Building resilience is a lifelong journey across generations, especially during difficult or challenging times. To help stimulate new thoughts of hope in youth, several local area schools including W. A. Hough High School, Davidson K-8, have selected Sources of Strength as a project to implement as a best practice.
Sources of Strength is a best practice youth suicide prevention project designed to harness the power of peer social networks to change unhealthy norms and culture, ultimately, preventing suicide, bullying, and substance abuse.
The mission of Sources of Strength is to prevent suicide by increasing help-seeking behaviors and promoting connections between peers and caring adults. Sources of Strength moves beyond a singular focus on risk factors by utilizing an upstream approach. This upstream model strengthens multiple resources of support (protective factors) around young individuals so that when times get hard they have strengths to rely on.
| Definition | Description |
|---|---|
| FAMILY SUPPORT | Whether related to us by blood, or by choice, these are the people who support, nurture, and care for us. |
| POSITIVE SUPPORT | Positive friends lift us up, make us laugh, are honest with us, and are there for us when we need them. |
| MENTORS | A Mentor is an experienced person who shares their insight to help guide us, and help us draw on our own strengths to be the best version of ourselves. |
| HEALTHY ACTIVITIES | When we feel stressed, Healthy Activities - whether they are social, physical, or emotional - help us unwind, lift our mood, and gain clarity. |
| GENEROSITY | Generosity can look a lot of different ways, from donating money or time, to being intentionally kind to other people. These acts of kindness towards others, big or small, can make an impact on how we feel about ourselves. |
| SPIRITUALITY | Spirituality is practiced in many ways, but at it's core we consider what gives us a sense of purpose and connection to our spirit. Thankfulness is a profound way to practices. Spirituality together no matter what our cultural heritage and/or spiritual tradition. |
| PHYSICAL HEALTH | When we are injured, we don't have to stay in pain. We can get better, with access to the medical care we need and deserve. Physical and social/emotional pain are often integrated and it's important to take care of our bodies, hearts, and minds. |
| MENTAL HEALTH | Mental Health is all about getting the support we need and deserve to help us when we are struggling. Our mental health is a very important part of living a healthy life, and oftentimes, getting together with a trusted person, a counselor, or a doctor can help empower us to overcome internal struggles we might be facing. |