What do youth want and need? How can we support them?

Young people deserve help finding their authentic self and the courage to walk with purpose, resilience and love. Our Real Talk East Bay BIPOC* Group holds a safe space for youth to share honest conversations, make meaningful connections, and seeds essential life skills to help teen girls** make choices that truly serve them. The group seeks to create a circle of understanding, solidarity and support for BIPOC teens specifically. This is a space to celebrate and uplift each other, where we value being real, together. Our aim is to offer a light in the darkness, and uncover some wisdom, joy and community. We hope you'll join us!

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Real Talk Grows

• confidence and self worth
• clear communication & boundary setting
• self care & stress management skills
• embodied leadership
• authentic self expression including our racial & multiracial experiences
  
• a sense of justice & integrity
  

• relationships that truly serve
  
• identity exploration (online and in real time)
  
• appropriate risk taking
  
• quality time with peers off phones, in nature
• understanding & celebrating our changing our bodies
• nature connection

Real Talk Curriculum will be developmentally (age and stage) appropriate for teens 8th-9th grade. We will focus on curriculum themes through a BIPOC lens as best serves the group, striking a healthy balance between depth and fun. Have more questions? Visit our Teen Curriculum, Philosophy, or our FAQ.

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* What is BIPOC and why do we use that term?
"BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and people of color. Pronounced “bye-pock,” this is a term specific to the United States, intended to center the experiences of Black and Indigenous groups and demonstrate solidarity between communities of color. The term “BIPOC” acknowledges that people of color face varying types of discrimination and prejudice. BIPOC aims to bring to center stage the specific violence, cultural erasure, and discrimination experienced by Black and Indigenous people. It reinforces the fact that not all people of color have the same experience, particularly when it comes to legislation and systemic oppression." - Thank you to the YWCA for this image and definition. Further information on our FAQ.

** What do we mean by "girls"?
We understand gender identity to be fluid and expressed in many ways. Our programs welcome teens along the gender spectrum who are assigned female at birth and/or socialized female. All sexual orientations are welcome and celebrated. Further information on our FAQ.

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Real Talk East Bay BIPOC Group Details

BEARS GROUP

• Real Talk circle for 8-9th grade girls*
• 10 Gatherings Sundays 2-5pm
• Tentative Dates: 9/24, 10/22, 11/5, 12/3, 1/7, 2/11, 3/3, 4/21, 5/5, 6/2
• Parents & caregivers join part of the first meeting
• Hosted in East Bay
• Facilitated by Carmen McNeil
• Teens rising into 8th or 9th grade welcome. If you feel like your daughter is a fit but is in a different grade or alternative schooling situation, please apply.
  
• This series is meant to be an inclusive, intimate group for a limited number of participants.

TUITION
September 2023 - June 2024 School Year
Tier 1 $2,500 Base Tuition
Tier 2 $2,750 Pay It Forward
Scholarships Available

• Pay in full by PayPal or check by September 1, 2023
• or PayPal monthly billing Sept-June (10 months)

We are committed to making this important opportunity available to all teens, including those for whom our rates are a financial barrier. In order to do that, we offer scholarships to as many teens as possible. In 2022, $40,000 in scholarships were given. We are an LLC receiving no grants or funding beyond tuition and individual contributions. Please consider making a difference in a teen’s life through our “Pay It Forward” option, which includes gifting $25/month extra towards a scholarship.

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“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. - Audre Lorde

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Facilitated by Carmen McNeil

CARMEN MCNEIL, As a Facilitator, Educator, and Period of Empowerment™ Guide, Dr. Carmen McNeil is committed to helping girls and women understand how impressive they really are.  She holds a Ph.D. in Psychology, is a tenured professor, as well as a graduate of the California Black Women’s Health Project Advocacy Training Program. 

Dr. Carmen has been a featured speaker for conferences, women’s organizations, and educational institutions. She pours her 25+ years of  teaching, counseling, and training into supporting Power Parents and Community Influencers raising black girls; facilitating empowerment camps and workshops; and helping to lead the culture-shift around menstruation via her Power to the Period™, Rock with Your Menstrual Rhythm™, and Daring Daddies of Daughters™ workshops. Carmen is a devoted wife and proud mama of a teenage son. Learn more about Carmen...

Group & curriculum guided by Directors Emily Frost & Quetzal Francois.

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"Looking back on our group, I see how it has shaped who I have become. I found a voice I didn't know I had, and learned to stand in my own truth. I am worthy of love and I belong here." - Real Talk Teen

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Complete Payment & Application

Scholarships
Learn more & fill out request

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Inspired to support BIPOC youth?

LOVE YOUR NATURE is a small, but mighty team of female change makers devoted to creating a more sustainable world in which teen girls thrive. Our nature-based programs support a diverse population of girls, young women and families around the Bay Area. This work is needed now more than ever! Partner with us towards a shared vision of all youth, including and especially BIPOC youth, having access to the support they need and deserve. Love Your Nature is an LLC receiving no grants or funding beyond tuition and individual contributions. Your contribution makes a difference!

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Thank you!

We will contact you as soon as we have received your information.
Additional forms (including Health & Emergency Form,  Liability Waiver & Financial Agreement) will accompany the start of the group.
Please contact us if you have questions. A free intro call for parents and caregivers will be scheduled before start date.

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Featured artwork by the talented Marisa Aragon Ware