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The Passion:

Lynne Pedersen is a thought leader in the adolescent mental health field. She developed the foundation that enabled two adolescent residential programs to emerge as the largest and arguably the finest in the nation. She is celebrated for her unrivaled passion and commitment to the advancement of mental health services.

In 2015, after devoting over three decades to the adolescent residential treatment space, she shifted her focus. Lynne had taken note of the staggering number of young people wait-listed for treatment. In her view, there was clearly a void in the support landscape for our youth.  Ms. Pedersen believed that as a society, we are conditioned to respond to the crisis. We wait, many times until the malady is rooted and taken shape before we act. We may minimize or deny the signs before us, quite possibly, because there are no viable options for a response at a lower level of concern. With this insight, Lynne created ONE, the first early intervention program based on the power of inspiration and human connection. A support group where a diagnosis or named struggle was not a prerequisite for entry. The only requirement for membership was a desire to be inspired. 

The ONE Exchange was launched shortly thereafter, the first campus-based restorative justice program of its kind. Students who commit an infraction punishable by suspension can now exchange that very suspension for attendance at ONE meetings. Successful completion of the program allows for a student’s misstep not to appear on their record. True restorative justice. A moment of poor judgement converted into an opportunity to rise instead of fall or in many cases, fail. Graduates of The ONE Exchange are thriving in higher-level educational settings throughout the country including Berkeley, Loyola, and Vanderbilt. 

Lynne conceptualized Alter the Course, (ATC) after bearing witness to the powerful transformational shifts of her ONE participants.  Ever the innovator, she drew from the long list of success stories. The young lives that were shifted within the space that ONE creates.  She asked herself a simple question. If these lives can be altered so dramatically with an hour a week of facilitated opportunities, what could happen in one full intentionally curated week? 

Ms. Pedersen has received honors from the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office, and Paramount Pictures. Her expertise has been featured on broadcasts of NBC. ABC, FOX, KTLA, and Spectrum TV. Her most recent awards hail from the Newport Mesa Unified School District, The National PTA Service Award, The A&A Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement and Keys to Recovery’s Outstanding Contribution to Recovery. 

Education & Training: CADC-II and ICADC. UCLA  Chemical Dependency Counseling and Studies. The UCLA Program Management and Legal Aspects of Healthcare. Intervention Certification from the prestigious Johnson Institute in 1985.

Lynne has appeared on the following networks and been interviewed in these as well as other publications.