Meet Brooklyn

"For me, life before Girl Reimagined was highly focused on everyone else around me—their perceptions, thoughts, opinions, judgments—and less focused on who I wanted to be and who I was. My anxiety overshadowed the best parts of me and made even good days overwhelmingly difficult, not just for me but for anyone around me.

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When my mom suggested coaching, I was totally against it. I kept denying that I was struggling to keep up appearances for the world around me. I was even more upset upon learning about the group aspect of it—it was like taking my two worst nightmares and combining them: admitting that I was struggling and then sharing that with other people.

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Before coaching, I had done a therapy session here or there, very briefly. At the time, I had a hard time putting down my walls for it to do much good. I’d also been given self-help book after self-help book from my mom that I refused to even try, out of stubbornness and refusal to admit I needed them.

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The first couple of weeks in, I was still very much on the fence about it. I kind of had a wall up that screamed, “I’m perfectly fine!” while my life was falling apart so badly I could hardly go into grocery stores without having anxiety attacks. After a while, however, I started listening to the other girls share and realized that they had experienced these feelings as well. It made me feel less alone and okay with admitting that there was something I was struggling with. After that, things started to move forward as I could admit to things I needed to work on and really try to combat my anxiety.

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I’d say the biggest impact Girl Reimagined had on my life was giving me ways to cope with my anxiety. Even though I am far less anxious these days, there are still hard moments. On those days, I have tools to resort to. Another thing it really impacted was reshaping my mindset on the people around me. I went from thinking I was a lone wolf to realizing how many of us are silently struggling. Now, I openly discuss mental health, body image, and anxiety without fear, because I know that the person next to me has probably experienced something similar. It’s not shameful or secret for me anymore.

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To a mom who is thinking about enrolling her daughter, I’d have two things to say. First, as much as you may hate to hear this, as teenagers, sometimes it takes hearing things from someone else before we are willing to listen. I’m sure some of you can recall times like that in your life as well. It’s not that you haven’t tried to help; it’s that as teenagers, we strive for independence, even at our own expense sometimes.

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Secondly, don’t give up. Keep trying to help your daughter. You might have tried multiple other avenues before this, and this might just be the solution. For me, it was, and I’m so grateful for that."