Looking Upstream: Reflections from APHA 2025
Last week I had the chance to present at the American Public Health Association (APHA) Annual Meeting, and wow… What an experience! Over 10,000 people from all over the world filled the convention center, each of them dedicated to public health in one way or another. Researchers, policymakers, practitioners…. people committed to studying and meaningfully impacting public health.
I presented during a session called “The Promise of Reducing Suicide Attempts and Mortality through Peer-Led, Upstream Public Health Interventions,” sharing about Sources of Strength and the growing body of research behind our peer-led, strengths-based prevention work. Studies led by Dr. Peter Wyman and Dr. Dorothy Espelage and colleagues at the University of Rochester and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, show real, measurable impact: fewer suicide attempts, reduced mortality, and stronger school communities. It’s incredible, truly hopeful stuff.
But what really stuck with me at the conference wasn’t the chance to present, it was everything else I saw and heard.
So Much Important Work… So Focused on Risk
Walking through APHA felt like standing in the heart of global public health. Everywhere you turned, there were passionate people presenting research on things like trauma, poverty, addiction, chronic disease, burnout… all deeply important work.
And yet, as I sat in session after session, I noticed something: so much of it was focused on why people die, not what helps people live. On risk factors, deficits, and barriers… the things that break us down. And so little focus instead on the strengths that build us up.
There were very few sessions about protective factors. About connection, belonging, hope, or healthy coping. I kept thinking, “Where’s the research on what helps?”
Yes, we absolutely need to address the systems and inequities that create suffering. AND we also need to invest in the things that help people survive and thrive. The programs that can help us meet the adversities of life with Strength and the initiatives that aim to uncover and spread resilience.
Invest in Universal, Strength-Based Public Health Strategies
If we’re serious about prevention, we can’t keep calling it a priority and then funding it like an afterthought.
Universal, upstream, strength-based approaches deliver high return on investment, both financially and socially. They reduce suicide attempts, improve mental health, and build cultures of wellness that ripple out far beyond one intervention.
We measure hospital beds, ER visits, crisis calls… But what if we also measured hope, belonging, and resilience? What if we funded those at the same scale as crisis response?
Expand What We Measure… and What We Celebrate
So much of the field has defined success by identifying what leads to crisis and intervening in those moments. That’s important, but it’s not the whole picture.
Success also looks like students reaching out to or identifying trusted adults… like communities building connections across their individual differences…. like people feeling safe enough to ask for help before they’re in crisis.
We need to start celebrating those bright spots, the programs and partnerships already spreading hope, help, and strength at scale. That’s public health & prevention at its best.
Humanize Before We Pathologize
At the end of the day, prevention isn’t just about systems and data, it’s about people. About relationships. About communities holding each other up. I heard this reminder in many sessions.
To prevent the leading causes of death, we have to strengthen the leading causes of life. That means collaboration, across health, education, and community sectors. It means remembering that people aren’t problems to solve; they’re sources of resilience, care, and strength.
That’s what I carried home from APHA: gratitude for the people doing this work, and a renewed sense of purpose to keep pushing upstream. If we meaningfully invest upstream, it will create more capacity downstream.
Because wellness is the goal and prevention is the outcome of that goal.
I left the conference more eager than ever to continue to build meaningful, sustainable, upstream-focused partnerships. If you’d like to meet with our team to explore supporting or expanding Sources of Strength contact us here or schedule a call with our team.
If you’re not yet familiar with the foundation and implementation of Sources- join an upcoming Discovery Session to explore our Evidence Base and learn how we aim to build Hope, Help & Strength.
Because when we learn from each other and invest in what helps, we move the whole field forward together.
Timmy Foster
Sources of Strength