Type of Entry: School Programmes
Name: Sources of Strength
Date added: 1 May 2020
Delivery type: Face to face
Owned by: Sources of Strength (US)
Contact: info@sourcesofstrength.org
Website: Sources of Strength
Cost: Yes
Target audience: Teachers / educators
Core Elements

Face-to-face and virtual suicide awareness and prevention training sessions offered to students enabling them to become peer leaders, and to teaching staff enabling them to become adult advisors.

Below details the content of the training:

Students - Peer Leaders

  • Spread messages of hope, help, and strength
  • Spread resiliency skills
  • Recognise signs of suicidality
  • Understand reasons behind thoughts of suicide
  • Engaging a person in crisis empathically
  • Offer emotional support
  • Recognise potential barriers to seeking help
  • Signpost to appropriate resources (helplines)
  • Key facts and figures of suicide nationally and internationally
  • Ways to communicate key messages to the public
  • Ways to engage and encourage change and prevention

Teaching staff - Adult Advisors

  • Recognise signs of suicidality
  • Understand reasons behind thoughts of suicide
  • Engaging a person in crisis empathically
  • Offer emotional support
  • Recognise potential barriers to seeking help
  • Signpost to appropriate resources (helplines)
  • Understand societal and demographic risk factors for suicidality
  • Make a formal referral to relevant agency
  • Safeguard a person at immediate risk of crisis
  • Follow up on referral and safeguarding
  • Encourage and support mobilisation of carers and supporters mindful of consensus statement
  • Signpost to suitable self-care resources
Length of Training

40 hours over a 6 month programme
Evaluation

Studies that have been conducted on the outcomes of the training:

  • Wyman, P., Brown, C., LoMurray, M., Schmeelk-Cone, K., Petrova, M., Yu, Q., et al. (2010). An outcome evaluation of the Sources of Strength suicide prevention program delivered by adolescent peer leaders in high schools. American Journal of Public Health, 100(9), 1653-1661. Available here.
  • Pisani, A., Schmeelk-Cone, K., Gunzler, D., Petrova, M., Goldston, D., Tu, X. & Wyman, P. (2012). Associations between suicidal high school students' help-seeking and their attitudes and perceptions of social environment. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 41, 1312-1324. Available here.
Recommendations

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Endorsements

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Additional Information

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The aim of the ZSA Resources is to introduce users to a range of existing and new resources with a connection to supporting people with their mental health, bring awareness to and help prevent incidences of suicide.  The ZSA do not endorse individual resources but instead aim to present standardised information to enable the user to make an informed decision over its use.

This resource content was developed and approved in collaboration with the resource owner. If you would like to update this content, please contact us.

For more information on ZSA Resources, please refer to ZSA Policies.

Content last updated: 27/10/2022.

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