Common Roots revamps efforts to encourage help-seeking behavior

With the arrival of Sources of Strength, a nationwide youth suicide prevention program, a wave of confusion emerged among Common Roots members. Although school adolescent therapist Kim Cousens had been discussing this change with last year’s co-presidents, then-seniors Anup Kar and My-Lan Le, she had not realized that this information was not being passed on to other members.

“I honestly had no idea what Sources of Strength was [when it arrived],” said senior Jessica Uong, a member of Common Roots.

It all started last year, when Cousens grew concerned as  she contemplated the future of Common Roots.

“I was worried about the sustainability [of the program] because the students who started the program, [Kar and Le], were graduating,” Cousens said. “They were worried about its momentum.”

At the time, Cousens had been in communication with faculty at Gunn High School, home of the ROCK (Reach Out. Care. Know.), a program that bore a striking resemblance to Saratoga’s own Common Roots, which began after Audrie Pott’s suicide two years ago to prevent a similar situation from occurring again. ROCK, too, had been “losing steam,” according to Cousens.

However, ROCK was revitalized by Sources of Strength, and Cousens thought that introducing Sources of Strength might be just what Common Roots needed to revamp its own program.

Coincidentally, the district had simultaneously decided on Sources of Strength while looking for a prevention-based program for the school. When Cousens learned of the district’s plan, she felt even more strongly that Sources of Strength should merge with Common Roots.

But when Sources of Strength finally arrived, members who were out of the loop were not quite sure what to make of it. Some were concerned that Common Roots would be taken over by adults.

As a result, Cousens said that when she told them about Sources of Strength, “It felt like, ‘Hey, this is what you need to do now,’ instead of ‘This is something we have been working on and yay, yay, yay, it’s finally happening.’”

Looking back, Cousens said she would have communicated directly with club members to avoid such confusion; for instance, she would have scheduled a meeting last year to introduce the idea of Common Roots merging with Sources of Strength.

In a club meeting on Oct. 20, Cousens and Common Roots presidents senior Anshul Aggarwal and junior Luke Salin cleared up any remaining questions over the nature of the club.

“Now, we are finally established,” Aggarwal said. “We have everything in the background. We have our financials down. We have our club name down. We have members.”

Aggarwal added that despite initial concern about the introduction of Sources of Strength to Common Roots, adult intervention is not something members should worry about.

“The only part that adults are really part of is the initial training, where adults and the teachers who are an essential part of our campus, too, are also trained,” Aggarwal said. “Other than that, it’s all student-driven. It is still student-oriented. It is still student-led.”

On Nov. 3, teachers and Common Roots members took part in a four-hour training session during school that educated students about suicide prevention, created liaisons between students and adults and encouraged help-seeking behavior among students. The session was led by Sources of Strength.

The event showcased a “new way of training, a different way of training and new trainers,” according to Cousens.

Members took part in activities such as games and small-group discussions about mental health, medical access, family support and more. They also learned how to recognize signs of suicidal thoughts among their peers.

In addition, they brainstormed possible ways that Common Roots can impact the school, including social media efforts, events and presentations.

“We’re going to do a lot of projects just to spread all the great stuff we learned, but we really learned about ourselves and how to find help, how to realize that we can help others and how to make that happen,” senior Christina Chin said.

Through the session, Sources of Strength trainer Scott LoMurray emphasized the importance of spreading positive messages. The session concluded with students being given cards to give to their own sources of strength, whether they be friends, family members or mentors.

“[Sources of Strength] is meant to be very hope-based. It is not meant to be negative or depressing,” Cousens said. “We all have strengths. Now, what are your strengths, and how can we use them when trouble comes?”