
may even have homicidal ideationor who are reporting physical
or sexual abuse.
And we're just honored, to behonest, we're just honored to be
there, to provide support andto help to connect those
(05:57):
incredible students number oneto their personal network of
parents or guardians and then,of course, to the professionals
at the school, and we've beenincredibly successful.
We're just so grateful.
Fatima Bey (06:10):
I love, love, love, love, love what you guys do and
I believe in it because theredoes need to be a realistic
solution for our youth.
A lot of them we're talkingabout America right now in the
US they're lost, really lost,and they're not really being
(06:30):
given.
We're so politically correctthat we're not actually solving
any problems and that is hurtingthem tremendously.
And a lot of them they're notgoing to talk to the principal
and the staff there, because alot of staff there, because a
lot of the staff has to beclinically trained robots, so
(06:50):
they're less human in theirapproach and of course, this
isn't everywhere, but I'mtalking in general terms and
there's a very large disconnect.
One of the reasons I started thepodcast is because there's a
large disconnect between theadults who serve our youth and
our youth, and I love that youguys make that connection.
So let's take a deeper diveinto how you do that.
(07:10):
So you explain to us now.
You and I have talked aboutthis ahead of time.
So you send out text messages.
How do you send them out andwhat's in them?
Iuri Melo (07:22):
I love that.
So, one of the things that wedo in fact, I'm going to do one
a little bit later today and wedo it in a variety of ways but
when we walk into a school,right, I mean, the very first
thing that we want to do is wewant to deliver, like immediate
value, right.
And so one of the easy thingsthat we can immediately do is we
(07:42):
literally grab kind of a well,schools usually do this,
obviously like they provide aroster of their parents, a
roster of their students and webegin our proactive email
campaign.
And this is the simplest thingthat we do, and this is just one
thing that we do.
And every Monday, we deliverwhat I call kind of our student
success activities of the week.
(08:02):
Right, anything ranging fromyou know how to build confidence
, how to test better, how toimprove our relationships, how
to get rid of your states, right, these are just questions that
students have asked how to dealwith anxiety, how to deal with
stress?
Fatima Bey (08:17):
how to deal with depression.
Iuri Melo (08:19):
It's huge and we'll be happy to talk about that a
little bit as well.
But what we're talkingspecifically about with our
text-based support and that'sjust one piece that we offer
it's pretty innovative, but weactually provide schools with
these really cool posters withreally positive sayings and then
with the QR code, and studentsliterally just walk up to those
(08:41):
with their phone, they scan itand that's all they need to do.
They don't have to download anapplication.
Fatima Bey (08:47):
It's not an app.
Iuri Melo (08:48):
They don't have to create an account, they don't
have to create a password, theyjust immediately get a text on
their phone it's kind of wildthat says hey, welcome to School
Pulse.
And from that moment on, thatstudent is going to receive
proactive support every Tuesdayand Friday.
What that means is weproactively text them Tuesday
(09:10):
and every Friday, but then we'reavailable seven days a week
from 8 am to midnight, 365through the summer.
So this is one of the ways thatwe can walk into a school and
immediately amplify theirefforts, multiply their efforts,
because in a matter of secondswe could be chatting with
(09:30):
hundreds of their students, andespecially after school.
Right, I mean principals,administrators, counselors.
They need to go home too.
Fatima Bey (09:39):
They have to be with their own families.
They're overwhelmed.
They can't do everything theywant to do.
They are.
Iuri Melo (09:43):
Yeah, they are and, like you said, they're
overwhelmed.
They can't do everything theywant to do.
They are, yeah, they are, andwe actually recognize.
I think one of the things thatI've learned is I mean, we've
now chatted with hundreds andhundreds of schools and with
staff and I think that they'reactually trying really hard.
I mean, with maybe some fewexceptions of individuals that
may be struggling themselves,but I think they're trying.
I think they certainly see thechallenge.
(10:05):
I think they see the struggle.
They certainly feel it rightBecause it's happening in their
school, it's impacting theculture and atmosphere in their
school, but oftentimes they'rejust overwhelmed.
