I have given my life to this work. For me, this has never been a job, but rather a labor of love to help individuals thrive in the face of adversity. What we offer at Sources of Strength is radical: the chance to practice a community of health and hope. We use Active Learning to help cast a vision of what a well world can look like. We will stumble along the way, but within this community we learn to laugh, listen, and live with deep gratitude as we walk alongside others working towards Strength.

Adult Advisor:

Adult member of a school or community who fosters an environment of Strength amongst staff, Peer Leaders, and students, and works to facilitate safe, strategic, Strength-based messaging.

Strength-Based Approach:

A philosophy that uses Strength and potential as a foundation for creating positive change. Asset-based approaches uncover, uplift, and grow Strengths, assets, and resources.

Peer Leader:

A student on a Sources of Strength team who uses their story of Strength and their influence to positively impact and change school norms and culture through Strength-based messages.

Our primary mission at Sources of Strength is radically Upstream Prevention. We believe it is so important to have gatekeepers who understand the risk factors and warning signs of a person at risk and how to get them to help. However, we believe that this is not a comprehensive model for prevention. We also want to help individuals and communities interact, engage, and apply Strength to their lives so that they may build grit and resilience for the ups and downs of life. We want to move as far upstream as possible to increase protective factors in a school or community, by building youth-adult connectedness, changing perceptions of adult support, increasing early help-seeking behaviors and coping skills like mood management and emotional regulation. We want to give students and staff a shared language for talking about the Strengths they use in their life to overcome and cope with life’s challenges.