I knew I was depressed as a teen and I was "getting help" because I was a cutter and had made suicidal gestures. So I can't really relate there. But I do relate to using assignments to express your feelings. For one assignment in freshman English we had to choose a theme and then find 15 songs and poems that related to that theme and analyze them, plus write our own. Everyone chose themes such as happiness and love. Me? I chose loneliness. My teacher looked at me like I was crazy when I stated my chosen theme. She was really dissaproving of me, partly because I was "goth" and wore all black clothes, dark makeup, and had crazy colored hair. I think I also didn't do any homework or anything. I was smart enough to get by on just classwork. But I loved that project and put a tremendous amount of effort into it. I was able to finally express how I was feeling every day. I don't remember how it was graded or if I ever got any feedback from the teacher. Later that year I tried to kill myself in school and got hospitalized for the rest of the year (and the whole summer). I didn't like the teachers but I loved that assignment. I even did a modified version with my students a couple of years ago. Now that I teach sixth grade I think they are too young but if I ever teach high school again I will definitely bring it back.