A Safe Place to Talk About Pretty Much Anything

In early October, when township and local school officials gathered at Timber Creek Regional High School to announce an innovative anti-bullying approach that was to begin shortly, one component of the Project B.A.T.L.E. initiative they mentioned was a weekly meeting for teens to openly discuss the issues they are facing in their lives.

While just one small part of an overall initiative aimed at curbing bullying in the township, The Gathering Space has turned out to be a very big part of a handful of local teens' lives.

In fact, one participant asked the program's facilitator, Michelle Selfridge, as he left the Point Ariel Park Community Building Wednesday night why the program could not meet more than one day each week.

"It's just young people getting together, sharing their experiences, having fun and learning from each other," Selfridge said. "Not being judged."

A few participants show up for Gathering Space meetings each and every week, while many make it when they can get a ride or they aren't bogged down by school, work or extracurricular obligations.

Jordan Crawley, a senior at Timber Creek, signed up to be a team leader for The Gathering Space thinking it would be her role to help younger teens by talking through issues they are facing.

That is Crawley's role, for sure, but she's also found the drop-in support group has helped her feel better about herself, too.

"There are so many different personalities here," Crawley, an aspiring social worker who will attend Rutgers University-Camden in the fall, said. "This group brings everybody together in a different way. It's a great group. We have fun."

At this week's meeting at Point Ariel, some of the topics discussed by the teens included relationships with parents, disagreements with siblings and peers, and breaking bad habits.

A typical Gathering Space session begins with everyone gathering in a big circle and taking a seat on floor on a pillow.

After the group recites its rules—what's said in the room stays in the room, no cell phones, etc.—each participant rates their current mood on a scale of one to 10, with one being real bad and 10 being great. Those who suggest they're in a bad mood are asked to talk about their situations, and offered words of encouragement and suggestions on how to break out of the doldrums from others in the group.

On Wednesday, the group's main topic of discussion was bad habits. Each participant was asked to own up to a few bad habits and attributes—not accepting criticism, using bad language, being stubborn, lacking self-confidence and so on—that have negatively impacted their lives. They were then charged with coming up with reasons why they need to break those habits and how they planned to do so.

Wednesday's session included just six teens, including four team leaders—Crawley and fellow Timber Creek seniors Gage White, Haley Washington, and Dana-René Gaines—making it one of the lightest attended Gathering Space sessions since the program started in mid-October.

Selfridge, the school social worker at Timber Creek, cannot explain the dip in attendance in recent weeks, but talked with the team leaders about creating a Facebook page to generate more interest.

"I'd love to have about 30 kids," she said.

For the most part, since the program started and picked up some momentum in the fall, The Gathering Space has been drawing 10 to 12 teens each week, Selfridge said.

Ashley Sasser is among the handful of participants who have been coming to drop-in support group since it started.

"It helps with stress," she said. "Today, when I came in, I was feeling mad. But now I'm feeling pretty good."

Gloucester Township Police were more than happy to take Selfridge up on her offer to be Gathering Space facilitator when they began discussing Project B.A.T.L.E. with school officials last year.

"I think it's great," Cpl. Sean Grannan, of the police department's Community Relations Bureau, said. Chief W. Harry Earle "had this vision of what he wanted to do—he wanted to give the kids an outlet."

The Gathering Space is free for students ages 13 to 18. It meets Wednesdays, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., at the Point Ariel Park Community Building located at 2900 Erial Rd., in Erial.

The program is sponsored by the Gloucester Township Police Department and the Gloucester Township Municipal Alliance.

For information about The Gathering Space, call the Enrichment Information Line at 856‐374‐5709 or send an email to enrichment@glotwp.com.