A Message from Dr. Paula Pilcher…
The teen and tween years are tough for EVERY person, no matter your upbringing, background, or circumstances. I saw this first-hand as a high-school psychology, anatomy and physiology teacher and working in a group home for teen girls and boys who had gone through very tough times. I have a HUGE place in my heart for teens and tweens.
In 2013, with my background as a Naturopathic family care doctor, licensed massage therapist, midwife, and fitness instructor, I created Empowerteen as a holistic, integrative approach to give all adolescents access to the amazing things I’ve learned—that I wish I knew when I was in my teens.
In your teen and tween years, everything’s changing—your body, your brain, your perspective, your confidence in yourself and how people treat you. How do you navigate it? With fun and friends (OF COURSE!), and learning various Jedi mind tricks, yoga, dancing it out, nutrition, communication techniques, and much more. That’s what we do at Empowerteen.
At Empowerteen, we meet you exactly where you’re at—not where we think you should be or even where YOU think you should be. It’s OK to be you, and it’s fun to be your BEST YOU. My passion is to empower you to take charge of your own health and happiness in the most fun and effective way possible.
Does Empowerteen work?
Participants complete two Likert-scale questionnaires regarding ‘self-esteem’ and ‘body image’ at the beginning of a series, semester class curriculum, or retreat, and then again on the last day. Dr. Paula now has 6 years of data from over 700 teen/tween participants showing improvement in scores for both questionnaires, as well as open question handwritten feedback from the participants on the anecdotal effects they’ve personally noticed in their lives.
We also provide post-event questionnaires to Empowerteen participants with two questions: 1) How they felt about attending the program on the first day, and 2) How they felt about it on the last day. A “1” meant they didn’t want to be there at all, and “10” meant they were really excited to be there. On average, scores for day 1 were 3, and on the last day, scores averaged 9. The participants who wrote in “11’s” and “100’s” and then circled them were entered into the average calculation as a “10” score.
Dr. Paula Pilcher
- Doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine, National University of Natural Medicine, Portland, OR
- Certificate, Natural Childbirth Midwifery, NUNM, Portland, OR
- Licensed Massage Therapist, Oregon School of Massage, Portland, OR
- B.S., Secondary Education, Psychology, and Biology, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS
- Owner, Pilcher Health & Bodyworks LLC
- Member, Psychiatric Association of Naturopathic Physicians
- Member, Oregon Association of Naturopathic Physicians
- Member, Association of Bodywork & Massage Professionals
- Certified Group Fitness Instructor