The wellness needs of students, especially girls and gender-expansive youth (anxiety and depression in teen girls is twice the rate of boys), have evolved and intensified during the past few years, so it’s more crucial than ever for all of us adults working and supporting girls and gender-expansive youth to nurture warm and authentic relationships …
After two years of virtual everything, it was both shocking and wonderful to watch my colleagues Hénia Belalia and Cassandra Brown make magic at SXSW EDU this month for Girls Leadership’s session, Co-creating Justice-Centered SEL with Students. During this session, Hénia and Cassandra shared our curriculum development process, which is based in Liberatory Design and …
The impact of the pandemic on the mental health of young people is well known, whether we are seeing the effects unfold in our own homes, or hearing from the American Academy of Pediatrics or the U.S. Surgeon General about the tenuous state of child and adolescent mental health. And we also know that the …
Take a moment to ask yourself, who feels most connected to people at school or in a program? There may be no more important question to ask yourself given the recent CDC Report recommendation that school support and connection is the primary action to address the growing mental health crisis in adolescence. The CDC answer …
Many people think of friendship as a purely social endeavor, but we hold a different perspective: we believe that friendships are an incubator for leadership development — that the social and emotional skills girls develop through friendships form the habits of their personal and professional relationships for decades to come. It’s why building healthy friendships …
A foundational piece of our work at Girls Leadership is to create brave spaces – communities where all girls and gender-expansive youth feel seen, accepted, and loved by peers and adults – in person and online. Brave spaces are crucial because they allow for vulnerability, the safety to take risks, mess up, reflect, and recover, …
Based on our many years of running programs and countless conversations with girls, parents, caregivers, and educators, we know that our work is impactful, yet we’re always so deeply moved to hear how our programs and tools help people make positive change in their lives. We recently had an opportunity to chat with Anna Seabolt, …
Basketball coaches tell us one of their biggest challenges of coaching is off the court. They dread dealing with conflict between players and are burdened by the impact that “team drama” has on recruiting and retaining players. We want them to know they’re not alone in the challenges they face, and we’re here to help. …
Lauren Fuller is the kind of person who doesn’t waste time on problems when she could be creating solutions. As Executive Director of Sheriff Police Athletic League (PAL), a service organization focused on youth academics and athletics, Fuller was kind enough to speak with Girls Leadership about how attending our training was a part of …
One thing we know for sure is that educators want to know how to make social-emotional learning inclusive. One of our most popular posts of all time is about the many reasons social and emotional learning (SEL) — the process of developing personal and relational awareness, communication, and decision-making skills — is a priority as we …