Prevention Is Not Soft. It Is Strategic.

There is a tendency in many systems to focus energy at the point where problems become most visible. This is understandable because crisis has a way of commanding attention. When a young person disengages from school, becomes involved in the justice system or presents to an emergency department in distress, the need is immediate and the response must be swift. These moments matter, yet when viewed across the arc of a young person’s life, they represent only a small portion of the broader system in which wellbeing is shaped.

The deeper work of prevention often remains quiet because it deals with conditions rather than crises. It focuses on building environments that help young people remain well rather than relying solely on services that respond once they are struggling. Prevention does not dismiss crisis response; it strengthens it by reducing the load. It changes the landscape in which crisis emerges.

Decades of research support this view. Studies from the Harvard Center on the Developing Child show that resilience and wellbeing are formed through relationships, routines, safety and opportunities for mastery, long before acute needs surface.¹ Prevention science demonstrates that strengthening these conditions significantly reduces the likelihood of mental health difficulties, substance misuse, violence and school disengagement later in life.² These findings are reinforced by economic analyses showing that investments made early in a young person’s developmental pathway yield higher social and financial returns than interventions introduced after harm has occurred.³ Rather than seeing prevention as an aspirational concept, several communities and governments have begun to treat it as a structural priority.