Dozens of students share ideas about mental health support during the Peer Leader Strengths Summit.

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WBKO) – On Monday, October 25th, dozens of Kentucky students attended the first Strength College Leaders Summit at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College.

The summit was co-hosted by the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) and the Kentucky Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (BHDID).

According to the press release, Power sources is a strengths-based suicide prevention program that engages the power of student creativity and peer influence to support positive mental health and promote well-being, help-seeking, healthy activities, and a sense of belonging among youth in the school setting.

The program has shown evidence of prevention of suicide, violence, aggression and substance abuse.

Blake Konny, program consultant in the KDE Office of Continuous Improvement and Support, Division of Student Success, said many schools have been using the Strengths program for years and it affects many aspects of a school’s culture and climate.

“We felt it was extremely important and saw a need in many of our schools to help them take the next steps with their Power Sources programs,” he said in a news release.

Students participated in team building activities, games and discussions about the Sources of Strength campaigns and other efforts to raise awareness of mental health supports.

“Of course it deals with suicide prevention, but it also teaches young people about the strengths they have within themselves and the things they can build within themselves to be a great young person and a great adult,” Sheila said Barnard, program administrator. for BHDID in a press release.

Konny said that KDE and BHDID focused on Power Sources in large part because it is peer-led.

“We know that peers listen to their peers more often than they listen to adults, and they seek help from their peers more often than they reach out to adults,” he said in a news release. “While all the adult programs we have are great, this gives us another way to make sure our communities are healthy and safe.”

Lori Vogel, a child guidance specialist/social worker at Leestown Middle School in Fayette County, helped launch a Sources of Strength program in her district.

She said she has worked with several community groups, including KDE, BHDID and Brothers Runa charity designed to support school and community programs that provide adolescent mental health services, suicide prevention and awareness.

“(Sources of Power) was just something that seemed like a natural fit because it already brings together so many different groups,” Vogel said in a news release.

Charley Abney, an eighth grader at Leestown Middle School, has been an Equality Leader with the school’s Sources of Strength program for the past three years. She said her school has mental health support, but there is always room for more.

“A lot of people are struggling,” Abney said in a news release. “Sometimes they put their head down and shut down completely, and we don’t want that to be the only way they can start to feel better.”

Ciler Smith, another 8th grader at Leestown Middle School, said he likes working with Sources of Strength because it spreads a message of positivity, especially for students his age in middle school, because of how that period can be complicated.

“It’s a really good opportunity for students and you can learn a lot,” he said in a press release.

Konny said he expects the summit to grow in the future. Plans to expand the program could include having an annual event and/or having more regional summits instead of having one for the entire state.

“We’re definitely seeing it spread regionally because once a school has an active program and they see success, others in that community and others nearby hear about it,” Konny said.