About Workplace Wellbeing by Sources of Strength

Our Mission is to help individuals and teams turn strengths and connections into daily habits that create healthier, more resilient workplace cultures.

Who We Are

Sources of Strength is a suicide prevention, mental health promotion, wellbeing, and social change organization dedicated to strengthening people and communities. For more than twenty-five years, we have helped youth and adults build resilience, connection, and belonging through simple, strengths-based practices. Today, we bring that upstream approach into workplaces so leaders and teams can support wellbeing in the moments that matter and create cultures where everyone can thrive.

What We Do

We equip individuals, teams, and organizations with practical tools that strengthen emotional health and regulation, deepen connection, and promote everyday wellbeing. Our trainings, resources, and culture-building strategies help people navigate stress, support one another, and create healthier environments at work and in life.

How We Do It

Our work is guided by five core values that shape every training and partnership.

Radically Strengths-Based, because every person and community has assets that can grow.
Bring the Joy, because connection, play, and positivity open people up to learning and trust.
Embrace the Journey, because real change takes practice, curiosity, and shared commitment.
Work the Wheel, because wellbeing is strongest when we draw on many sources of strength each day.
Practice Holistic Humility, because we honor the wisdom of the communities we serve and work in partnership, not presumption.

Our Story

Sources of Strength began long before it was a national movement. In the late 1990s, our founder, Mark LoMurray, was working in juvenile justice in North Dakota, supporting teenagers and families in crisis. At the time, the state faced some of the highest rates of youth suicide in the nation. After attending far too many funerals for young people lost to suicide, substance use, and preventable accidents, Mark came away with a clear conviction: we needed to move further upstream. Responding to crises was not enough. We had to build the strengths, relationships, and support networks that keep young people connected, resilient, and able to reach out for help.

In 1998, that conviction became the foundation for Sources of Strength. What started as a small, strengths-based suicide prevention model in rural communities has grown into one of the most widely implemented and rigorously evaluated prevention programs in North America. Today, Sources teams are active in thousands of elementary, middle, and high schools across the United States and Canada, serving rural, urban, suburban, tribal and Indigenous communities, universities, detention centers, LGBTQ+ centers, faith-based groups, and the military.

Across these diverse settings, one truth has remained consistent: strengths, relationships, and supportive culture are protective in every setting and at every age.

More than two decades of research has shown that when people feel connected to each other, supported by trusted adults, and confident in drawing on strengths during hard moments, powerful things happen.

• Help-seeking rises.
• Emotional regulation improves.
• Connection and belonging strengthen.
• Coping and resilience grow.
• Suicide attempts and deaths decline.

A 2025 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that the Sources of Strength intervention reduced the odds of a new suicide attempt by 29%. Another multi-trial analysis in Injury Prevention showed reduced youth suicide mortality in schools implementing the model. Additional studies highlight increases in help-seeking, stronger peer and adult networks, healthier coping norms, and improvements in school climate.

The part that matters most for workplaces today is simple: the protective factors uncovered in schools are not unique to young people. They are human.

As we partnered with thousands of educators, counselors, community members, and youth-serving adults, we heard the same message again and again. Adults needed these tools just as much as young people. School staff used Sources practices to regulate during stressful days, support colleagues, strengthen communication, and build healthier team norms. Leaders told us they were using strengths-based conversations to navigate conflict, support their teams, and strengthen belonging.

The same pattern emerged as our work expanded into universities, detention centers, the military, youth-serving organizations, and community systems. Everywhere we went, we saw the same result. When people have simple, strengths-based practices that build connection, belonging, and purpose, their wellbeing improves and their culture changes.

Over time, a consistent insight came into focus. The same upstream strengths-based tools that help young people thrive can help adults thrive in the workplace.

The challenges facing today’s workforce mirror many of the same themes we have addressed for years in schools and communities. High stress, disconnection, burnout, shifting expectations, and a deep need for meaning and support. Research from Gallup, the American Psychological Association, and the U.S. Surgeon General reinforces what our experience has shown. Wellbeing is not achieved through perks or programs alone. It grows through relationships, daily routines, and the way people support each other at work.

Workplace Wellbeing by Sources of Strength

Our workplace offering is a natural extension of twenty-five years of upstream prevention, culture-building, and training thousands of adults in how to strengthen resilience, connection, and mental wellness.

We have worked with school districts, state agencies, behavioral health teams, military units, tribal organizations, community groups, and corporate partners. In every setting, we have seen how practical, relational, strengths-based tools can improve team cohesion, psychological safety, help-seeking, and emotional regulation.

Workplace Wellbeing by Sources of Strength brings all of that experience and all of that research to your teams. Our goal is simple. We help leaders and teams turn wellbeing from an individual effort into a shared cultural practice that strengthens purpose, connection, and performance.

