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. It’s the antidote to an epidemic of loneliness.

Three in five Americans suffer from loneliness, according to a recent survey by the Cigna Group. Even more troubling is that young adults aged 18-24 reported loneliness at twice the levels of older adults. “Chronic loneliness is as destructive to our bodies and health as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day,” says Geoffrey Cohen. High levels of loneliness correlate with deaths of despair– deaths caused by addiction to alcohol, painkillers or other drugs, or by suicide. Ultimately, researchers say these losses are attributable to the social pain of feeling disconnected. The more supportive connections teens have with family, friends and others, the bigger their safety net.

2. It nurtures teens’ sense of identity.

The most important job of the teen years is crafting an identity, or sense of self. Teens are figuring out who they are as individuals and where they fit with their family and society. But while identity is all about defining our individual selves, how we feel about ourselves depends almost entirely on our relationships with others. A recent study found that positive social relationships, social support and social acceptance help shape the development of self-esteem. In short, to feel good about themselves, teens need to know they matter to others.

3. It creates a neurological blueprint for positivity.

All sources of connection, from close relationships to everyday interactions with acquaintances and strangers, contribute to the development of the teenage brain. In the book Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships, researcher Daniel Goleman writes, “Even our most routine encounters act as regulators in the brain, priming our emotions, some desirable, others not. The more strongly connected we are with someone emotionally, the greater the mutual force.” When teens have multiple resources for kindness, care and support, their brains develop neural pathways for positive emotions like confidence, security and compassion.

4. It helps them be more authentic.

To feel a sense of belonging, teens need to know they are loved for who they are, including all of their imperfections. Tweens and teens often think that they have to fit in to belong, but as Brené Brown writes in The Gifts of Imperfection, “Fitting in is about assessing a situation and becoming who you need to be to be accepted. Belonging… doesn’t require us to change who we are; it requires us to be who we are.” When teens know they belong no matter what, it gives them the courage to be more authentic in every situation. They can own their strength and vulnerability, their triumphs and struggles, and all the qualities that make them unique.

Want to make sure your teen gets the benefits of belonging and connection? Lucero is a safe space for teens and tweens to just be themselves and connect with others who radically support them. Teens can invite up to seven friends and family members to join them on their self-care journey. Crew members cheer each other on, support each other on the hard days, and grow connections with themselves and each other. Lucero is the most fun and engaging wellness app for emotional regulation, with bite-sized activities that are co-created with youth, backed by clinical therapists, and take just a few minutes each day.

2019

The idea for Lucero was born in 2019 when three friends decided to combine their philanthropy, business and education technology expertise to address the youth mental health crisis. Founders Tom Murphy, Jim Hoover and Jeff Eastman envisioned a holistic, scalable solution that would bring mind-body-spirit well-being to the 1.2 billion adolescents around the world. The Personal Excellence Foundation was created to research the problem, identify potential solutions, and raise funds. Fun fact: the name Lucero was chosen because it means “light-bringer,” and to honor one of our founders’ former teachers!

2020 

From the very beginning, Lucero’s goal has been to make sure all the experts are involved, including mental health professionals, parents and other caregivers, and – most importantly – tweens and teens themselves. In early 2020, a pilot group of adolescents, parents, teachers and therapists at KIPP Austin College Prep Middle School and Samaritan Center helped develop our core curricula in the form of Quest Kits. The paper kits contained many of the self-care activities and self-reflection questions you’ll now find in the app.

2021

In 2021, over 200 Quest Kits were distributed to Boys & Girls Clubs throughout Austin to use for a 10-week period. The Boys & Girls Club pilot proved that tweens and teens who used the kit at least once per week showed an average of 20% growth in self-confidence and sense of purpose. We knew we were onto something, because multiple studies show that a sense of purpose is one of the most powerful protectors of mental health. That’s when we knew we needed to get Lucero in the hands of more tweens and teens.

2022

2022 was a big year for Lucero… we went digital! We started by asking tweens and teens, “If you had a magic app that could solve the problems you face, what would it do?” Then we built the safe space they asked for: an app that supports mental health by helping young people build healthy habits, gain tools for emotional resilience and connect with others who radically support them. We’re proud of the fact that all of Lucero’s content is co-created by trauma-informed therapists from Ensemble Therapy and Austin ISD who work hand-in-hand with our Youth Advisory Board. In fact, over 50+ youth, therapists, game designers and developers worked together to bring Lucero to life.

2023

So what’s next? 2023 will bring the launch of individual and family subscriptions and a pro dashboard for schools, community programs, and therapist networks. You can look forward to new features and more worlds to discover, all created with our uniquely youth-driven, gamified approach. We’re continuing our mission to become the go-to resource where tweens, teens and caregivers can find the skills, language and tools to navigate hard topics. We’re growing our community and supporting youth mental health with positive, proactive solutions that are fun, engaging, and take just a few minutes a day. So stay tuned and grow with us! The best is yet to come.

Lucero is a gamified wellness app for tweens, teens and their crew. It works like a digital daily self-care vitamin, making it easy and fun for adolescents to practice emotional regulation, boost self-confidence and connect with others who radically support them. Instead of a crisis-intervention approach, Lucero builds daily habits over time: a science-backed strategy that protects teens’ mental health and helps them grow into self-care savvy, purpose-driven adults. Here’s how we do it:

1. Give youth and families the tools to talk about hard topics.

Research shows that tweens, teens and their caregivers want to talk about mental health but lack skills, language and resources. Lucero ensures that all our content is co-created and approved by trauma-informed licensed therapists and grounded in evidence-based methods like Solutions-focused Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Whether you’re a teen or a caregiver, Lucero puts simple solutions in hand and makes it easy to talk about hard topics and reach out for support.

