So you might be asking yourself “Self, what has Sources of Strength been up to lately?”
Okay, odds are you aren’t asking yourself that but I’m going to answer it for you anyway…

This fall has been a very busy and very exciting time for Sources of Strength. Within two months time we were published in The American Journal of Public Health, The Los Angeles Times and Psychology Today. We were featured on All Things Considered on NPR and a Latino community group running Sources of Strength in Atlanta was featured by CNN Español! Needless to say lots of exciting publicity. But that is not what has been keeping us busy or what the Sources of Strength program is about.

A Tight Flight Let me give you a snapshot of my fall:
I have flown in a fishtailing 16 passenger plane through the mountains of Wyoming. I have driven through the Georgia countryside and the Colorado mountains. We have been all over New York and North Dakota as we implement the nation’s largest study on peer leadership and its effect on suicide prevention.  I have watched the sunset over the Arizona desert from 30,000 ft. I have had tears fill my eyes as a senior girl shared of the loss of her brother to suicide. I have watched as teens have combated the notion that suicidal people cannot be helped. I have listened as teenagers took a hypothetical situation about dealing with friends struggling with suicide and showed us how nothing about it was hypothetical to them. I have laughed till I had tears streaming down my face, watching teenagers play the most ridiculous of games. I have recharged in the mountains of California. I have sat in strategic planning meetings with countless passionate people working to protect and empower their communities. I have spoken with salt of the earth YMCA directors who have made it their lives’ work to offer a place for kids to come have fun and feel safe. I have mourned as I spoke with a girl who lost her mother to suicide and is nothing but combative to the adults trying to help her, and I rejoiced in the opportunity we were providing her to find healing. I have gotten rug burns and pulled muscles as I tried my hardest to defeat senior boys in a game called Ninja Wars. I have sat in a room of LGBTQ students and listened as they shared of the challenges and intolerance they face every day and I was floored by the courage they have to be themselves, to fight to change things and make a difference. I have had the tremendous privilege to be a light in dark places, to speak truth to kids who have come to believe only lies and to watch the power of strength and hope save lives.

I believe in the work we are doing at Sources of Strength and I am so excited for where things are headed. We are working to expand Sources of Strength to communities in New Jersey, Washington DC, Manitoba Canada, Colorado and California to name just a few. We are evaluating what we do well and what we can do better. We are making a difference. Thank you for being a part of what is happening here, no matter how big or how small a role. We truly appreciate your support and encouragement.

Well now that you know what we have been up to, let us know what you have been up to in your organizations and communities. And if you have a favorite Sources of Strength moment, we’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Many Thanks,

Scott