UPLIFT Youth Foundation

UPLIFT Youth Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing research-based programs rooted in movement, mindfulness, and peer connection to support youth mental well-being, build community, and develop leadership and workforce readiness skills.

Behind every non-profit is a story of the heart, a deep knowing there is a better way. Our Founder's brother Joey died due to an accidental drug overdose. Because of this experience, Erica traveled the country, speaking to college and high school students about drug and alcohol awareness. Her brother's story saved lives. But she knew there was more to do.

UPLIFT Co-Founder Camilla, experienced bullying in middle school and witnessed a family member fight substance abuse addiction. She found yoga as a way to support her mental wellness during an incredibly challenging time. She became a mentor for high school students and taught yoga in a rehabilitation center after watching a family member struggle with addiction issues.

Through endless research and passion, UPLIFT was born in 2014. Erica and Camilla developed UPLIFT's one-of-a-kind approach which gives teens the tools to support their whole wellness through peer connection, movement, and mindfulness.

In 2025, UPLIFT Youth Foundation reached over 5,100 youth across Southern California through school-based wellness assemblies and community partnerships, delivering more than 580 hours of movement, mindfulness, and peer-led programming. The results speak to the depth of that impact: 98% of participants reported feeling more empowered to love themselves, 100% left with new tools to support their well-being, and 91% returned for additional UPLIFT programming - a testament to the lasting value young people find in this work. Together, these outcomes reflect UPLIFT's core belief that every young person deserves the tools, support, and community to thrive.

Funding for school-based mental wellness programs continues to decline, particularly in Title I and other underserved public schools, creating a critical gap in support for youth at precisely the moment they need it most. At the same time, UPLIFT Youth Foundation is experiencing rising demand from schools seeking accessible, preventative mental health programming - a clear signal that the need is growing even as resources shrink.

This gap is increasingly bridged by scholarships: more students and schools now rely on financial assistance to participate in UPLIFT's programs, making sustainable, diversified funding more urgent than ever. Expanding our fundraising efforts allows UPLIFT to continue delivering high-impact programming and to ensure equitable access for youth regardless of socioeconomic status.

At UPLIFT, we take responsibility for making our programs accessible to all youth, ensuring that financial barriers never stand between a student and the support they need to thrive.

UPLIFT delivers school-based youth programs, adult and student community programs, and corporate wellness workshops in person across Southern California - including Orange County, San Diego, Riverside, and Los Angeles County - with online programming available worldwide.

When I stepped into the role of Executive Director at UPLIFT Youth Foundation, I brought with me over a decade of clinical experience working directly with teens in crisis, many facing suicidal ideation, trauma, and profound isolation. That experience taught me that teens need more than another program handed to them. They need real access to tools that meet them where they are, and the encouragement to actually try something new.

UPLIFT make mindfulness, wellness, and mental health tools accessible by lowering the barrier to entry, inviting teens to experiment with practices they might otherwise never encounter. Through one of our signature programs, we go a step further and train teens to lead these practices themselves, equipping them to bring mindfulness and wellness tools into their own schools, teams, and friend groups.

This matters because the youth mental health crisis didn't start with the pandemic, and it hasn't ended with it. Isolation, anxiety, and disconnection are still rising, and traditional top-down programming often struggles to reach teens where they actually are. UPLIFT closes that gap by pairing clinically grounded, trauma-informed practices with genuine accessibility and, in select programs, peer leadership teens actually trust.

As a clinician and researcher by training, I champion our team to continually assess and adapt UPLIFT's programs to be evidence-based and measurable. Your support gives teens the tools, and in some cases the platform, to lead their peers toward connection, resilience, and hope, proving that young people are capable, powerful agents of change in their own communities.

In 2020 a young person attempted to take their life, and I was their doctor in the hospital. During their hospitalization I realized how, with the right programs in place, this could have been prevented. This has been my "why" ever since.

I am a pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at UC San Diego, and I care for patients across the full arc of childhood, from newborns to young adults. I see mental health challenges show up often years before a young person reaches a crisis point. It is why I volunteer with UPLIFT.

By the time a young person is in clinical crisis, we have usually missed years of opportunities to help sooner and more simply. UPLIFT is built for that earlier window. Through movement, mindfulness, peer connection, and leadership development, our programs give youth tools before they are in crisis.
Since joining the Board, I have watched UPLIFT grow to serve more than 5,100 youth annually across over 50 schools and community partners in Orange County, Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Diego county. That growth is a real success, but it comes with challenges too. Demand for our programs is outpacing our capacity to fund and staff them. We are addressing this by deepening school partnerships, diversifying our donor base, and pursuing grant funding that lets us scale without diluting the quality of care every youth receives.

I also want evidence. I want to know that what we are doing works. That is part of why I am proud to serve alongside a clinical, research-driven Executive Director who holds our programs to that same standard.

Prevention is the most powerful tool medicine has. Providing youth with the tools to build resilience and connection gives us the best chance to prevent a crisis. I am grateful for donors and community leaders willing to invest there, and I hope you will join us.