2. Make it youth-driven, fun and engaging.

We asked teens, “If you had a magic app to solve the problems you face, what would it do?” Then we built the safe space they asked for. We believe there’s no better source of data about the support teens need than young people themselves. That’s why we recruited a panel of 27 tweens and teens to create, review and approve all our content. And everything inside Lucero’s world makes emotional regulation fun and engaging, including evolving avatars, 84+ gamified micro-lessons on topics like confidence and self-awareness, 600+ self-care ideas, and badges to track progress.

3. Make it affordable and accessible. 

Two of the biggest barriers to mental healthcare are accessibility and cost. Licensed community therapists often have a 5- to 8-month waitlist and cost between $75-150 per session and school counselors serve an average of 464 students each. There’s a clear need for solutions that streamline support for youth and families regardless of income or location. To use Lucero, all teens need is access to a smartphone. The app will always have a free individual account version available, and Crew subscriptions are just $10/month.

4. Cultivate connection.

Strong relationships with peers and caregivers protect teens’ mental health more than any other factor. Connection with others boosts teens’ confidence and helps them develop social skills, emotional resilience and self-awareness. Lucero makes it easy to strengthen relationships by giving teens the option to connect with up to 7 family members as part of their Crew. Family is inclusive of any combination of youth and adults who want to radically support each other.

5. Build healthy habits by making it bite-sized.

The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for planning, prioritizing and impulse-control. Since it’s still developing in teens, adolescence is the perfect time to lock in healthy habits for self-care and emotional regulation. Behavior scientists say the best way to build those habits is to start small and reward progress, so that’s just what Lucero does. It’s a safe space where teens can just be themselves and gain tools for a lifetime of healthy habits… all in just a few minutes a day.

1. Can you share why you\’re so invested in teen and adolescent mental health?

My drive to invest my time in teen and tween mental health comes from personal life experiences combined with the realization that the need for more accessible and effective resources is greater now than ever before. We have a youth mental health epidemic happening right now. Along with the crisis resources being developed and deployed, we need effective upstream solutions to help diminish the possibility of a mental health crisis for youth.

On a more personal level, I was the queer kid who navigated coming out at 16, triggering a process of navigating my own self-acceptance and self-love for several years.

I have also spent countless days trying to find and access mental health resources for youth in my care as a foster mom. One of the hardest days of my entire life was walking my foster daughter through the doors of a mental health hospital because we hadn’t been able to find the right resources in time. Nothing prepares you for the reality of realizing that as a mom, you can’t fix everything. It breaks you.

As a mother, I’d do anything to go back in time years before our crisis, years before my foster daughter even showed up at my house, to give her, I, and the other foster parents in her life the skills, language, and tools to better navigate what the next five years of her life would throw her way.

Since time travel isn’t possible, I’m committed to doing everything I can to help other youth and families be more prepared through Lucero.

1. What are you most excited about in terms of how people are now understanding that teens need more emotional support and proactive interventions to help them in daily lives?

I am most excited about inviting youth to design these resources together. Instead of retrofitting what has worked with adults, we have the opportunity to really listen, meet youth where they are, and design solutions with and for them.

In interviews with tweens and teens, one consistent theme is they don’t want to be told what to do. We can probably all agree that we were that teen/tween at one point or another. With clinical experts as part of the team to provide guardrails and share evidence-based tools, together we have the opportunity to really transform the youth experience– making self-care and radical support the norm.

1. What is one key to good parent/teen communication around mental health wellness?

Normalize talking about mental health.

It’s not something “other families deal with”. It’s something we all deal with. It’s part of the human experience.

As a mom who has gone through potty training twice, my kids and I have read countless books that normalize pooping. Including the book, “Everyone Poops” by Taro Gomi– which is a family favorite!

Right along with that book, families should be reading “Everyone has Mental Health”. This is the level of normalizing that I feel mental health needs.

A friend recently shared that she’s started taking her daughter (age 3) to a therapist every 6-months for a check-up as a way to normalize the experience. You go to your pediatrician and dentist for regular check-ups, and we understand that preventative care keeps us healthy. I think this is an absolute genius way to help your kids always know from a very young age that there’s someone there when/if things get out of their control. There’s no shame in asking for help. Mental health is health, and I love the idea of normalizing it as such. 

1. What is valuable in regard to teens having access to mental health mobile apps?

Youth 8-12 spend an average of 4-6 hours per day in front of a screen. With this number skyrocketing to up to 9 hours per day for teens. I think the most valuable impact of mental health apps is accessibility. It’s a resource youth can access 24/7 when they are out-and-about or in the privacy of their room at 3 am when they can’t fall asleep.

The second most valuable part of youth having access to mental health mobile apps on their phone is it starts to allow them to make a choice for where they spend their time. They become more consciously aware of options and the way certain apps make them feel vs. others.

1. If you could give one piece of insight for practitioners working with teens and mental health what would that be?

Actively listen to youth. Even in small moments where you can give them their own agency to choose the questions they want to ask (or answer) can have great impact. Many youth we interview sound like either ships adrift at sea with no direction at all or like they are on a ship pulled by a rope in a direction they have no control over and aren’t too sure about. Actively listening to youth will start helping youth adjust their own sail or paddle their own oars–skills that can help them navigate all the future waves that life will inevitably bring.