I'll give you an example, forexample, school counselors.
I think school counselorsreally want to counsel you.
Yeah, a lot of them do.
I think they spend a lot oftime dealing with scheduling and
(10:28):
things that are also necessary.
They're important.
I think they get it.
They end up dealing with theseother things that are less about
actually supporting theindividual student.
I agree, and so I think our roleis we want to come in number
one.
We want to give them awesometools that can assist them in
that process, but we also wantto multiply their efforts by
(10:51):
providing this additional levelof support that's just available
to kids and, by the way, toparents.
We have lots of parents who optin.
Everything is transparent.
We want parents to know exactlywhat's being sent to students,
and so we have lots of students,that lots of parents who
participate and, by the way, whonot only participate to kind of
see the incredible content thatwe're selling, we're sending to
(11:15):
students, but they themselvesare chatting with us about their
own struggles, whether it'sparents that are going through a
divorce or they're dealing withtheir own sadness, their own
anxiety, their own trauma, andwe just provide that level of
support which is really unheardof.
It's fabulous.
Fatima Bey (11:36):
What I'm hearing is that, by using a text message
method of reaching students,you're reaching people where
they are, which is a principle Italk about and teach a lot.
It's very important and you'realso a liaison between the
adults and the youth, and that,to me, is key in what is
absolutely necessary In ourschools and I'm speaking in
(12:00):
general terms the environmentsare, like I said so, politically
correct.
Real, actual conversationsthat'll give actual results are
not allowed to take place, soyou guys allow that little
leeway where they can just saywhatever they want to you and
you know, and you can reply orhelp them or however, but give
us an example of what some ofthese text messages look like.
Iuri Melo (12:20):
You bet I mean I'll give you an example of one just
yesterday and I think it'simportant to realize that, how
important the proactive piece intexting is.
I think that that's really akey part.
So it's the fact that we're notpassively waiting for students
to come to us.
We proactively reach out tothem Tuesday and Friday.
(12:43):
Tuesday with our brand newstudent activity, our brand new
student videos which, if you'dlike, I'd love to provide.
These are just free resourcesthat your parents, that your
listeners can use, but weprovide that every Tuesday.
It's fun, it's attractive, it'seasy to engage in.
And then on Friday, we actuallydo a variety of things.
We deliver other inspirationalcontent and then we also do four
(13:09):
questionnaires that kind of goevery other week and we measure
students' academic effort, wemeasure their opinion of how the
culture and atmosphere is attheir school.
Oh, that's an average data.
It's not individual to thestudent, to the school, which
(13:32):
actually allows it, informs themright it informs their ability
to intervene and to see, like,what is the actual pulse of my
student body, right, and so weprovide that to schools which
educates them and informs theirintervention tactics right in
the future.
But the texting what I wasgoing to jump in specifically
(13:54):
about proactive texting is 80%of our engagement with students
happens as a response to ourtext to them.
So, for example, our busiestdays on our inbox per se right
is our Tuesdays and Fridays by Imean by by a lot, because
that's when we proactively tapthem on the shoulder and say,
(14:15):
hey, check this out, like, hey,take a look at this, hey, what
do you think about this?
Or how are you feeling today,or how has your week been.
And when students are engagedwith, they respond, and that's
when we have these magicalconversations.
So, for example, yesterday weactually had a student that
reached out to us and told usabout two things.
(14:38):
They were actually talkingabout a student that was a
friend of theirs and she says Iwas having I mean, I'll
paraphrase, of course, but I washaving a conversation with a
friend of mine and while we werein the midst of this discussion
, she reported that she wasbeing hit at home, right, and
then, throughout thatconversation, she also expressed
(15:00):
some suicidal ideation.
And so this dear student andI'm telling you this is just
like heartwarming stuff thesestudents just reach out to us
and say, hey, like what should Ido?
My friend just said this shouldI call the Division of Child
and Family Services?
You know what do I do next?
Right, we support the students,we just love them really.
