Majority of Lucero Phone App Users Report Mood Improvement 

[Austin, TX, June 2023] —

In the midst of an unprecedented mental health crisis which was recently highlighted by the US Surgeon General, over 50 youth, therapists, game designers and developers collaborated to make the Lucero digital app. The majority of teens and tweens that use the Lucero phone app show mood improvement, according to a recent white paper titled, “Increasing Access to Youth Mental Health Support.”

The goal of the Lucero app is to increase confidence, build emotional regulation skills, and provide support for children who are waiting to receive mental health services. A team of licensed mental health therapists from Ensemble Therapy and Dell Children’s Hospital in Austin have co-created all of the mental wellness and social-emotional skill building content for the app.“We took evidence-based activities that are being successfully used by mental health therapists every week and placed them in the pockets of youth and families,” the Lucero creators shared.

The effectiveness of Lucero’s content has been validated by a third party PhD researcher. Since launching in December of 2022, over 60% of users reported mood improvement while using the Spark “Self Care Wheel” feature of the app. Many adolescents in the pilot study showed a decrease in negative feelings within 20 minutes.

According to Jillian Domingue, CEO, “Our team of youth collaborators makes us successful and have been instrumental in the development of every aspect of this mental health app, from design to content approval.”  Lucero uses “gamified graphics” and collaborated with a former Disney story writer to create an engaging user experience. Since launching in December 2022, Lucero has over 7,000 explorers in the Beta launch and their retention is on par and exceeds other digital wellness apps.

Lucero is live on the App Store and Google Play for phones. Tablet compatibility is in the near future. Download the white paper at Lucerospeaks.com.

CONTACT:

Jillian Domingue, CEO
Lucerospeaks.com
jillian@lucerospeaks.com
512-870-7532

1. Practice positive thinking.

Confident people are almost always optimists, and optimism starts with positive thinking. Optimism is “a state of hopefulness and confidence about the future,” says Positivity Project founder Mike Erwin. “It\’s also a state we can train ourselves to adopt. We can resist pessimism, assert control, and learn to appreciate setbacks as what they really are–opportunities.” To help your teen think positively, make it a goal for the whole family to look at the bright side. That doesn’t mean ignoring problems; instead, it’s about keeping the focus on what you can control instead of what you can’t and proactively seeking solutions. Empower your teen to think creatively, solve problems and find opportunities, and their confidence will increase exponentially.

2. Get out of your comfort zone.

Confidence doesn’t mean you never feel fear, but it does mean you’re less likely to let fear hold you back. “Those who invite discomfort are able to achieve more, take more significant risks and break through barriers, and are open to facing new challenges,” says Angeli Gianchandani, founder of Mobility Girl, a platform designed to empower young people through mentorship. “Discomfort is a form of self-growth, pushing yourself mentally to overcome fear.” To help your teen lean into growth opportunities, encourage them to take risks to pursue their goals and find the lessons in mistakes and set-backs. Each time they get out of their comfort zone, they’re expanding their capacity for confidence.

3. Embrace self-care. 

Truly confident people practice self-compassion and self-care to stay strong. “Recent research has shown self-compassion was associated with self-worth,” says Michele Patterson Ford, Ph.D., a psychologist and senior lecturer in psychology at Dickinson College. “Knowing your value is an important component of feeling confident in oneself.” Self-care habits start with self-awareness, so teach your teen to check in with themselves mentally, physically and emotionally. When they know what they need, they can take steps to provide it for themselves or ask others for help. Self-care includes everything from exercising to getting enough sleep to making time to do the things you love to do. Whatever it means for your teen, make sure they know they’re worth it and support them when they take time to nurture themselves.

4. Connect with others.

Positive psychology pioneer and University of Michigan professor Christopher Peterson was famous for saying, \”I can sum up positive psychology in just three words: Other people matter.\” Numerous studies show a powerful reciprocal relationship between feeling connected to others and feeling good about ourselves. To help your teen gain confidence through connection, make sure they prioritize IRL time with friends and family. Encourage them to express gratitude and give them tools to resolve conflict. You can also make connections together by volunteering in the community. “One of the most practical ways to be more hopeful about the future is to realize that you can and do make a difference in people\’s lives,” says writer Bill Murphy, Jr. “By focusing on helping others, we gain the added benefit of increasing our own levels of happiness and optimism.”

To help your teen learn confidence-boosting healthy habits like these, download Lucero. It’s a gamified wellness app that builds emotional regulation skills and self-care habits in just a few minutes a day. Lucero is the most fun and engaging way for tweens and teens to gain healthy habits with bite-sized content co-created by experts and teens themselves.

