The future of women's health begins in girlhood.
We help girls build emotional resilience, healthcare confidence, and self-advocacy — before challenges become lifelong conditions.
Most systems wait until girls are already in crisis.
Across the United States, girls are experiencing unprecedented levels of distress. Yet our systems are built to step in only once problems have already escalated — instead of preventing them from taking root in the first place.
Schools lack emotional education
Comprehensive emotional literacy is rarely taught, leaving girls without the language for what they feel.
Families feel unprepared
Parents report feeling unequipped to navigate the emotional realities of adolescence with their daughters.
Healthcare treats, not prevents
Systems emphasize treatment over prevention, and girls get limited guidance on understanding their own bodies.
Rather than focusing solely on mental illness, we cultivate emotional health, self-trust, healthcare confidence, and resilience.
The Institute for Healthy Girlhood is a proposed national prevention initiative designed to change the trajectory of women's health — through education, research, and systems change.
Every girl deserves the knowledge, skills, relationships, and confidence to become the healthiest advocate for her own well-being.
Three programs, one foundation
Each program meets girls, families, and systems where they are — building health from the ground up.
Your girlhood story matters. We're listening.
We're gathering the real experiences of women to shape prevention that reflects girls' actual lives. If you're a woman, we'd be honored to hear your story — it takes just a few minutes, it's confidential, and it helps build something better for the next generation.
Share your story →Reflection Prompts
A one-question taste of the Early Voice approach — spin for a gentle reflection.
Help us build a healthier girlhood.
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Prevention is the bravest kind of care.
We focus on the factors that can be influenced — so girls grow into the healthiest advocates for their own well-being.
Chronic illness and mental health conditions have many causes. We focus on the ones that can be influenced.
Emotional literacy, supportive relationships, early intervention, healthy coping skills, and access to care are the factors we can actually shape — and the ones that strengthen women's health at every stage of life.
The Institute for Healthy Girlhood works to prevent long-term mental and physical health challenges by giving girls emotional resilience, healthy relationships, and self-advocacy skills during critical developmental years.
Through education, research, community partnerships, and policy advocacy, we promote early prevention and healthy emotional development as the foundation for enduring health and well-being.
Five factors we can influence
Emotional literacy
Naming and understanding feelings as signals, not flaws.
Supportive relationships
Trusted bonds that hold girls steady through change.
Early intervention
Acting before challenges become lifelong conditions.
Healthy coping
Skills for stress, rest, and boundaries that protect health.
Access to care
Confidence to seek, understand, and advocate within healthcare.
Join the founding circle
The Institute for Healthy Girlhood is just beginning — and we're looking for the people who want to help build it from the ground up.
We're seeking founding advisory board members and collaborators who believe girls deserve prevention, not just treatment:
Imagine every girl entering high school already equipped.
When girls learn these skills early, we prevent lifelong health challenges — and build stronger communities.
Enter high school knowing how to:
Identify chronic stress before it takes hold
Recognize anxiety before it becomes debilitating
Trust her own body and what it tells her
Advocate for herself in healthcare settings
Understand that rest is productive
Set boundaries that protect her health
See her emotions as biological signals rather than character flaws
Ask for help without shame or fear
We treat a girl's health as one connected whole.
Emotional health, physical health, relationships, and self-advocacy shape one another throughout life — so we bring them together, by design, across every part of a girl's world.
Developmental psychology
How girls grow, feel, and form identity.
Prevention science
Acting early, before problems compound.
Public health
Population-level, systems-minded change.
Education
Meeting girls where they already are.
Women's health
Bodies understood, not just treated.
Healthcare advocacy
Confidence to navigate and self-advocate.
Evidence-informed from the ground up
Our curriculum is built on established frameworks in psychology, education, and public health — not invented in a vacuum.
Social-Emotional Learning (CASEL)
The five SEL competencies schools and youth programs already recognize — the backbone of our framework.
Prevention Science
We practice universal prevention — reaching all girls with skills before challenges emerge, not after.
Trauma-Informed Care
SAMHSA's principles of safety, trust, and empowerment shape how every session is delivered.
CBT & DBT Skills
Evidence-based emotion-regulation and interpersonal skills, adapted for a universal, non-clinical setting.
Ecological Systems Theory
Bronfenbrenner's insight that a girl's health is shaped at every level — self, family, school, community, and systems.
Resilience & Self-Determination
Building autonomy, competence, connection, and the protective factors that help girls thrive.
Five strategic pillars, one healthy girlhood.
A connected model that builds prevention into every part of a girl's world — her classroom, her healthcare, her family, her community, and the systems that shape them all.
Five developmental competencies
Every pillar builds toward the same five capacities every girl deserves.
Know Yourself
Emotional literacy
Trust Yourself
Self-advocacy & identity
Care for Yourself
Physical & emotional health
Connect with Others
Relationships & community
Change the System
Research, leadership & advocacy
Our five strategic pillars
Tap any pillar to explore its curriculum and initiatives.
