Tillys Life Center

Tilly's Life Center (TLC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to inspire today's youth to become productive, kind, happy, and responsible individuals. TLC focuses on youth mental health and equips adolescents with critical life skills and practical tools to help them combat anxiety, depression, suicide, and overall poor decision-making. Through our "I Am Me" curriculum, we deliver essential and self-sustaining concepts and coping strategies to young people in a fun and interactive manner in a safe environment. Apart from supporting teens, Tilly's Life Center (TLC) provides a viable support system for schools/organizations that are overwhelmed with addressing the mental health needs of our youth.

In May 2012, Tilly Levine, co-founder of Tilly's Clothing Stores, established Tilly's Life Center (TLC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The aim was to provide a long-term solution to the growing adolescent mental health crisis. Tilly's Clothing Store has always supported various youth-based organizations and given back to the community they served. However, Tilly realized that it was not enough to address only the immediate needs of the youth. It was crucial to impart life skills to young people that could change the course of their lives. As Tilly believed, "Instead of giving them the fish, teach them how to fish."

In September 2012, the "I Am Me" curriculum and accompanying student journal were developed, focusing on social-emotional topics like effective communication, developing a positive mindset, identifying and managing emotions, stress reduction, and gratitude.

In Spring 2013, TLC presented its first "pilot program." This group of teens confirmed that there was a need to have a "safe space" for them to work through their challenges, and they were open to exploring their journey around mental health. The demand for additional programming led to TLC's growth from 16 teens to 22,117 to date, with programming in middle and high schools, colleges, and youth organizations.

In May 2020, TLC's Educator Training was launched. What was initially an effort to support teachers with distance learning during COVID-19 transitioned into the vehicle that would help scale TLC's programming.

TLC envisions a social-emotional curriculum being a required part of school health courses. The essential life skills students learn are a critical part of adolescent development and the very foundation that enhances their ability to excel in every other aspect of their lives. Addressing health as a "whole self" includes emotional well-being and providing young people with the tools they need to thrive.

Goals Accomplished in the 2022-2023 School Year:
1. Expansion of Program Reach: TLC successfully expanded the "I Am Me" program to additional schools and non-profit organizations in Southern California, increasing the number of adolescents participating in the program.

2. Enhanced Participant Outcomes: TLC demonstrated measurable improvements in participants' emotional, cognitive, and social development based on pre- and post-program assessments including increased ability to recognize, express, and regulate emotions, improved communication skills, stronger leadership competencies, and a marked enhancement in focus and goal achievement among teens.

3. Curriculum Development and Innovation: TLC further developed and integrated additional modules, concepts, and activities into the "I Am Me" curriculum that address emerging needs or feedback from participants and educators, including introducing new and additional topics related to mental health, resilience, digital well-being, and interactive workshops.

Goals for the Current Year:
1. Partnership Development:
- Establish partnerships with local schools and non-profit organizations serving youth in Southern California. Focus on those entities that share a similar mission and could benefit from the program's objectives.
- Leverage existing relationships and networks to introduce the program to potential new partners. Utilize testimonials and success stories from current participants to illustrate the program's impact.

2. Community Engagement and Outreach:
- Organize community events and workshops to raise awareness about the program. These events can serve as a platform to engage with the community, showcase the program's benefits, and recruit participants.
- Use social media platforms and local media (newspapers, radio, TV) to promote the program's success stories and upcoming events, reaching a wider audience.

3. Adaptation and Scalability:
- Review and adapt the program's content and delivery method to ensure it is culturally relevant and accessible to a diverse group of youth across Southern California.
- Develop a scalable model of the program that can be replicated in different settings. This might include creating a training program for facilitators and volunteers from partner organizations.

4. Funding and Resource Mobilization:
- Identify and apply for additional grants that support youth development programs. Engage with local businesses and community leaders to secure sponsorships and donations.
- Implement a tiered funding model that allows for the scaling of activities based on available resources, ensuring the program's sustainability.

5. Staff Training:
- Complete a comprehensive training program for new staff that includes an overview of the program's objectives, strategies for effective delivery, and sensitivity training to ensure inclusivity and respect for diversity.
- Encourage the development of a mentorship culture among staff to support new team members' personal and professional growth.

6. Marketing and Promotion:
- Utilize digital marketing strategies, including social media, email newsletters, and a program website, to reach a broader audience. Highlight participant stories, program benefits, and how the community can get involved.
- Collaborate with influencers and community leaders to act as program ambassadors, leveraging their networks to promote the program.

The new and ongoing challenges our youth face continue to accelerate while resources and support continue to fall short. While conversations and funding for child and youth mental health services have increased, there is still a massive gap between the need for and availability of critical services and programs that support our young people's emotional wellness.

