The Corvallis Gazette-Times reports “there is good news … about efforts to combat youth suicide in our schools.”
Thanks to $25,000 in donations, the Corvallis School District will be able to begin rolling out the Sources of Strength suicide-prevention program at its two high schools. The program, first developed in 1998, seeks to tap into the power of social networks, using peer-to-peer messages to strengthen connections and safety nets. The idea is to prevent suicide, bullying and substance abuse by making sure adolescents know they have multiple sources of support and protective factors to rely on when times get hard.
South Albany High School started to use the program in the fall of 2016; it was the first school in Oregon to do so. [See photograph of South Albany High School’s “Sources of Strength” club, above.]
The article credits the Corvallis Public Schools Foundation for assisting in the decision and the fund-raising:
Liv Gifford, the executive director of the Corvallis Public Schools Foundation, had been looking for programs that offered, in her words, “a greater coordinated approach to suicide prevention. Sources of Strength rose to the top as a great choice.”
Give Gifford and other Corvallis school officials credit for choosing Sources of Strength instead of deciding to reinvent the wheel.
Read the full story on the Gazette-Times website.
Credits:
Reporter Mike McInally, Gazette-Times
Photographer Mark Ylen, Mid-Valley Media