Vera Saitcevsky. 23 años
Coordinadora de Sostenibilidad y Desarrollo, TeenSmart Internacional.
Coming of age can sometimes feel like painting over a mirror.
With a brush in hand and years of study behind you, you face your own reflection — daunted by the freedom of having no instructions at all. You play with shapes, colors, and textures, discovering in the moment what you want to create — and how you want to create yourself.
The brushstrokes might come out sharp, soft, swirling, messy… but always born from experimentation. Even when you don’t quite know what you’re creating, something new begins to appear in that mirror — something authentically yours.
But growing up isn’t always so poetic.
Adolescence is also a time of mistakes, inner contradictions, and social pressure to fit in. And when what’s “normal” among friends is harmful, it can feel like walking a tightrope with no safety net — testing the limits of something new, without really measuring the risk, just because someone dared you to.
I’ve lived it myself.
I remember feeling trapped between the desire to belong and the constant search for who I was — and that’s how I gave in to peer pressure.
At 12, I started shaving because a boy made fun of my legs.
At 13, I was counting calories because someone in ballet told me my arms were too big.
At 14, my friends said I should’ve kissed someone by now — or I wasn’t “cool.”
At 15, it was smoking.
And so it went — more expectations while silencing my own voice in the process.
Every time I ignored my intuition, something inside me dimmed — something that, as I now know, was never truly gone.
I also remember not being able to talk to my parents about how I felt.
My body hurt, my soul ached, but I didn’t know how to name the feeling. I felt like no one understood me- not even myself, whose reflection stared back at me with dissatisfaction and judgement. What was wrong with me? Why did I feel so alone?
Now at 23, I’ve reconnected with the part of me that always wanted to live freely.
I’ve learned how to self-regulate, how to communicate, how to love myself — and in doing so, how to nourish the people around me.
But I still wonder: What if I’d had the tools to take care of myself back then? What if I’d learned to set boundaries, to speak up, to say “no” without guilt?
And then I realized something even bigger:
So many teens are still growing up without those tools.
Teens today navigate a reality that is increasingly complex and shifting.
Technology has moved spaces of connection to the virtual realm but has also added new layers of social pressure.
On social media, curated content shape impossible standards of beauty and success. Algorithms reinforce stereotypes and digital addictions. Influencers, brands, even strangers have a say in how one should look, think, and feel. Meanwhile, safe spaces to express and connect grow smaller.
At the same time, teens are facing unprecedented global challenges: the climate crisis, ongoing effects of COVID-19, migration, culture of globalization, economic uncertainty, social polarization, and a rising mental health crisis. Today, 1 in 3 young people in Latin America face mental health struggles, according to the 2023 Mental State of the World report by Sapien Labs.
All of this — while their brains are still developing, and their hearts are still learning how to hold themselves up.
And yet young people continue to persevere.
They organize, they create, they dream, they reinvent. They are the leaders of both today and tomorrow, and their wellbeing is key to a more just, healthy, and conscious society. But no one should have to navigate this crucial stage alone.
That’s why spaces like JovenSalud are so necessary.
Because speaking up isn’t always easy and growing up hurts, and we deserve a space to care for ourselves with clear information and real support.
At JovenSalud, we learn to listen to ourselves and tend to what we’re feeling.
To make decisions from an informed education and self-love, not from external pressure.
Here, teens can:
- Learn about their health to make conscious choices
- Receive professional guidance that is close and judgment-free.
- Explore their body, emotions, identity, and boundaries with respect.
- Reconnect with who they truly are — that spark of life that makes each of us unique.
There is no one right way to live adolescence — and that’s exactly the beauty of it.
JovenSalud is here to walk beside you, to remind you that you’re not alone, that your story matters, and that your wellbeing is a right.
Because caring for yourself is also a way to transform the world.
Join our Legacy Program
Leave your mark, today and forever.
