McNary Sources of Strength club aims to end mental health stigma, help suicide prevention
McNary High School senior Mason King said when something happens, and it feels like there's nothing you can do because a support outlet is taken away, you go into tunnel vision.
The new Sources of Strength club is aiming to help Celtic students in those situations.
'Now people can see like, 'Hey, I can come here, and maybe they'll have resources for me,'" said King, a student-peer leader in the group.
Sources of Strength is focused on suicide prevention. It leverages peer-to-peer social networks to end the stigma around mental health.
It is part of Oregon's Big River Program, an initiative that increases access to youth suicide prevention and intervention training.
The initiative, sponsored by the Oregon Health Authority, comes from the national Sources of Strength program, an evidence-based suicide prevention project for K-12 schools and institutions.
The Oregon Health Authority allocates $1.1 million annually toward Sources of Strength programming implementation, including curriculum, training, licensing and more in elementary, middle and high schools.
OHA began funding Sources of Strength programs statewide in 2019 after the Oregon Legislature approved funding for youth suicide prevention, and after Senate Bill 52 — Adi's Act — required school districts to adopt comprehensive policies on student suicide prevention.
"(Sources of Strength) is one of the only programs in the field of suicide prevention that can show schoolwide population-level increases in protective factors, decreases in self-reported suicide attempts and increased connection and belonging in schools," said Kim Lippert, OHA communications officer.
Suicide prevention and mental health crises have been long-standing issues that Salem-Keizer has been attempting to address. According to the Oregon Health Authority, Oregon had the 12th highest youth suicide rate nationally in 2022.
The district has around six schools with Sources of Strength groups, primarily at the secondary level, according to Emily Reverman, Salem-Keizer communications manager. The district started the program during the 2018-19 school year.
McNary started its Sources of Strength club during the 2023-2024 school year.
The group is still working to get going after the counselor who started it left.
There are 15 students in the club out of nearly 2,000 students at McNary.
The group meets every Friday during lunch to discuss outreach, club visibility and future activities.
Ashley Lynch, a sophomore and student-peer leader, said the group's goal is to create a comfortable and safe space for students.
While the group is run by students, it is guided by the school's six counselors.
"We want kids to know how to access their own resources, how to access outside resources, and how to help their friends," said Ashley DeLaRosa, a McNary counselor. "If we can do that and continue to build that sense of community, that's really going to increase our sense of belonging."
DeLaRosa said she started Sources of Strength at Claggett Creek Middle School before transferring to McNary and taking over the program at the beginning of the school year.
"This year we're really focused on getting the word out, building the club up, and then we'll see what campaigns we decide to run next year," DeLaRosa said.
Through Sources of Strength, student-peer leaders like King and Lynch can share signs to watch for — including the slightest change in habits — to bring awareness to the sometimes hidden mental health struggles teens experience.
King said they were excited to join the Sources of Strength club when DeLaRosa told them about it at the beginning of the school year.
"I was like, 'Finally, people were trying to do something about this genuine crisis that we're having in schools,'" King said. "Of course I'm going to join. I want to help out with this because I feel like there hasn't been enough genuine representation of mental health stuff."
King and Lynch said there's still a stigma surrounding students speaking up about their mental health and are looked down upon because others either don't believe it or see it as attention-seeking behavior. This makes people bottle up their emotions more, they said.
"Throughout my life, every time that I've said, 'Hey, I need help,' it's been shot down with, 'I need help more' or 'that's not real,'" King said.
Lynch talked about the stigma around boys not being allowed to cry because society says they're supposed to be strong and confident.
"Guys should be able to show the exact same emotions that any one of us girls can, and that doesn't make them weak," Lynch said.
Lynch said addressing the stigma now will help students "tremendously,' potentially helping them avoid generational trauma or deal with the issue later in life.
"I want this club (to have) an effect," King said. "As long as it'll help somebody hearing that they've gone through the same thing, that's all I care about."
OHA's Lippert said Sources of Strength is the agency's most 'upstream' suicide prevention program, and the only program that specifically supports K-5 suicide prevention curriculum.
Upstream, in this context, refers to approaches that reduce adverse outcomes and strengthen protective processes. It is a strategy aimed at addressing the root causes of mental health symptoms and prevention.
Training and curriculum models are different for primary and secondary schools.
At the primary school level, school counselors are trained to deliver lessons to classrooms using a universal curriculum.
The secondary school level uses a peer-led training model where students, advisors and counselors are trained with materials, resources and wellness plans.
"At the high school level, it's really harnessing the power of young people to spread messages of hope, help connection, and try to create places where everybody can feel like they belong," said Liz Thorne, Matchstick CEO and founder, which works with OHA to implement Sources of Strength programming. "They do that through their activities, their voices, their culture (and) their interactions with other students."
Thorne said around 230 primary schools in Oregon have implemented Sources of Strength, while there are 111 groups active in secondary schools.
Alexander Banks is a news intern at the Statesman Journal. Reach him at abanks@statesmanjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: McNary High School starts student-run suicide prevention club
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