AHS Confidential Club gets students talking about mental health

Sutton Smith stood on the stage in front of hundreds of her peers. The Auburn High School senior relived over the microphone the story that changed her life, hoping that it might save someone else's.

"It's making it feel like all of this happened for a reason so that maybe at least something good will come out of it," Smith said moments before taking the stage to talk about her struggle with depression and her father's two suicide attempts.

Sutton and her father, Jack, spoke to the 11th-grade class at Auburn High School two weeks ago, explaining how the attempts changed them both and, most of all, the importance of sharing struggles and removing stigmas associated with mental illness.

The talk was one of four put on by students of the newly formed AHS Confidential Club. The Smiths spoke to the community in early November and will finish the talks by speaking to seniors at Auburn High on Wednesday.

The Confidential Club began this August with a group of about six students ready to be open, vulnerable and honest with each other about depression, anxiety and other challenges they face. The club now has about 30 members that meet every other Thursday after school.

The club started in response to the school system's new extracurricular random drug testing program passed by the school board in May 2015. Rather than targeting students who are struggling with substance abuse, Public Relations Specialist Daniel Chesser said the school system is looking to help students work through issues before they turn to drugs or alcohol.

They looked into what other communities were doing and found Birmingham's Addiction Prevention Coalition had a student led group that met weekly to discuss mental health issues. Chesser and Chris Hardman, Auburn City Schools drug program coordinator, were inspired by the idea and recruited students to begin the club.

"We're just kind of a safe place for people to come and hang out and talk if they need a place to go where somebody's not going to judge them," said Smith, one of the founding members of the club.

Each week a diverse group of students gather, from wallflowers to the most outgoing, to discuss things weighing on their minds and to get to know each other, Chesser said. They begin each meeting sharing one fear and one love, choosing to be vulnerable.

The club is free, open to anyone and only has three rules: respect everyone, stay off cell phones, and everything is confidential, Chesser said.

"Everything that's said within those walls stays in those walls, and if we find out it doesn't, we do a group shaming," Chesser said. "It really just gives them an opportunity to come be in a contained, safe space without any repercussions."

Hardman and Chesser said the group has been largely student-led. Smith initiated the speaking events by volunteering herself and her father to speak to the community and school. And the students are the ones leading the discussion at meetings, Hardman said.

"I think they don't realize that really what they're doing is helping each other," Hardman said. "I don't think they even realize that they're showing kindness to their own peers without it even being a thing. It doesn't really matter what we say; it's their peers that matter."

"The kids who are quiet and shy, I think it means so much to them to see the football players and the show choir kids and the band kids (say), 'Hey, how are you doing? It's good to see you. I'm glad you came,'" Chesser said. "Just those few words mean the world to them."

The group discusses all mental illnesses, but Chesser said this fall's focus naturally drifted toward the issue of suicide.

"Kids were saying things like, 'I feel invisible. I feel like I should've never been born'-very deep rooted issues. I think it's close to home," Chesser said.

New members have joined the club each week after the Smiths' talk, and Chesser hopes it will continue to grow. Members of the club hope to have an event each semester to further mental wellness in the student body.

Before getting on stage, Jack Smith spoke of the courage his daughter has displayed in getting involved with the club. He spoke of the healing that comes with sharing one's story and of the importance of reaching out.

"Our hope is anybody who's struggling might tell one person that they need help, that they're struggling with anxiety or think they might be depressed, that they're struggling with panic-whatever it might be-that they find somebody they trust that they can reach out to and tell them that they need help."