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Magic
A certain magic happens when coaching combines forces with writing.
When youth are given the agency to approach life and learning through a lens of creativity and possibility, their natural strengths are bolstered and engagement skyrockets.
Bend Your Lens Coaching, LLC was founded on the belief that with an open mind and a shift in perspective, new possibilities come into focus, inviting life-changing behavior shifts (for my visual learners, see Figure 1.1!).
Mission
To partner with youth, educators, and changemakers to nurture well-being, self-actualization, and our collective future through whimsical writing programs and evidence-based coaching, transforming learning environments into places where every young person’s voice is honored.
Vision
Schools and youth-serving spaces reimagined as creative, cooperative communities where writing and storytelling support greater empathetic connection, diverse learners are honored, and growth is measured through levels of well-being.
HISTORY
Bend Your Lens Coaching was founded in 2018 as a sole proprietorship of Tasha McGhie, a professional coach, former social worker, and advocate for the arts. Operating under the DBA of Bend Your Lens Coaching, Tasha McGhie served as a career coach for students around the world with Open Classrooms, an online education and training platform based in Europe that aims to make education and upward mobility accessible to everyone, everywhere.
After working with students both through this platform and as a writing tutor at a local community college, the message was clear: now more than ever, students require immediate support to communicate their ideas and needs in meaningful ways.
Heeding that message, Tasha gathered a small but mighty group of tutors to launch a successful summer writing pilot program amid the global pandemic of 2020. This went on to build in both reach and impact, earning her and her mighty team the TRACE Presidential Award from Tarrant County College for their enterprising efforts.
To offer a more sustainable solution for youth in her community, Tasha incorporated Bend Your Lens Coaching as an LLC in March of 2022 and officially created Worth Writing, a separate entity designed to support youth voice through writing programs. Moving beyond a singular focus on literacy, Worth Writing aims to provide transformative channels of self-expression, self-actualization, belonging, and joy for youth and those who support them.