Scaling Into Your Purpose: From T-Shirt Designs to Trauma-Informed Mental Health Education

When you start with an idea, it often feels small—just one spark, one dream, one design. For me, that spark began with a simple T-shirt line: thought-provoking designs meant to inspire conversation, healing, and self-expression. What I didn’t know at the time was that the T-shirt was only the surface of a much deeper calling.

Purpose has a way of pulling us forward. What begins as creativity can evolve into community. What begins as fashion can evolve into advocacy. And what begins as a message on a shirt can become a movement of education, awareness, and healing.

The Power of Words Worn Out Loud

Designs by Tee was never just about fabric and ink. It was about bold statements, affirmations, and declarations that people could wear on their chest with pride. Each T-shirt was designed to spark reflection and conversation. But soon, I realized something bigger: these conversations needed space to grow beyond clothing. They needed training, dialogue, and intentional teaching moments that could change lives.

The Next Level: Mental Health Education

Scaling into purpose means going deeper, not just wider. For me, that meant extending the mission of Designs by Tee into workshops, trainings, and facilitation around mental health. The shirts said the words—but now it was time to create spaces where those words could come alive.

I stepped into trauma-informed training and program delivery. Schools, nonprofits, and workplaces needed more than just awareness; they needed tools, language, and strategies to create supportive environments. And that’s where my purpose expanded: helping people learn how to hold space for one another, to understand trauma, and to build resilience.

Why Trauma-Informed Matters

Mental health conversations can’t be surface-level. They require depth, care, and the right framework. Trauma-informed education teaches people to:

• Recognize the impact of trauma on behavior and learning.

• Respond with empathy rather than judgment.

• Create environments of safety and trust.

This is not just training—it’s transformation. And it’s where my T-shirt line and my mental health programming intersect: both are about creating messages and experiences that shift how we see ourselves and how we support each other.

Scaling With Intention

Scaling into your purpose isn’t about abandoning where you started; it’s about allowing your mission to grow. The T-shirts remain a core piece of my work, but now they are part of a larger ecosystem. They are the entry point into conversations that lead to workshops, parent engagement, youth conferences, and professional development trainings.

Scaling also means responsibility: when you walk deeper into your purpose, you take on the weight of leading, teaching, and creating impact. But the reward is unmatched—because when your work is aligned with your purpose, it fuels both your creativity and your community.

Purpose in Action

As I continue to expand, my goal is clear: to create trauma-informed spaces that empower schools, families, and organizations to talk about mental health openly and build healthier communities. Purpose is not just what you do—it’s the legacy you leave. And every shirt designed, every workshop facilitated, every youth reached, becomes part of that legacy.