According to NCHS councilor Michele Ogburn, Sources of Strength is a mental health and upstream program designed to transform students into peer leaders. In turn, these peer leaders will enter the student body and improve the culture of the school.
According to Ogburn, NCHS has been using this program for years. Ogburn told the Herald they try to pick peer leaders from each social group within the school.
“So, the point is you train each leader within the social groups, and you teach them all of the skills and resiliency,” Ogburn said. “In theory, then that gets passed on to their social groups.”
Sources of Strength emphasizes strength- based, upstream suicide prevention and mental health promotion. The program involves both preventative and intervention methods. For ex- ample, if a student is having a rough day and is upset about something, then they can be reminded of more desirable developments to offset the bad.
Peer leaders can be selected from groups involved in sports, academics, the arts and so on. Ogburn had previously been a part of Sources of Strengths during her tenure in Torrington.
“They [the students] were really excited and they really engaged well, and we were super excited with all the work they did that day,” Ogburn said.
There are different sources of strengths, such as family generosity, mental and physical health, support, spirituality, posi- tive friends, health activities and so on. The students use a “wheel of strength” to help identify their strengths. The students then pick campaigns off of the “wheel” to focus on.
“One of the things the students did dur- ing training was learn what strengths they had on the wheel. They do different activities. So, they can identify that,” Ogburn said. “Then, they build their cam- paigns on the wheel. Then, they go out into the student body, and they know how to teach that to the other students. Right now, the peer leaders are going to focus on healthy activities and positive friends.”
Ogburn told the Herald there will be campaigns throughout the school year.
“It really does work,” Ogburn said. “It brings kids together and it really does teach them not to focus on what is negative and shift that focus on the good things.”