Early Voice is the Institute's flagship prevention initiative. Designed for girls ages 10–18, it delivers evidence-informed education during the developmental years when internalizing disorders such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and chronic perfectionism most commonly begin to emerge. Rather than waiting until girls are in crisis, Early Voice teaches the emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal skills that help them recognize distress early, regulate emotions, seek support, and advocate for themselves. The curriculum integrates developmental psychology, prevention science, and public health to address both individual skills and the social pressures that shape girls' emotional health.
Body Listens bridges the gap between emotional health and physical health. Girls are often taught about puberty but receive little education about chronic stress, nervous system regulation, healthcare navigation, or how to advocate for themselves when something feels wrong. Body Listens helps girls develop health literacy while emphasizing that mental and physical health are deeply interconnected.
Healthy development does not happen in isolation. Healthy Girlhood Community creates supportive environments where girls, families, and mentors can learn, heal, and grow together. This pillar recognizes that resilience is strengthened through healthy relationships, trusted adults, and connected communities.
Schools are uniquely positioned to influence lifelong health. Our long-term goal is to partner with educators and administrators to build emotional development into school culture — so prevention becomes part of everyday education rather than an emergency response.
The Institute's research and policy division exists to expand understanding of the factors that shape girls' lifelong health and to translate that knowledge into meaningful systems change. Working alongside universities, healthcare systems, educators, and policymakers, the Institute will evaluate programs, publish original research, and advocate for evidence-informed public policy.
We envision a future where emotional education is recognized as an essential part of public health, and where every child is equipped to become a lifelong advocate for their own well-being — supported by systems designed to nurture health before suffering becomes chronic.
We're starting with girls, where the need is urgent and personal to our founder — but emotional regulation, healthy boundaries, and resilience are skills every child deserves. Over time, we aim to extend this same foundation to all young people through future Healthy Childhood and Healthy Boyhood initiatives.
Want to bring a program to your community?
We partner with schools, clinics, and families. Reach out and let's explore what's possible together.
Let's work together.
Explore how we can advance the health and well-being of girls through our comprehensive preventive initiative.
Send us a message
We'd love to hear from you — partners, parents, and curious minds alike.
instituteforhealthygirlhood@gmail.com
@instituteforhealthygirlhood
Subscribe for updates
The Healthy Girlhood Listening Project
Share your experience and help shape prevention that actually reflects girls' lives.
Contribute your voice →Bring Healthy Girlhood to the girls you serve.
A turnkey, evidence-informed prevention curriculum built to slot into the programs girls already trust.
Built for the organizations girls already trust
If you serve girls and care about their emotional well-being, we're built for you.
Expertise you can plug in
Turnkey & evidence-informed
A ready-to-run curriculum grounded in social-emotional learning and prevention science — no need to build it yourself.
Fills your well-being mandate
Meet the growing expectation for mental-health and SEL programming without adding clinical staff.
We bring the facilitators
Our trained staff deliver the first cohorts. Over time, we train your facilitators to carry the mission forward.
Designed for girls 10–18
Age-appropriate content that adapts to your setting, schedule, and the girls in your community.
Prevention, not therapy
Clear boundaries: education and skill-building, with pathways to care when a girl needs more support.
Measurable outcomes
Evaluation tools that give you results to share with your board, your community, and your funders.
From first call to lasting impact
Discovery call
We learn your community, your girls, and your goals — and whether we're a good fit.
Choose your program & format
Early Voice, Body Listens, or a blend — with session length and cadence shaped to your schedule.
We deliver
Our trained staff facilitate your first cohorts, so you see the program in action from day one.
Train-the-trainer
We equip your own facilitators to sustain and expand the program within your organization.
Measure & grow
Evaluation, feedback, and reporting you can share with your board and funders.
Clinically grounded, prevention-first
Noa Gasway
Noa holds a B.A. in Psychology from UC Berkeley and an M.S. in Counseling Psychology from California Lutheran University. Her clinical training spans the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, residential counseling, and work as a Marriage & Family Therapist trainee at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services in Child & Family Services — including deep experience serving low-income and underrepresented communities through Medi-Cal. Healthy Girlhood is also personal: Noa's own lived experience with autoimmune illness and internalizing disorders is the origin of this work, and the reason Body Listens and Early Voice exist. She's building the resource she wishes she'd had as a girl — one that reaches girls with prevention early, long before challenges ever become a crisis.
Free to partner, built to last.
We're committed to accessibility — Healthy Girlhood is offered free to partner organizations wherever grant funding allows. Let's explore a pilot for your girls.
Raising emotionally healthy girls — together.
Workshops that give parents and caregivers the same skills we teach girls, so growth continues at home.
The most powerful classroom in a girl's life is her home.
