From the moment you enter Pace Center For Girls Hillsborough, you feel the positive vibe.
Words of affirmation are everywhere, on every wall — everywhere you turn.
Davia Lerebours is the Executive Director of Pace Hillsborough.
"We've seen a significant increase in mental health needs for our girls, anxiety, depression, there's a lot of pressure from social media, um, from the media in general. Girls are struggling," Lerebours said.
Lerebours told us about one young girl in particular, 14-year-old Lyra.
"I was very closed off. And I felt if I even reached out to anybody, I'd be shut down immediately," Lyra said.
Lyra's journey hasn't been easy. She's wise beyond her years, gifted, and highly intelligent — so much so that she struggled to make connections with kids her own age. Even with some adults.
"The way I thought about it was, it was only me, and nobody would ever be able to think or process things the same way I could," Lyra said. "So they'll never be able to truly understand me. So I kind of got into the mindset of, it's just me, myself and I, and nobody would ever get close enough within like arm's reach of me."
At Pace, she learned to make connections.
"I feel like being here, they got to see, you know, me, and they helped me kind of grow into myself or become who I am instead of you know, hiding in a shell. They kind of cracked it open," Lyra said.
She added that she "very much" enjoys who she's becoming.
"Everybody kind of comes from a different background, different stories," she said. "You get to know like so much about somebody just sitting next to them. Or, you know, I'm like, I talked to somebody, like a couple days ago that I've never talked to one time here and I'm like, wow, have you like just opened a whole other door."
Before Pace, Lyra said she would have never been able to talk to people like she does now.
"I would have hidden the corner. If someone tried to like approach me, I would have never had been able to go up to somebody. And you know, say hey, but it would have been like 30,000 tons on my ankle stopping me from getting to that person. It would have been, it would have been an impossible feat at the time," she said.
Lyra's finally found her voice. She's become an advocate, not just for herself but for others. She's now a member of the Juvenile Justice Circuit Advisory Board.
"Throwing away you know, your own perspective, like absolutely completely gone and adopting a new one. I end up keeping some traits from everybody I meet every new perspective I look through, I see oh, hey, this is a new world I'm walking into. And each time it broadens my own view," she said.
Lyra is a shining example of what Pace is all about.
"Our girls have incredible potential and yes they may have some challenges but when provided with a safe environment, and they're nurtured and empowered, they really are amazing young ladies and it's important for the world to know that," Lerebours said.
