Mayo High School students step up to help their peers with mental health

Mar. 5—ROCHESTER — Among the dozens of rooms attached to Mayo High School's iconic circular hallway is one that has low lighting and soft music.

On a recent Thursday, there was a student napping on a couch in the corner, and another was preoccupied with a laptop in a chair. That's part of what the room is for — it's a place to decompress and unwind in a slow-paced environment.

But the most notable feature of the room is that there's always someone there to listen. More specifically, there's always a fellow student there to listen. That's the whole point of the room, after all. It's right there in the name.

TOPS: Teens Offering Peer Support.

It's proven to be a benefit for students on either side of the conversation — both those giving and those receiving the support.

"I think honestly, it helped me and created a safe space," said Sam Lebrasseur, a student who has both used and now works in the program. "I just wanted to give back and help others — I think helping others helps yourself, too."

In a world of rising levels of anxiety and depression among youth, the TOPS room has become a household name at Mayo High School, expanding from just the room itself to the school culture at large.

For one, it helped spearhead a mental health awareness week at the school. It's also prompted students from the TOPS program to go speak with their younger counterparts about it at Willow Creek Middle School, so they know it's a resource coming into high school.

Its impact has also gone beyond the walls of Mayo. Through mental health networking circles, the school's student resiliency specialist, Amanda Burget, has promoted the concept to schools in Austin and even Duluth. She also worked with Kasson-Mantorville High School as the school is in the process of hosting a mental health fair.

Burget has an office attached to the TOPS room, and overseas the program for the school. But, it's largely student led. And just as students are the ones offering a listening ear in the room, so too were they the ones voicing the need for it in the first place.

"A Mayo High School student died by suicide in the fall of 2018," senior Shannon Chen said. "So the friends of that student got together and went to administration and said 'hey, we need a program that supports the mental health needs of students inside the school building itself.'"

While the program won't eliminate the possibility of another such tragedy, the students know it at least adds another layer of prevention — one more safeguard to make sure their peers feel safe and heard.

Even though it's a system of students helping other students, it's not as simplistic as it may seem at first. Students have to apply to be a peer supporter. There's an interview process, and confidentiality requirements. Students working as peer supporters also have had opportunities to learn more about their role through different speakers.

The program has grown since it first started more than five years ago now. Burget said in its early days, there would be only a handful of students to visit the room throughout the day. But then the pandemic hit, sending students home to distance learning.

Burget said when everyone eventually returned from distance learning, there was a line of students snaking around the room, prompting the school to move the program to a larger space. These days, the program is merely part of the fabric of the school.

And as much as it may be a resource for students needing support, it's also proved beneficial for the students showing up for their peers. Multiple students said it's helped them learn to branch out and build their communication skills.

Beyond that, though, it's also helped them build more empathy for their peers. Lebrasseur and Chen both said working with the program has helped them not make assumptions about people — that it's helped them realize everyone's dealing with struggles the rest of the world isn't aware of.

Another peer supporter said working with the program has helped her become a more empathetic and caring person.

Burget spoke to that as well — emphasizing how helping others has a positive impact on both sides of the equation: those serving and those being served.

"I think we're made to serve and be in community with people," Burget said. "So when we do that, we reap the benefits of it."

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