About The Creator of One Level Forward

Hi. I’m Lisa. I live in Virginia with my partner and our dog and spend much of my time creating, learning, and exploring my own personal growth.

As someone living with mental illness, I consider myself both a lifelong learner and an advocate for people experiencing mental health challenges. Over the years, I have seen firsthand how meaningful growth can happen. Not through perfection, but through support, skill-building, practice, and time.

My interest in emotional wellness and personal growth extends beyond my own experiences.

Over the years, I have volunteered with organizations including National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Compeer Program and have worked professionally in the mental health field in a variety of roles. My experience includes work with the Consumer Quality Team of Maryland and the Mental Health Association of Maryland, where I supported the Mental Health First Aid-USA program in areas including educational materials, manual development and editing, training resources, and product support. I also contributed to editing the Mental Health in Later Life Guidebook.

These experiences shaped how I think about growth, resilience, education, and the importance of meeting people where they are.

Over many years, I explored different approaches to personal growth and emotional wellness in my own life and often found myself sharing ideas and tools with people I cared about.

One approach that had a particularly meaningful impact on me was Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), a form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy developed by Dr. Marsha M. Linehan. What stood out to me was not the idea of becoming perfect or changing overnight, but the idea that meaningful growth could happen through practice, flexibility, and small steps repeated over time.

I began wondering whether some of these ideas could feel more approachable and accessible to people who might not otherwise seek out traditional self-development or therapeutic concepts.

That question eventually became an idea: Maybe something interactive.

Maybe something creative… Maybe something that made growth feel less overwhelming.

I started building around that idea for someone close to me who was struggling with depression and anxiety.

Within hours, I felt something click.

I realized I might be building something bigger than I originally intended.

One Level Forward is…

About One Level Forward

One Level Forward is an interactive emotional growth experience designed to make personal growth feel more approachable, engaging, and achievable.

Built around the belief that meaningful change rarely happens overnight, One Level Forward encourages people to explore emotional resilience, self-awareness, reflection, confidence, and practical life skills through small steps that build over time.

Rather than focusing on perfection or expecting people to transform all at once, One Level Forward invites people to begin where they are. Growth does not have to start with a complete life overhaul. Sometimes growth begins with curiosity. Sometimes it begins with trying. Sometimes it begins with moving one level forward.