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In 2021, 16% of high school students were electronically bullied, including through texting, Instagram, Facebook, or other social media. During the past year female students were more likely than male students to be electronically bullied. CDC data also shows experiences of violence, mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors worsened from 2011 to 2021. 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. Adolescence is an important time for promoting health and preventing disease.

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The Girl Like Me program has a mission to engage and empower girls to embrace and love all aspects of their identities by nurturing and increasing self-awareness, self-worth, self-advocacy giving them a voice that won’t be hushed by gender defining rules, thus, placing them in a place of self-acceptance and love.

 

Because every day, girls are bombarded with negative images that vie for their self-esteem, GLM teaches girls life skills, body positivity, fiscal literacy, leadership skills, cyberbullying prevention, trafficking prevention, teen pregnancy prevention, healthy self-care habits, and techniques to set and achieve realistic goals. We introduce our girls to a variety of career paths through guests who were once girls like them. We expose them to STEM.  We teach them how to channel feelings and emotions into positive experiences. We provide empowerment through teaching them safe and healthy cell phone, internet, and social media communication We teach them what it means to be proud of what they look like and who they are and to understand that everyone is uniquely made, and that,  is what makes everyone beautiful inside and out.

 

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