Middle school isn't always fun and friends. Haley Kilpatrick was so intimidated she used to eat lunch in the bathroom to avoid the drama.

"I think at some point every girl feels that social anxiety that pressure to kind of fit in and try to figure out what it takes to be liked," Kilpatrick told Ivanhoe.

So at age 15, Kilpatrick started a program called Girl Talk to offer middle school girls a way to cope.

In weekly meetings, high school girls mentor younger girls, sharing tips on how they survived the gossip and meanness. Exercises like a game of telephone teach them to think about what they say and do.

"They teach us to be ourselves and you know, not talk about people behind their back," 12-year-old Telli Antinori told Ivanhoe.

"Teaches you to ignore all the drama and all the stuff that's going on in your life," 12-year-old Chase Smith said.

Guidance counselors say they're seeing better grades, happier girls and more. "What respect is, what individuality is, about what confidence is about. They've just really blossomed," Anne Thomerson, Director of Guidance at the Atlanta Girls School, told Ivanhoe.

In five years, the girl talk program has grown from one school to more than 400 -- reaching more than 30-thousand girls every week, and still growing.

If you would like more information, please contact:
http://www.desiretoinspire.org/