No matter where people work, whether in classrooms, clinics, offices, hangars, factories, or community sites, what helps us thrive is remarkably similar. Strong relationships. Shared strengths. A sense of belonging. And a culture that supports the wellbeing of everyone in it.

The Strengths

At the center of our model is the Strengths Wheel, a set of eight protective strengths that support wellbeing in any environment. These strengths help people navigate stress, build resilience, and stay connected to what sustains them. In workplaces, the Strengths Wheel becomes a practical guide that individuals and teams can use to stay grounded, support one another, and create healthier daily rhythms.

People use the strengths in simple ways. They name which strengths help them during stressful moments, reflect on which ones they want to grow, and share stories of how they draw on them in their lives. Teams use them to open meetings, build trust, spark meaningful conversations, and understand what helps each person show up well. Leaders use them as a framework to shape more supportive interactions and strengthen psychological safety.

Below is a workplace-focused description of each strength.

Family Support
Supportive relationships with family or chosen family that help people feel steady, encouraged, and cared for. In the workplace, this strength reminds us that people bring their full lives with them, and that healthy boundaries and family connections matter.

Positive Friends
Trusted friendships that lift our mood, offer perspective, and provide support during difficult moments. At work, positive friendships reduce isolation, increase belonging, and help teams stay grounded during stress.

Mentors
People who offer guidance, coaching, and encouragement. In workplaces, mentors include supervisors, colleagues, and leaders who provide clarity, feedback, and support that helps individuals grow and navigate challenges.

Healthy Activities
Actions that help people recharge, regulate stress, and feel well in body or mind. These might include movement, creativity, time outdoors, or quiet moments during the day. At work, small healthy activities help maintain energy, focus, and emotional regulation.

Generosity
Practices of kindness, appreciation, and support toward others. In workplaces, generosity strengthens trust and connection. It can be as simple as recognizing a colleague’s effort, offering help, or creating small moments of care that lift the whole team.

Spirituality
People, places, and practices that lift our spirits and connect us to something larger than ourselves. This can include cultural or faith traditions, time in nature, moments of reflection, gratitude, values, or any practice that restores perspective and grounding. In the workplace, spirituality helps people stay centered, connected to meaning, and aligned with what matters most.

Physical Health
The routines and habits that support energy, strength, and physical wellbeing. In workplaces, this includes sleep, hydration, nutrition, and movement, as well as structures that support safe and healthy working conditions.

Mental Health
The practices and supports that help people stay emotionally balanced and able to cope with challenges. At work, this includes managing stress, normalizing help-seeking, using grounding strategies, navigating conflict, and having access to supportive people.

Together, these strengths form a whole-person approach to wellbeing. They give individuals a shared language to describe what supports them, help teams understand one another better, and provide leaders with a framework to foster healthier, more connected cultures. Over time, the Strengths Wheel becomes a simple but powerful map for building workplaces where people can thrive.

Our Theory of Change

Our theory of change is simple and grounded in prevention science. It reflects the same upstream, evidence-based approach that has strengthened schools and communities for more than twenty years.

Strengths create stability. When individuals learn to use and rely on their strengths, they build personal resilience and emotional regulation. Strengths provide a sense of grounding during stress and help people reconnect to purpose in the middle of daily demands.

Connection spreads wellbeing. Support moves through relationships. When people share what helps them, tell stories of resilience, or check in with one another, belonging grows. These relational ripples help teams buffer stress more effectively and create a foundation of trust.

Small situations shape culture. Intentional routines and shared rituals create steady opportunities for connection, care, and psychological safety. These crafted moments, even when brief, make wellbeing visible, practical, and part of the way people work together.

Culture sustains change. As strengths, connection, and crafted moments spread across networks, wellbeing stops being an individual responsibility and becomes a shared cultural practice. People feel valued. Teams support one another. Leaders help shape environments where everyone can thrive.

Unlike traditional wellness programs that rely on perks or standalone initiatives, Workplace Wellbeing by Sources of Strength uses an upstream, evidence-based approach proven to shift culture and behavior. Rooted in prevention science and a social-diffusion model that has transformed schools and communities, our approach helps workplaces build habits that last. Our trainings are experiential and human-centered. People leave not just informed, but connected, energized, and ready to apply what they have learned.

This model shows that cultures of wellbeing are not created through programs alone. They grow through strengths, human connection, and everyday moments that help people feel supported in their work and in their lives.

Our Team

Photos and short bios.

Jarrod Hindman – CEO

Dan Adams – VP of Programs

Tanya Adams – Graphic Design & Illustration 

Mish Moore – Creativity & Wellness Specialist 

Erin Horn – National Trainer