Poor mental health in adolescence is more than feeling blue. It can impact many areas of a teen's life. Youth with poor mental health may struggle with school, grades, decision-making, and health. Mental health problems in youth often go hand-in-hand with other health and behavioral risks like increased risk of drug use, experiencing violence, and higher risk sexual behaviors that can lead to HIV, STDs, and unintended pregnancy. The likelihood of violence increases when youth have underdeveloped or ineffective skills in the areas of communication, problem-solving, conflict resolution and management, empathy, impulse control, and emotional regulation and management. Because many health behaviors and habits are established in adolescence that will carry over into adulthood, it is essential to help youth develop good mental health. - CDC

The Facts...
Homicide is the leading cause of death for young people ages 10 to 24
- Each day, more than 1,000 youth are treated in the emergency department for physical assault-related injuries.
- 7% of high school students were threatened or injured with a weapon, such as a gun, knife, or club, on school property during the past year.
- 9% of high school students did not go to school because they felt unsafe either at school or on their way to or from school at least once during the past 30 days
- 16% of high school students were electronically bullied, including through texting, Instagram, Facebook, or other social media, during the past year and 15% on a school campus.
- 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys under the age of 18 experience sexual abuse or assault.

Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among young people aged 10-14 and the 3rd among 15-24 year olds. In 2021:
- 42% of high school students reported feeling persistently sad or hopeless for at least two weeks and stopped participating in usual activities.
- 29% experienced poor mental health
- 22% of high school students and 45% of LGBTQ+ students seriously considered attempting suicide.
- 18% of high school students made a suicide plan.
- 10% of high school students attempted suicide.
- 3% of high school students made a suicide attempt that resulted in an injury, poisoning, or overdose that had to be treated by a doctor or nurse during the past year.
- 48,183 young people (10-24 years old) died by suicide in 2021 and 49,449 in 2022
*CDC Youth Risk Behavior Data and Summary Report

Children Now's 2024 California Children's Report Card states that "Mental health issues are the #1 reason California kids are hospitalized." It also states California is failing to create environments that support children's emotional wellness and has largely been unable to provide services to children with behavioral health needs. Traumatic events like domestic and community violence, incarceration of a family member, interpersonal and systemic racism, police violence,72 harassment due to sexual orientation or gender identity, and the threat of immigration action can impact children's mental well-being. Provide demographic and geographic information regarding the community or population benefiting from or served by the request" and "A complete behavioral health care system includes prevention, early intervention, support programs, and treatment services."

Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego Counties.

Tilly's Life Center is helping to combat anxiety, depression, suicide, and overall poor decision-making in our youth by providing them with critical life skills and practical tools needed to live a happier, healthier, and more productive life in school and beyond. The new and ongoing challenges our youth face continue to accelerate while resources and support continue to fall short. While conversations and funding for child and youth mental health services have increased, there is still a massive gap between the need for and availability of critical services and programs that support our young people's emotional wellness.

For Youth:
Tilly's Life Center offers "I Am Me" On-site programming, a powerful mental wellness solution that skilled facilitators teach. It includes student-facing materials and supplies. We collaborate with middle and high schools, colleges, and other youth-serving non-profits to integrate our programming into their classrooms.

Our curriculum offers teens a comprehensive framework that supports their overall well-being. The "I Am Me" program focuses on developing social-emotional vocabulary, strategies, actions, and habits related to effective communication, problem-solving, conflict resolution and management, empathy, impulse control, and emotional regulation. The curriculum comprises 36 lessons taught progressively throughout the school year, allowing students to practice and apply the learned strategies to their lives.

Students learn to recognize, express, and regulate their emotions, manage stress, and build positive relationships through experiential learning activities and peer-to-peer connections. These essential life skills are critical to adolescent development and increased emotional intelligence during a time when young people are most vulnerable.

In addition, we offer workshops and assembly presentations to support whole school initiatives.

For Educators:

Schools often struggle to meet the mental health needs of their students. To help them address this challenge, Tilly's Life Center is offering its Educator Training at no cost.

Our Educator Training equips teachers with a comprehensive support system around social-emotional education that provides a simple structure focused on SEL vocabulary, strategies, actions, and habits that can be efficiently practiced with students daily. Once certified, educators have access to our "I Am Me" curriculum, which includes 36 highly engaging lessons, branded supplies, membership to our TLC Educator Community, and ongoing support.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about TLC, we welcome you to join us in supporting our youth!
Colleen Versteeg
CEO

Tilly's Life Center is a non-profit organization that addresses various mental health issues that impact young people. These issues include anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation, and poor decision-making. To tackle these problems, TLC offers the "I Am Me" program, a sustainable, lifelong mental health solution. The program is designed to provide essential, self-sustaining concepts and coping strategies to young people through interactive and fun lessons in a safe, positive, and inspiring environment. TLC's "I Am Me" program is a unique face-to-face learning model with an experiential learning component that provides role-playing, art projects, music, wellness activities, journaling, and guided discussions with students. By consistently applying the lessons learned in the program, teenagers develop intrinsic motivation and become more confident, independent, proactive, and solution-oriented. These core competencies are crucial for adolescents to thrive in school, college, work, and life.

Join us in building awareness, expanding our programs and addressing the mental health crisis our teens are facing today!