Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Henderson County schools to pilot Sources of Strength peer-mentoring program in seven schools
Summary
District staff and the county health department presented a student-led, upstream suicide-prevention and resilience program. Initial funding from Project Serve, the Community Foundation and local partners will cover training and a first-year crisis counselor; program rollout will begin in seven middle and high schools.
Shannon Otten, director of student services for Henderson County Public Schools, told the board April 14 that the district will implement the Sources of Strength peer mentoring program in seven high schools and middle schools over the next two years.
The program is a student-led, adult-advised model designed to build connectedness and protective factors to reduce bullying, substance use and suicidal thoughts, Otten said. She said the district’s student services team completed a weeklong pre‑training and will use a train‑the‑trainer approach to expand the program districtwide.
Sources of Strength trains adult advisors (3–6 hours each) and peer leaders (5–6 hours each). Peer leaders design school-based “campaigns” — for example, “We Belong,” gratitude chains, or social-media videos — that are intended to…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