(15:41):
And then we do everything in ourpower to connect that student
to the counselor at our school,which then contacted a counselor
at the other school and gavethem the information about that
student that was reporting somephysical abuse and some suicidal
ideation.
Right, and I think that that'sthe strength of our program.
And you're absolutely right,flackyman, it is amazing to
(16:01):
realize, but we've been teens,we know how that is too.
Walking from that schoolclassroom or hallway and into
that counselor's office is notan easy walk.
It is not.
It is not an easy walk.
They don't quite know what toexpect.
They don't quite know if that'sthe right place.
Fatima Bey (16:19):
They also don't know if they can trust us.
So often kids don't yeah.
Iuri Melo (16:21):
They don't know if they can trust you.
Yet I think you're absolutelyright.
Fatima Bey (16:23):
And that matters.
Iuri Melo (16:24):
And I think that that's the beauty of our service
.
Right Is is this, is thisanonymous right we reach out, we
actually don't know who thatstudent is and that anonymity
other than yesterday suicidalideations being sexually
assaulted at home being abusedin any kind of way sexual or
physical or whatever.
Fatima Bey (16:59):
What about school shootings?
Has anybody ever reported that?
Iuri Melo (17:04):
Anybody ever reported that I have.
We have a lot of schools in alot of different places
throughout the United States.
I mean all the way fromCalifornia to New York, to
Florida, to Washington, to Idaho, and so there's just a variety.
But I'll tell you an example,and this was I don't know if you
recall it was in December, Iactually don't remember the
(17:25):
exact date, but it was inWisconsin.
I actually don't remember theexact date, but it was in
Wisconsin.
There was that school shooting.
Isn't it sad that those thingsare happening so often?
It's just a tragedy that weserve in Wisconsin and there was
a student there who was willingenough they had built enough of
(17:54):
a rapport and a trustingrelationship with us that they
expressed some homicidalideation to us, that they
expressed some thoughts likethat.
And number one, we're just sohonored, right, why does that
matter so much?
I constantly tell people like,whatever we talk about, we begin
to control.
Whatever we don't talk aboutcontrols us.
(18:15):
And so when kids, yeah, andwhen kids come to us, and even
just the act of expressing itright, of getting it out of
their heads and saying it orwriting it or texting it, that
in and of itself is therapeutic.
And so when students expressthat, not only were we able at
that point right to obviouslyprovide support and resources,
(18:38):
but we were able to identifythat student and connect them to
their principal, who was ableto intervene.
And so on that day, the verysame day, we had one very tragic
incident and another incidentthat no one will ever know about
because we were able tointervene.
And of course I'm not trying tosay that we stopped the school
(19:00):
shooting, because I can't saythat particularly.
All I know I can say you did, isthat we yeah, I think 99.9,
particularly All I know I cansay you did 99.9% chance that
you did, yeah, and all I can say, right, is that we had a dear
student that was willing enough,that was brave enough to share
some of his own mental concernsand we were able to intervene.
(19:21):
And we've had that all the wayto other specific situations
where we have schools with lotsof gang activity and we have
students who have reportedschool shootings, gang shootings
, or sometimes even in the midstof those things happening.
We've had them warn aboutspecific events that were going
to happen.
And the beauty of it is all theway from students who have
(19:44):
reported right, I mean thatthere was physical or sexual
abuse going on even within theschool.
So, and schools are justgrateful, right, they're just,
they're just doing the best thatthey can.
We know that they'reunderfunded, overrun, in a sense
.
Fatima Bey (19:57):
Yeah.
Iuri Melo (19:57):
And so we're just happy to come in what I feel is
is an incredibly affordable andeffective way and just provide
some additional supportincredibly affordable and
effective way and just providesome additional support.
Fatima Bey (20:08):
So I think that's awesome.
And I also want to point outthe fact that students will let
you know about something as assensitive as I'm being abused at
home.
Uh, we'll let you know that youknow what these guys are
beefing is about to be ashootout.
