The only group that's immediately grappling with the suicide crisis is the high school's Peer Leadership program, which draws on tenets of group therapy while also offering academic credit to its 42 student members. Levi is one of them. She trains the students to help classmates in trouble, though much of the time is spent on the emotional health of the leaders themselves. In one recent class, about 20 students sat in a circle and talked openly about their feelings and problems - unsympathetic teachers and classes, fights with friends, dark thoughts. There are multiple rules to this.
Nothing leaves the room.
No one has to open up until he or she is ready. And Fridays are a day of reckoning - when students and Hgeltnes can bring up an incident or comment from earlier in the week that caused them pain. She thinks I'm bad. Outside of school, Ashley said, the community is a mess. Threats from gangs such as the Outlaws and the Latin Gangster Disciples have eased a bit, but the streets still don't feel safe.