Parent Academy equips the adults around a girl with the language and tools of emotional health — so the confidence, boundaries, and self-trust she's building are reinforced at the kitchen table, not just in the program room.
Workshops are warm, practical, and judgment-free — designed to gently replace perfectionism and shame-based patterns with connection and understanding.
Practical tools for real parenting moments
Fostering emotional literacy at home
Supporting a daughter through anxiety & perfectionism
Encouraging healthy independence & confidence
Communication, boundaries & repair after conflict
Understanding the eldest daughter dynamic & family roles
Navigating social media, comparison & body image
Modeling rest, self-trust & resilience
Recognizing when to seek extra support
Flexible to fit your family or organization
Workshop series or single sessions
A one-time talk or an ongoing series — whatever fits your community's rhythm.
Virtual or in-person
Join from anywhere, or bring us into your space — whichever reaches parents best.
Through your school or organization
Offer Parent Academy as part of your existing family-engagement programming.
Interested in Parent Academy?
Whether you're a parent, a school, or an organization, we'd love to help you bring this to the families you serve.
Reflection Prompts.
Give it a spin. Wherever it lands is today's reflection — a gentle way to build the emotional-literacy habit we teach girls, one question at a time.
Facilitators & parents: this makes a lovely warm-up to open an Early Voice session, or a conversation starter at the dinner table.
Support, right when you need it.
A companion reference for girls, facilitators, parents, and caregivers — organized by topic, supporting Early Voice and Body Listens.
Crisis & Immediate Support
If a participant discloses a safety concern, start here. These lines are staffed 24/7 and take calls, texts, or chats from teens directly.
Just for You
Written directly for girls to read, watch, or listen to on their own — no adult required.
Short animated videos answering real questions about puberty, feelings, and relationships.
The ages 8–11 companion to TeensHealth, in simpler language.
Doctor-reviewed articles on puberty, periods, and body changes, written for teens.
Puberty and body-care guide written directly for girls, split by age band.
Real puberty questions answered — good for listening solo or with a friend.
Conversation starters for checking in on a friend's mental health.
Browse books and media that model confident girls.
Text or call to talk to another teen, any time.
Identity-Affirming & Culturally Specific Care
Directory and podcast on mental health for Black women and girls.
Therapist directory for the Latinx community.
Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective — healing justice resources and training.
Culturally-responsive therapist directory and peer support.
Health and wellness resources for Native youth.
Crisis support and community for LGBTQ+ young people.
Peer support hotline run by and for trans people.
Confidential peer support for all ages.
Emotional Literacy & Mental Health
Free, evidence-based mental health curricula for schools.
Clinical and educational resources on adolescent development.
Information, referrals, and support for mental health conditions.
Guide for teens on supporting a struggling friend online.
Training and data for prevention programs.
Research and guides on childhood trauma.
Screening tools and condition-specific resources.
Free, printable worksheets on emotion regulation, coping skills, and boundaries.
Body Literacy, Puberty & Menstrual Health
Helpline, screening tool, and treatment directory.
Support and education for families navigating eating disorders.
Weight-inclusive eating disorder advocacy and resources.
The "Be Body Positive" model — workshops and educator training on body trust.
Doctor-reviewed articles on puberty, periods, and body changes.
Puberty and body-care guide, split by age band.
Healthy Girlhood, Self-Esteem & Media Literacy
National network of girls' empowerment programs, ages 5–18.
Running-based curriculum combining movement with confidence-building.
Assertiveness and voice-building workshops, developed with Rachel Simmons.
Media literacy nonprofit on body image in advertising and pop culture.
Curated books, toys, and media that model confident girls.
Age-based reviews and digital literacy guides for families.
Relationships, Consent & Digital Safety
Articles on consent, healthy relationships, and recovery.
Prevention education on relationship and sexual violence.
Prevention research and campaign materials.
24/7 text, call, or chat line specifically for teen dating relationships.
Podcasts
Dr. Cara Natterson & Vanessa Kroll Bennett answer real puberty questions — good pre-session listening for ages 10+.
A group of teens talking candidly about mental health, peer to peer.
Curiosity-driven science podcast for the 8–10 group, good for body-science episodes.
Parent-facing, but useful for facilitators preparing to talk with caregivers.
Worksheets & Practice Tools
Printable emotion wheels, coping-skill trackers, and boundary-setting worksheets.
Free mood-tracking and vocabulary-building tool (RULER).
Free sample SEL lesson plans and family take-home sheets.
For Parents & Facilitators
Research-backed guidance on adolescent development.
Parenting with a Mental Health Condition.
Scripts for starting hard conversations with teens.
Curated titles on attachment, separation, and honoring difference.
Brain-based parenting titles, including The Whole-Brain Child.
Dr. Becky Kennedy's guide to becoming the parent you want to be.
Sarah-Jayne Blakemore's book on the secret life of the teenage brain.