A large group of student should out guesses to a student who is acting out a phrase.

Students participate in a version of charades where they attempt to describe phrases to players who cannot see the phrase during the Sources of Strength Peer Leader Summit. Photo by Joe Ragusa, Kentucky Department of Education, Oct. 25, 2024

Content warning: This article discusses suicide. If you or anyone you know is struggling, please contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

(ELIZABETHTOWN, KY) – Dozens of Kentucky students attended the first Sources of Strength Peer Leader Summit at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College on Oct. 25.

The summit was co-hosted by the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and the Kentucky Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (BHDID).

Sources of Strength is a strengths-based suicide prevention program that engages the power of student creativity and peer influence to support positive mental health and promote well-being, help-seeking, healthy activities and a sense of belonging among youth within a school. The program has shown evidence of preventing suicide, violence, bullying and substance misuse.

Blake Konny, program consultant in the KDE Office of Continuous Improvement and Support, Division of Student Success, said many schools have been using the Sources of Strength program for years, and it affects many aspects of a school’s culture and climate.

“We just felt that it was extremely important, and we saw a need in a lot of our schools to help them take the next steps with their Sources of Strength programs,” he said.

Students from schools across the Commonwealth participated in teambuilding activities, games and discussions about their Sources of Strength campaigns and other efforts to raise awareness of mental health supports.

“Of course it deals with suicide prevention, but it also teaches young people about the strengths they have within them and things that they can build within themselves to be a great young person and a great adult,” said Sheila Barnard, a program administrator for BHDID.

Doug Roberts stands up in a room, talking to students.

Doug Roberts, an education administration program consultant in the KDE Office of Continuous Improvement and Support, goes over Sources of Strength campaigns with students during the Sources of Strength Peer Leader Summit. Photo by Joe Ragusa, Kentucky Department of Education, Oct. 25, 2024

Konny said KDE and BHDID have been focusing on Sources of Strength largely because it’s peer-led.

“We know that peers listen to their peers more often than they listen to adults, and they reach out for help from their peers more often than they reach out to adults,” he said. “While all the adult programs we have are great, this gives us another avenue to make sure that our communities are healthy and safe.”

Lori Vogel, a child guidance specialist/school social worker at Leestown Middle School (Fayette County), helped start the Sources of Strength program in her district. She said she partnered with several community groups, including KDE, BHDID and Brothers’ Run, a charity organization designed to support school and community programs that provide adolescent mental health services, suicide prevention and awareness.

“(Sources of Strength) was just something that seemed like a normal fit because it already brings so many different groups together,” she said.

Charley Abney, an 8th-grade student at Leestown Middle School, has been a peer leader with the school’s Sources of Strength program for the past three years. She said her school has mental health supports, but there’s always room for more.

“A lot of people struggle,” she said. “Sometimes they just lay their head down and completely shut out and we don’t want that to be the only way they can start to feel better.”

Ciler Smith, another 8th-grade student at Leestown Middle School, said he likes working with Sources of Strength because it spreads a message of positivity, especially for students around his age in middle school because of how complicated that time can be.

“It’s a really good opportunity for students and you can learn a lot,” he said.

Konny said he expects the summit to grow in the future. Plans on how to expand the program could include making the event annual and/or making summits more regional instead of having one for the entire state.

“We definitely see that it spreads regionally because once one school has an active program and they see success, others in that community and others nearby hear about it,” Konny said.