Meet Courtney Stone | Co-Founder, Inlight Institute & Spotlight XYZ

We had the good fortune of connecting with Courtney Stone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Courtney, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My co-founder, Jen, and I experienced trauma and felt immense pain after being impacted by gun violence. During our grieving phase, we sought answers to why and how people start on a pathway to violence. The dark truth is that young people face unprecedented challenges. Violence clusters in specific social networks and neighborhoods; however, all young people are vulnerable to violence and harm. 50% of children face a traumatic event, 50% of all lifetime cases of mental health disorders develop by age 14, and 90% of kids aged 10-14 students report having been harassed or bullied.

We explored existing programs available to parents and educators; however, we were not hopeful that these programs would solve these sobering statistics. The programs need more study and often start too late in life. Rather than being preventative, many schools have access only to mitigation and intervention systems. Field experts agreed with us that there is a need for a comprehensive program that tackles root issues related to anxiety in elementary-aged children.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Inlight Institute’s mission is to empower kids about themselves, others, and the world around them. Our primary program is a values-based curriculum that encourages kids to explore care, courage, and contribution using three key mottos: Care Hard, Got Ur Back, and Leave it Better.

Kid input and kid-led action are central to our system. Our branding and program artwork youth created, led by our 14-year-old creative director, Ollie D. An advisory team of kids has helped to brainstorm and shape our events and service projects. There is not any part of our system that is not passed or failed by children advisors.

We are always learning, listening, and growing. Starting a nonprofit is a challenging task. Maintaining a nonprofit is harder. Serving children especially is daunting. The importance of creating positive relationships, impressions, and opportunities for growth is a tall mountain to climb. Our programs were piloted as community events, so we find accessibility and delivery to be an ongoing discussion topic to meet the needs of diverse communities of children. Our vision is that future generations are equipped with the mental resilience and emotional capacity to succeed, despite whatever circumstances may come their way.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
San Diego is considered by many to be the most philanthropic city in the country. We are fortunate to be part of this big beating heart doing good to make this city and our world a better place.

Over the decades, the hangouts that hug the 101 have become infamous for their flavor, charm, and comfort. We recommend a Saturday morning beach cleanup with Surfrider at Moonlight Beach, followed by egg tacos from the concession stand. We also love this spot for a nighttime bonfire. Tucked just off the beach is the Butterfly Farm, where you can study dozens of plants that are important to the ecosystems of butterflies, followed by a visit to the Coastal Root Farms. Open on Sundays and Thursdays, their pay-what-you-can farm stand is a testament to community care.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We met the founders at Sandy Hook Promise in 2019. Their work is foundational to preventing school shootings. We coordinated a movement to bring their programs into San Diego County. They do great work to keep our schools safe – especially with their core programs for middle and high schools. Through SHP, we met Dr. Reid Meloy, the leading voice on threat assessment. He has been a consultant to the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Units for 13 years. His work is instrumental to our programs.

We want to give a shoutout to our advisors: Dr. Laura Vleugels, SDCOE Psychiatrist; Dr. Benjamin Maxwell, Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Chair at Rady Children’s Hospital; Dr. Kathy Williams, Director of Clinical Training for Child and Adolescent Psychology & Founding Director of the Anxiety & OCD Clinic at Rady Children’s Hospital, Outpatient Psychiatry; Sharon Camarillo, Marianne Engle, Ashley Furrow, and Wendy Wardlow. We are here today with our team and board of directors: Shauna Sliwkanich, Christina Tolpa, Alison Wachtel, Liz Baker, Jen Glaser, and Dave Binn.

Website: https://inlightinstitute.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inlightinstitute/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/inlight-institute/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/inlightinstitute.org/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@inlightinstitute5671