Editor's Note: This story contains mention of self-harm. If you or someone you know is considering suicide or other acts of self-harm, please contact Colorado Crisis Services by calling 1-844-493-8255 or texting “TALK” to 38255 for free, confidential, and immediate support.
A new study shows a peer-led suicide prevention program in schools reduced suicide attempts by high school students by nearly a third.
The findings show the Sources of Strength program, which operates in more than 250 schools in Colorado, significantly reduced suicide attempts compared to traditional suicide prevention models.
“It's really some of the best results that we've seen in the field of suicide prevention in the last 50 years,” said Scott LoMurray, CEO of Sources of Strength, which is based in Colorado but operates in thousands of schools in the U.S. and Canada.
The study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, is especially important in the face of steadily rising suicide attempts and fatality rates among adolescents and young adults. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10–24, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Colorado’s youth suicide rate in 2023 was 8.97 per 100,000 among youths ages 10-18.
How does Sources of Strength work?
Traditional prevention methods focus on intervening medically when someone is in a crisis. The Sources of Strength model, by contrast, is focused on preventing students from getting into that crisis. It relies on the power of students to help their peers identify coping methods and by building connections in schools.
Student leaders from all backgrounds are trained and together with adult advisers design campaigns throughout the school year. One event might be helping their peers identify what their healthy coping strategies are when they’re wrestling with big emotions and the ups and downs of life. LoMurray calls it “humanizing emotions rather than pathologizing them.”
“Through the storytelling process, they're actually normalizing what healthy coping looks like and what creating a healthy culture of resilience looks like. Inviting people to tell those stories to say, ‘Hey, here's what that looks like in my life.’”
Another campaign might involve having their peers identify who is a trusted adult in their life who they can ask for help if they’re struggling or if they have a friend they’re worried about.
Key findings
The study included 20 high schools in Colorado involving more than 6,500 students. Of that group, Sources trained 226 student peer leaders and 79 adult advisers. The study examined programs that had been in place for at least two years.
- The program reduced suicide attempts by 29 percent.
- The approach is effective for teens from many different backgrounds, including different genders, grades and races and ethnicities.
- Students play a large role in building school cultures where students feel seen, valued and supported.
- The Sources approach is promising for being able to reduce suicide in the larger population.
- The program may not prevent attempts among students who’ve recently experienced sexual violence.
Students who’ve experienced sexual violence
The study set out to examine whether a universal prevention program like Sources of Strength could prevent suicide attempts in students who’ve recently experienced sexual violence. Evidence suggests, however, that Sources may not prevent suicide attempts among those students.
LoMurray said those high-risk students may need additional intervention support.
“That would be the takeaway for schools is if we know that somebody's experienced violence, they're going to need some more wrap-around support to be able to move through that and navigate that and heal.”
He said the program is still valuable for those students by emphasizing how to get help, “and that asking for help is a sign of strength not a sign of weakness.”
One national study shows that 10 percent of females, 4 percent of males and nearly a quarter of transgender youth report being forced to engage in sexual intercourse during childhood or adolescence.
The future of suicide prevention
LoMurray said the study represents a “rare bright spot” in what has felt like a decade of difficult trends in youth mental health, with the rise of social media, phone use, political instability and climate change. He said the findings on the “strength-based” approach to suicide prevention are encouraging for the larger population.
“We spend a lot of time talking about the leading causes of death, but not nearly enough time cultivating the leading causes of life.”
If you need help, dial 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also reach the Colorado Crisis Services hotline at 1-844-493-8255 or text “TALK” to 38255 to speak with a trained counselor or professional. Counselors are also available at walk-in locations or online to chat.
