Our Vision
At P2L we believe that all children have the creative
and intellectual power to be a positive agent in their
schools, communities, and lives.
We engage.
“Miss Stephanie is my diary. I tell her everything. It has been so helpful for me to have a caring and supportive person at the school with me.”
~ P2L Mentee
We enhance.
“My mentor helped me to set goals this year related to passing my classes. I was succesful and am excited about being promoted to the 9th grade next year since I have repeated 8th grade in the past.”
~ P2L Mentee
We empower.
“By working with my mentor I was able to think about my future goals and how I want the world to see me. I want to be seen as a peaceful person and as someone who helps others.”
~ P2L Mentee
Our programming is grounded in social work and child development theory. Research has shown that children cannot learn if they are struggling with unmet emotional needs as well as environmental and family stress. While developing students’ social-emotional resiliency forms the core of our services, our work will have little effect unless we engage them. Students often find traditional therapy stigmatizing; they are wary of being labeled as “having something wrong with them” or being “mentally ill”. P2L staff works with student in non-traditional settings meeting them where they are: in classrooms and hallways, after-school programming,
and in groups and one-on-one discussing issues they identify as relevant to their lives. Based on the child psychology works of Erik Erikson, Donald Winnicott, John Bowlby, and Margaret Mahler, P2L offers a variety of activities to help establish caring relationships, build trust with positive adult models, and create safe holding environments. Students develop new competencies, helping them to foster identity and purpose and respond positively to their emotions and behavioral impulses and environment. This is important for all children, particularly those coping with high levels of instability.
Suzanne Otis
President