Teen mental health experts say the data points to multiple problems upstream, including shame and stigma surrounding mental health, a crisis-centered, overburdened care system, and a lack of preventative resources. By looking at what’s missing, we can begin to create solutions to the teen mental health crisis, including:

• giving teens and families the skills, language, and tools to talk about mental health and wellness
• building a more proactive, preventative model of care
• meeting teens where they are and making wellness easy and accessible
• focusing on daily habits for mental and emotional well-being

That’s where Lucero comes in. Lucero is a youth-driven, gamified approach to wellness and self-care. We asked teens, “If you had a magic app to solve the problems you face, what would it do?” Then, led by a team of trauma-informed therapists, we built the safe space they asked for. Lucero includes multiple layers of support, including

• Journey: 84+ fun and engaging daily micro-lessons on topics like confidence and self-awareness
• Spark: 600+ self-care ideas designed for 30 different emotions
• Sanctuary: A place where teens can celebrate themselves by evolving their avatars and earning badges
• Crew: Meaningful connection with up to 7 framily members (friends and family who radically support each other)

Our research-backed philosophy is that small daily acts of self-discovery and self-care add up to big changes in the brain, and that makes teens’ mental health more resilient. Instead of waiting for a crisis, Lucero is all about building habits to support long-term wellness in mind, body and spirit. It increases emotional regulation skills through self-awareness, confidence and mindfulness and makes hard topics fun, engaging and bite-sized.

First and foremost, Lucero gives teens a safe space to just be themselves. In just a few minutes a day, they can gain tools to build confidence, deal with difficult emotions, and stay connected to others who radically support them. Lucero also helps parents and pros stay connected to tweens and teens.

Why now? Because when we look at those sobering statistics, we know that every single number is a tween or teen who can thrive with the right tools and support. Because we know that real solutions have to be youth-driven, supported by science and accessible to everyone. And most of all, because teens are telling us it’s time. So let’s do this.

Why Emotional Regulation is Key

Emotional regulation is the ability to effectively manage emotions. It includes:

• Being able to self-reflect
• Feel emotions without being overwhelmed by them
• Dial down the intensity of negative feelings
• Cultivate positive feelings, and
• Feel in control of emotional experiences.

According to a brief from the Duke Center for Child and Family Policy, teens with good emotional regulation skills are better at:

• dealing with stress and frustration,
• persisting, problem-solving and delaying gratification to achieve goals,
• demonstrating compassion and concern for others in their decisions, and
• seeking help when they’re overwhelmed by stress or in a dangerous situation.

Research also suggests that emotional regulation protects teens’ long-term mental health. A 2019 study published in Brain Science found that emotional regulation skills mediate the effects of stressful life events and childhood adversity on teens’ risk for anxiety disorders and depression.

The bottom line? Emotional regulation helps teens build emotional resilience. But, because there are so many biological, neurological and social factors affecting teens’ emotions, it’s important to put a plan in place to help them gain tools. Here are three strategies to focus on:

1. Practice self-awareness.

The first step in regulating emotions is being able to “name and claim” them. Teens need to know it’s ok to feel their feelings – even the uncomfortable ones. Teach your teen that emotions are information. While emotions can help teens take care of themselves and make good decisions, they\’re not permanent or reflective of who they are as individuals. Self-awareness also means identifying what triggers negative emotions and nurtures positive ones, and taking responsibility for practicing emotional self-care.

1. Reframe negative thoughts and self-talk.

Emotions are closely linked to thoughts and self-talk; for example, a thought like “Everybody else thought that class was easy, but I didn’t understand anything. I’m so dumb,” can lead to feelings of shame, anxiety and fear. Reframing teaches teens to notice their negative, self-defeating thoughts and self-talk and switch to a more positive, self-compassionate and empowering perspective: “I’m sure I’m not the only person who’s struggling. I know I can get this. I’ll ask my teacher for help tomorrow.”

1. Future-focusing.

Future-focusing teaches teens to imagine future stressful scenarios, like bumping into an ex at school or taking a big test, and map out strategies to help themselves stay calm. They can walk through a challenging situation in their minds, decide what tools they will use and picture a successful outcome. Future-focusing can also mean planning a reward for completing a tough task, like taking 10 minutes of downtime for every hour of studying. Focusing on the future empowers teens to handle stressors proactively and positively.

And here’s a fun Spark tool from the Lucero app: 

Spark has over 600 self-care ideas for 30 different emotions! One of our favorites: When your teen is dealing with a tough emotion, ask “What would you say to someone else who felt _____?” How would you help them feel better?” This simple Q&A helps teens build a toolkit of proactive solutions, and sometimes it’s easier to handle a difficult emotion when we imagine it from a different perspective.