The fact that they feel willingto open up to you and say that
to me, that says how effectiveyou actually are, Because it is
not easy to get teens to respondto anything adults do really.
(20:33):
And if they feel safe that'ssomething I learned about teens
If they feel safe, they'll openup.
But they have to feel safe first.
They have to feel like there'snot going to be an attack.
There's not going to be.
You can't say this oh, that'snot right, Don't say it that way
, there's not going to be any ofthat crap, it's just going to
be.
You need help, we can help you.
What can we do?
And just that simple basicfoundation of just that makes a
(20:59):
difference.
And then being able to feellike, okay, it's safe.
They don't know who I am.
I can be honest, I can expressmyself, because unfortunately,
in today's modern school society, expressing their self in
reality is not allowed.
So how are you supposed to get,how are we supposed to get our
(21:25):
kids to fix anything if theycan't even really express
themselves because they're goingto be shut down one way or the
other?
And there are exceptions tothat, but when I'm speaking in
general terms, but for theschools where that's not true,
they're the exceptions and notthe rule, and I think that's
part of the problem.
But what I like is that you'reoffering a solution and you're
not saying I'm going to replaceeverything in your school.
You are saying I'm going tocome alongside and work with the
school Because, like you said,in some schools they are trying
(21:49):
the best they can, but they arelimited resources.
And what are those resources?
Are humans, Limited resources,funding employees, limited
resources with actual digitalresources, whatever it is, but
having a space where kids cancome and actually be honest and
real, but having a space wherekids can come and actually be
honest and real, that's a really, really, really big deal.
Iuri Melo (22:08):
So text message what text messages you send out to to
the team yesterday.
I love it.
Yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll, youknow, I'll, I'll open it up
right now.
We actually had, so I'll justopen it up.
I hope I didn't lose him.
I still on your screen, yeah,yeah, oh, I guess we're just
recording.
That's right.
(22:31):
That's right.
So here's the message that wentout.
That's right.
Sorry about that, sorry, I'mjust rolling down to it because
I.
So here's the one that went outon Tuesday, right?
So we actually have a video,and this is not just questions
that students will ask usspecifically about, like
following the crowd, but theseare actually, you know things.
Once again, as we've spoken toschools, as we speak to school
counselors, as I speak toprincipals, who at times have to
(22:51):
deal with disciplinary issuesas well, right, but we actually
sent out a video.
It's a following the crowdvideo and the question that
comes out there's a little imagethat just says following the
crowd, and then there's aquestion below it that just says
have you ever gotten in troublefor following the crowd?
Right, this is a tough choice,for sure, but I think I have
some ideas for you.
Check out this video and takethe quiz, and we just provide a
(23:14):
link right there.
The kids can open it, they canwatch a short, inspiring, fun
video that's not cheesy, Ipromise, and they can take a
little quiz and they can justkind of see where they're at.
The one below the one above thatis on Friday, we send lots of
content that I think is kind offunny.
We actually have a littlepicture of a person sleeping in
(23:35):
a room with a mosquito and thenthere's a little thing that says
if you think you're too smallto make a difference, try
spending the night in a closedroom with the mosquito.
And then just a little quotethat says start where you are,
use what you have and do whatyou can.
And it's just that simple.
I mean, there are just littlemessages, just like that we have
(23:55):
.
The previous Tuesday we had onespecific video about how to deal
with fighting and conflictbetter.
So it's just we're constantlyproactively.
Once again, that's kind of thekey.
We're proactively Okay.
We want to plant these ideasinside their mind that are
benign, and I really want to saythis because you're right,
(24:33):
fakima, we are walking intostate and federal institutions
and so our content has to bebenign, it has to be friendly,
it has to go out to parents.
It has to go to schools in away that schools can look at all
that content and go.
I can absolutely send this to aparent and it's not going to
(24:54):
blow up in my face, right.
Fatima Bey (24:56):
Because a lot of times administrators are just
fearful, right.
I don't even know what I canshare.
Iuri Melo (25:01):
I don't know what I can talk about.
I don't know what I can share,uh, and so what?
