August 2024 will be 10 years, but I still remember my first day working with Born This Way Foundation (BTWF). My previous job offered me an exciting opportunity: “Want to present a workshop on youth wellbeing at the Inaugural Born Brave Retreat?” I absolutely did!
After this memorable experience, I stayed in contact with BTWF knowing our paths would cross again. And, in June 2023 they did. As a former educator, I was always drawn to their youth engagement + youth-driven efforts. After my work in schools, I transitioned to an academic career at Yale School of Medicine. Staying true to my commitment to working with young ppl, I launched a youth advisory board alongside my research. If we want impactful solutions for today’s challenges, we need to work WITH young ppl every step of the way.
Research has always been part of our ethos at BTWF. Over the last 10 years, we conducted eleven surveys (1) that included 50K+ young ppl and their caregivers in order to build impactful programs that inspire change and equip young ppl with the skills to take action. All of these programs have one important aspect in common: they are informed by young ppl for young ppl.
Moving forward, we have ambitious research priorities, drawing on previous work to pinpoint where further study is needed. As part of our Born Brave Experiences Study, we learned that kindness matters (2), highlighting the need for a reliable scale to measure kindness and bravery. Expanding on our work with Dr. Susan Swearer who developed the Kindness + Bravery Scale (KBS), we will complete its validation. By validating the KBS, we ensure it accurately measures what it is intended to measure. This is a crucial step in identifying ways to enhance kindness and bravery in a community.
Next, in partnership with Hopelab, we are launching a survey with LGBTQ+ youth to better understand their needs + experiences in building kind communities online. Our Kind Communities Report 2023 (3) revealed that over half of young people who are transgender, nonbinary, and LGBTQ+ find comfort in their online communities. From our findings, we hope to facilitate informed conversations about protecting their mental health online. These are just two examples of our many research initiatives on the horizon where we seek to better understand and act in service to our youth.
During our workshop at the Inaugural Born Brave Retreat in August 2014, we played Lady Gaga’s Born This Way song and danced around the room. We wanted everyone to feel energized by showing up as their authentic selves. Ten years later, my commitment to ensuring young people are safely supported to show up as their authentic selves remains intact. To do that, our research team is dedicated to asking questions, listening, pivoting, and providing science-backed support that meets the needs of ALL young ppl. By conducting research, we are performing the ultimate act of kindness—we are listening to enact change + foster the most supportive communities.