Lori doesn’t advise her students—she guides them. If someone is struggling with an issue, she challenges that student to consider a different perspective, rather than rely on an adult for the answer. “Helping my students reflect on their situation teaches them how they can handle it on their own in the future,” she said. “Empowerment really is the core of my work.”

As a graduate student, Lori interned with the school-based mental health clinic at the Mirabal Sisters Campus. It led her to her current work with the Carrera Pregnancy Prevention Program at Brooklyn’s Urban Assembly Institute of Math and Science for Young Women where, “with a guiding hand,” she aims to make her students feel safe and supported.

On a day to day basis, Lori helps high school girls successfully make the transition from their home environment to school. “Normalizing their experiences for them lets them see that they are not the only ones going through what may be happening at home,” she said. And it leaves them fully able to focus in the classroom and on their future. The college process presents another set of anxieties for high schoolers, but Lori and her colleagues also provide social-emotional support around college applications and the transition that comes with leaving high school.

Students might not always be willing to talk at first, but that doesn’t stop Lori’s work. “Just being there is important,” she said. “The fact that you are there and the fact that you have a relationship with them – even if they are not ready to talk to you yet—they feel comfortable knowing that they can approach you at a later time.”