We've worked incredibly hardwith schools to make sure that
our content right.
Number one is growth mindset,specific is positive psychology.
It's full of that and it's fullof cognitive strategies, right,
that are kind of the goldstandard, in a sense, that will
(25:23):
assist these students in a waythat is not politically charged,
that's not going to offend them, and we have had countless
parent board meetings to addressthese things and not once even
all the way from the mostliberal to the most conservative
throughout the country, right,and we have had parents.
(25:45):
Our resources are available toall, they're transparent to
everyone, and we've heardnothing but just extraordinary
reviews from them.
Fatima Bey (25:56):
This is awesome.
Iuri Melo (25:57):
Yeah, it's very important.
Fatima Bey (25:59):
What are the other methods?
I know that there's moremethods than just texting.
What are the other methods that?
What are the other things thatSchool Pulse does?
Sure?
Iuri Melo (26:07):
Yeah.
So the email is I alwaysmentioned that one first because
that's just the easiest.
The email is I always mentionthat one first because that's
just the easiest, right?
I mean, we can walk into aschool and immediately the
school can adopt this approachof just sending one proactive
email we don't want to spampeople.
One email per week where wedeliver that student success
activity that matches the onethat's happening at the school
(26:30):
for the week.
So this goes out to everyparent so that they can be aware
like hey, here's what we'refocusing on this week.
It goes out to every studentand this is just a simple way to
make sure that we are reachingevery student.
So at schools they usually kindof have a tiered system.
They want to make sure thatthey do things that reach every
student.
They want to make sure thatthey provide some additional
(26:52):
support for students who may bestruggling, and then at the tier
three level, they want to makesure if there are students who
are really struggling, they canprovide those supports.
And so one of our jobs is to bea whole school tier one type
solution.
That means we want to providetools that will not burden staff
.
Yes, yes, yes, once that emailcampaign is started, they don't
(27:14):
have to touch it.
So this is like a one touch andthen let it go, plug and play.
True, plug and play.
The text is another one ofthose right Once the student is
opted in unless there's anemergency, that we're going to
communicate with that school,like we are literally offering
that support.
The school doesn't have totouch that.
Fatima Bey (27:32):
Go ahead.
Speaking of texting, I thinkyou mentioned in a very
important number to me that Ithink the audience needs to hear
.
So anytime we're opted intosubscribe to this, you get this
text, blah, blah, blah.
We often unsubscribe, right,sure, sure.
What is the percentage ofunsubscribe from these teenage
(27:53):
students that get text messagesfrom you?
What is the unsubscribe ratefor school books?
Iuri Melo (27:59):
I'm glad you asked that because it really is
amazing and it honestly amazesme because I want you to think
that in some of these cases,fatima, we are proactively
texting students for years.
Wow, like it's wild.
It's wild Like we have studentsthat will go and our program
(28:21):
specifically targets aboutseventh grade to 12th grade.
So it's kind of middle, middleschool, junior high, that's kind
of where our content is focused, but we have less than 3% of
students opt out of our service,which is just awesome.
Fatima Bey (28:36):
What?
Less than 3%?
I think that's crazy.
Less than 3% opt out?
I think that's actually crazybecause I can't think of
anything else where that's thecase, even like outside of
school, just anything.
Iuri Melo (28:46):
And just think Tuesday and Friday, like I mean
you're going to get a littletext Tuesday and Friday, like I
mean you're going to get alittle tech and and of course,
right, we, we try to make thecontent attractive, funny,
engaging, and of course thisdoesn't mean that students
engage with us on a week to weekbasis.
I mean we have students whowill go and just in a sense
receive our content for monthsand then they will talk and then
(29:10):
they'll kind of go on a pauseand then you have to plant seeds
and wait for the buds to sprout.
Fatima Bey (29:17):
And that's what you guys do you plant seeds.
I'm always talking aboutthought seeds, everything.
Fatima Bay, the mind shifter,is talking about thought seeds,
because that's what I do too.
But you're planting those seedsin our youth and then you see
the manifestation of the.
