Building Resilience: The Role of Extension in Enhancing Mental Health and Well-Being Through Preventive Approaches

Authors

• Lakshmi MahadevanFollow

Volume

64

Issue

2

Abstract

In 2023, 58.7 million U.S. adults experienced a mental illness, yet nearly half did not receive treatment (SAMHSA, 2023). Building Resilience is a single-session, evidence-informed program delivered through Cooperative Extension to address mental well-being using practical, nonclinical strategies. Grounded in Antonovsky's (1979) Sense of Coherence framework, the program centers on self-awareness, emotional regulation, and stress management within each participant's lived experience. Evaluation data from 347 participants showed high satisfaction, with 88% planning to apply strategies and 77% anticipating improved well-being. A 2-hour facilitator training supports national scalability, positioning Extension as a key partner in resilience-based mental health promotion.

Authors’ Contribution Statement

Dr. Lakshmi Mahadevan is the sole contributing author to this manuscript.

Data Availability

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Mahadevan, L. (2026). Building Resilience: The Role of Extension in Enhancing Mental Health and Well-Being Through Preventive Approaches. Journal of Extension, 64(2), Article 25. https://doi.org/10.66752/1077-5315.8962