South Side High School students address suicide prevention with new club

After two deaths by suicide of their South Side High School peers one year ago this January and March, students came forward wanting to take action on mental health and ending the stigma.

Juniors Ashlyn Beauge and Madison Gamberg, along with a few of their peers, approached school administrators with the idea for a suicide prevention club.

“We realized we didn’t have a group to come together and talk about mental health,” Gamberg said. “We figured in order to end the stigma, we wanted to create this group.”

At the same time, the Rockville Centre School District had formed a Mental Health Task Force, begun teacher trainings on tackling suicide prevention and ultimately coordinated widespread postvention efforts to help students deal with the aftermath of the tragedies.

“As a survivor school, we’ve been through a series of trauma,” said Principal John Murphy. “We’re still dealing with those. There’s also a rise in suicides in the teen demographic nationwide and a need for social-emotional learning. Students wanted to be part of the solution.”

The club, called S.A.F.E., or Suicide Awareness and a Friendly Environment, is one component of district-wide initiatives to address mental health — and an important one because it is largely student-run.

Advisor Liz Marshall, a physical education teacher at South Side, meets with the eight student leaders regularly to discuss topics for the club meetings. Then, the students lead discussion at the monthly meetings, which all students are invited to attend.

“I have the students run the topic by me to make sure we are making the right decisions and treating the topics correctly,” Marshall said. “We have a quick de-brief before meetings, and then I let them take the lead.

“The goal is to make sure students feel included and able to rely on each other in times of need,” Marshall continued. “That’s what everyone is looking for.”

So far, there have been two meetings — one to introduce the club and get the ball rolling and another right before midterms week to discuss stress management. About 150 students attended the first meeting.

“We’re here with our peers every single day, so it’s beneficial to have a place to go to talk and build trust,” Beauge said. “When you have a community, it just feels better to know these people are here for you.”

“It’s much easier to talk to peers [who face] the same issues you are going through,” Lio Grillo, another student club leader, added, noting that the club’s group chat has more than 70 members.

The club partnered with school officials and other groups during inclusive schools week to spread a message of unity among peers. It will also be involved in an upcoming initiative, Sources of Strength, which will emphasize the support systems in place for students. These include:

- Mental health

- Family support

- Positive friends

- Mentors

- Healthy activities

- Generosity

- Spirituality

- Medical access

Sources of Strength is a national, suicide prevention program for adult mentors and is being funded by the Ryan Patrick O’Shea Foundation.

“This has been a growth process, and little things become significant,” Murphy noted. “Some are feeling loss and helplessness. Some are hurting more than others. The evolution of this [club] is now we have a group of students whose voices are being heard, we’re increasing lines of communication and giving them people and places they feel safe, creating community and a positive environment.”

In keeping with a goal of positivity, S.A.F.E. serves as one avenue for students to find a friendly face among peers.

“Maybe not everyone will feel comfortable talking about what they’re going through,” said Montana Mawhinney, a student club leader, “but they’ll see our posts on Instagram or posters in the hall and know it’s OK and that they have places they can go to for help.

“Our club is really about helping people and that has been our main goal from day one,” she added. “We want to continue talking about mental health and being that safe, positive environment to talk about suicide.”