You know the buzz starting tosprout up Months later, a year
later, the fact that they don'tunsubscribe and they're done
(29:39):
with high schooling.
They still taking your messages.
To me, that says that it addsvalue.
Now, one key thing before we goI want to make sure that we
point out as well is you helpstudents to connect with their
parents.
How do you do that?
Iuri Melo (29:53):
So we do it in a variety of ways and that's
always our first line of defense.
So when you have number one,I'll tell you this way.
So our proactive emailing thatgoes out to parents, that's what
we actually we believe inparent development, right.
So we want to assist parents.
So part of our proactivecampaign to deliver these
(30:14):
student success tools to parentsis to do that, is to help to
engage them with their ownstudent who may be struggling
with their academic grades, whomay be struggling in their
sports, who may be strugglingwith their friends, who may be
struggling, and we're literallyproviding parents in a very easy
way with tools that they canconnect with their kids.
(30:35):
So that's one way, right, as weproactively just deliver this
to them, so that we're givingthem resources that are fun,
that aren't geeky or dorky butthey're fun, and that are packed
with actual solutions andtactics, not just kind of
metaphorical or justphilosophical.
(30:56):
And trust me, I actually.
I mean, I love to talk theory,like I really do, like I could
talk philosophy and abstractthings all the time.
I just enjoy that, to be honest.
But I realized that, withparents and students, we have to
deliver steps like do this andthis and this, try this, because
(31:18):
I would feel like that'shelpful.
So that's one way.
The other way, of course, iswhen we're actively engaging
with students right over text,and students report these things
to us, and our goal is alwaysto connect that student first to
their family, like that's wherewe ought to be connecting them,
and the way that that happensis we actually we ask the
(31:41):
student for their own personalinformation so that we can
connect them to their parent.
I will tell you, though, I wouldsay about 85% of our
interventions happen through theschool, so that means the
student is more willing to giveus the name of their counselor,
or the counselor at the schoolor the student.
(32:02):
We usually ask for thestudent's identification number
so that then we can connect themto the counselor, and then the
counselor connects them to theparents.
More often than not, that's howour interventions work, is they
go through the professionals atthe school, connects them to
the parents.
More often than not, that's howour interventions work is they
go through the professionals atthe school and then to the
parent, but they end there,which is really where they ought
to be right.
That's where we want thoseinterventions to go.
Fatima Bey (32:24):
And that's the liaison piece you mentioned
something else.
Iuri Melo (32:26):
Oh yeah, that's right .
That's right.
And you mentioned specificallywhat are some of the other
things that we offer, and I'lljust share one more, one of the
things that we do, just becauseI really love this one, because
we're constantly trying to solvefor the problem right.
What is the problem right?
And one of the things that wesee.
In fact, I was having aconversation I'll be honest here
(32:47):
with one of my own kids, wentand spoke to the vice principal
specifically about kind of adisciplinary issue and as I was
talking to this principal, hesaid Yuri, this is what I do all
day.
It's one of the vice principals, a good friend of mine, and he
said I spend all day dealingwith discipline issues, all the
(33:09):
way from tardiness to disruptingthe behavior environment, the
learning environment, tofighting, to gossiping, to
relationship issues, to kidssaying discriminatory stuff in
the hallways.
I mean you can imagine all ofit, right?
And he says I spend all daydoing that.
And so what we did is we createdthese activities.
(33:32):
As part of it, with our videosthat can be assigned
individually, we've identifiedthe 23, the 24 topics, the 24
areas that principals say weconstantly deal with these
things and we have providedthese activities that they can
assign individually to thestudent and the parent.
(33:53):
So this is another way that weconnect those parents is
whenever and I call this this iscalled our restorative practice
, or restorative justice is kindof a common term that's
utilized in schools.
So we provide schools withthese ready to deliver
assignable activities that theycan assign.
Let's say, a student is dealingwith tardiness, instead of just
(34:13):
suspending them.
