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Sources of Strength

Sources of Strength

Website: https://sourcesofstrength.org/

Program Type

Education or Training Program, Information or Outreach Program, Environment or Systems Program

Cost

$1,001 to $2,500

Evidence Type

Empirically-Defined Evidence

SPRC Comprehensive Approach

Increase Help-Seeking, Life Skills and Resilience, Connectedness

Program or Intervention Summary

Sources of Strength (Sources) is an upstream, Strength-based suicide prevention and mental health promotion program. The program employs eight Strengths, or protective factors (family support, positive friends, mentors, healthy activities, generosity, spirituality, physical health, and mental health), to boost resilience in the lives of young people, with the evidence to show that the further we move upstream to build protection and health in people’s lives, the better equipped they will be to navigate the natural ups and downs of life.

Sources utilizes Social Network Theory to recruit diverse and influential students known as Peer Leaders to model positive behaviors such as help-seeking, healthy coping, and identifying Trusted Adults. Sources partners these influential Peer Leaders with caring, connected, and positive Adult Advisors to instigate a public health initiative in their school or community. Through a series of public health messaging campaigns targeted to increase protective factors and resilience-promoting behaviors in their peers’ lives, Sources’ evidence base shows that Peer Leaders are capable of changing population-level health norms.

Sources shows effectiveness in both preventative upstream and intervention outcomes. The program has been involved in several large randomized control trials and is one of the most rigorously evaluated and broadly disseminated prevention programs in the country. Sources is considered the first suicide prevention program to demonstrate effectiveness using Peer Leaders to enhance protective factors associated with reducing Suicide risk across a school population. Most recently, a 2025 American Journal of Preventive Medicine publication showed that Sources reduced new suicide attempts by 29% in participating schools. A 2023 publication in Injury Prevention concluded that Sources is the first universal intervention to show a potential reduction in youth suicide mortality through an RCT.

The program has been implemented in urban, suburban, rural, and tribal settings and presently partners with thousands of middle and high schools across the country. Sources of Strength has also had success in universities, LGBTQIA+ organizations, cultural community centers, faith-based groups, detention centers, the military, and more. Sources of Strength teams are active across the United States, Canada, and many American Indian/Alaska Native and First Nations communities.

Type Education or Training Program, Information or Outreach Program, Environment or Systems Program
Setting Online, Community, PK-12 School, Tribal communities
People People Who Live in Urban Areas, People Who Live in Rural Areas, People Who Live in Suburban Areas, People who live in Tribal communities
Languages English
Study Method Mixed Methods Design
Implementer Requirement Adults, Teens, Peer Consultants, Community Laypeople, K-12 school faculty and staff, Professional Educators, No Specific Individual or Group
Training Requirement Yes
Delivery Options In-Person, Virtual self-paced
Risk and Protective Factors History of depression and other mental illnesses, Social isolation, Effective coping and problem-solving skills, Strong sense of cultural identity

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