Or maybe they're fighting, ormaybe there's substance misuse
going on, instead of justsuspending or expelling these
students, what we want to offeris these positive alternatives
to suspension.
Let's not suspend, let's notexclude.
Instead, let's teach them,let's educate them.
(34:34):
They're not there yet.
Let's give them the tools tosucceed.
And that's another way is whenthose principals or vice
principals assigned thoseassignments, the parent is
included, so the parent isn'tleft in the dark.
It's a really easy way for themto become part of that solution
which we know will deliverbetter outcomes in the long haul
(34:54):
anyways.
Fatima Bey (34:55):
So if there's a school that is interested in
adding school pulse to theirsystem, or if there's a teenager
out there that wants to justbecome a part of school pulse,
how do they find you?
Iuri Melo (35:09):
You know, if you go to our website, that's the
easiest way Just go toschoolpulseorg and that's pulse
as in your heart, pulse, uh.
So schoolpulseorg, and thereyou can find a way for you to
reach out to myself, uh,individually.
And then also there we actuallyhave a little demo number.
So if you have a student, or ifyou have, or you yourself, or
(35:31):
if you as a parent want toengage, we have a demo number
that runs exactly like our textcampaign to the students.
So it's no different and you'restill receiving live support.
You're welcome to go to ourwebsite and get your student,
your teen, opted into that.
In fact, I mean you can join inyourself and see it for
yourself and then, if you loveit, add your kid to it.
(35:52):
I think you will love it and,for whatever reason, if you
don't don't, I mean it's assimple as that, but it's right
there for you.
I think you'll be impressed withour resources.
If you want, fatima, I willshare some of those with you,
all of our videos.
We'd love to give you all ofthose so that your listeners can
access our mental healthresource.
(36:12):
That's.
The other thing that we offeris that comprehensive library
that's just accessible toschools.
We created that very brieflybecause, as we've looked now
through thousands of schools'websites, we honestly find that
schools have nothing.
They have no mental health, nostudent wellness, no student
(36:35):
success resources available, andI honestly just couldn't
believe that, and so we justcreated it for them, and that's
one of the first things that wegive schools the moment we walk
in is we give them anindividualized link with their
own logo and just our incredibleresources that they can put
there Just immediately, increaseaccessibility to good, positive
(36:59):
, evidence-based, vetted content.
Fatima Bey (37:02):
And that is awesome.
Well, for the audiencelistening, your schoolpulseorg
will be in the show notes or thepodcast description, so you can
just click on the link thereand make sure you explore his
site.
There's a lot of resourcesavailable there.
And thank you, erie, for comingon.
(37:23):
I really do appreciate all thatyou're doing for our youth and
and for you coming on the show.
Iuri Melo (37:29):
You've been an absolute pleasure.
Keep mind shifting, keepshifting those minds.
I love your nickname, the mindshifter.
It feels very mysterious, mindshifter.
I love it, I love it.
Anyways, I really appreciateyou.
You bet it's good to make afriend.
Fatima Bey (37:48):
And now for a mind-shifting moment.
I want you to think about this.
What School Pulse is doing herein the US is desperately needed
at every school in the US Arealistic way for our youth to
(38:16):
get some help that they need.
We all know there's not enoughtherapists out there for what's
really needed, and even then tofind the good ones is slim
pickings.
I absolutely love that.
School Pulse is doing somethingrealistic to help our youth.
The anonymity that they offeris a part of it.
What I want you to think aboutwe know what School Pulse is
doing to help our youth.
(38:37):
They're being a part of thesolution.
What are you doing?
What are you doing?
And if the answer is nothing,okay, what can you do to make a
difference for our youth, adifference you don't have to
save the world.
Are you making a difference forsomeone in your neighborhood,
(38:59):
for your niece or nephew thatyou know is hurting?
I want you to ask yourself whatam I doing?
Thank you for listening.
Be sure to follow or subscribeto MindShift Power Podcast on
any of our worldwide platformsso you, too, can be a part of
the conversation that's changingyoung lives everywhere.
(39:22):
And always remember there'spower in shifting your thinking.
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