About

Our Story

At Let Me Be Me Learning Foundation we believe there is a need for comprehensive services for children and youth who face barriers to education, culture and social/life skills. We provide these services to children and their families. Let Me Be Me provides a variety of programs that take a holistic approach to learning. At the same time, these programs are individualized to meet the needs and hone the talents of each student.

The students in the Let Me Be Me Program are grounded in culture, sustainability and connected to the community. We provide part time and full time programming (gr K-12, with modified or adapted options), as well as after school play groups (social skills), tutoring services and behavioral intervention. These programs develop social skills (through regular community outings, special activities, role play) and life skills (through cooking, budgeting, laundry & personal care). We also familiarize and have the students get comfortable with technology so that they are capable of being connected to their community and community services.

Students have the opportunity to participate in nutrition programs, exploring food and its connection to nature, community and sustainability. This includes incorporating modern lifestyle choices that reflect the dietary needs of the students; i.e. allergy challenges, vegan or gluten free, etc.

Our center is a hub for service providers; such as speech language pathologists, occupational and play therapists, counsellors and other professionals as referred, in order to support the varying needs of students and their families. Let Me Be Me provides time and space to facilitate such endeavors with minimal barriers to families and caregivers. We also recognize the importance of integration of First Nations culture. Elders are welcomed to the center to share oral traditions, drumming and valuable wisdom with the students.

We are highly motivated to integrate students into community programs and services that will enable them to learn how to be resilient, responsible and self-reliant. This is to include work experience placement, resumes and counselling to better prepare individuals for their transition from Let Me Be Me into our community.

Why Choose Us?

Let Me Be Me will always take quality support very seriously, with that in mind, our learner to mentor ratio will always be at the most 4:1. We also currently support some 1:1 learners.

We are a small group of like minded, experienced and credentialed individuals, each with our own strengths to bring to the table. Contact us if you'd like to join the team.

Life skills and social skills are presenting as more and more needed skill sets. We incorporate this into every lesson. Sometimes it's the entire lesson until a knowledge base is observed so educational learning can be reached with these imperative skills in place first.

Lorrilee Hopkins

Certified School Teacher & Behavioral Interventionist

Known lovingly to us as Lee, she has been a teacher for 17 years. Working with adapted and modified programming for those who learn differently. Lee spent time teaching and planning for an Independent- alternative school in Northern BC. She is full of humorous stories and strategies to help learners attain educational success, whether adapted (for example; striving for their Dogwood) or modified (looking for interest based outlets).

My son has attended the Let Me Be Me Learning Foundation since its inception in 2015. I have known Carla and Lee for many years before this. During my life experiences in child care and foster parenting I have been lucky enough to meet a handful of very special people. These are people who get up each and every day with a mindset of improving the lives of all the people around them. There is really no one word I know of that can accurately describe such people. The word that I use that comes closest to describing them is "beautiful". Carla and Lee are truly "beautiful" people in my mind. Their commitment and dedication to the children and parents that enter into the learning center is unsurpassed anywhere. As a parent when my son struggled everyday in the public school system it became overwhelming, wondering how to get the proper guidance he needed. It is very frustrating to know it just didn't exist there. To find a facility like the Let Me Be Me Learning Foundation has been such a relief. Under their daily care, my son has matured and developed the skills needed to reintegrate back into the public school system in grade 8. I know he will succeed thanks to the efforts of Lee and Carla at Let Me Be Me. As a parent it is so rewarding to see my son develop into the person I always believed he was. Thank you Lee and Carla for all your hard work.

Tony Pullen - Parent and Board Chairman

I am writing this letter to express my satisfaction and gratitude towards the staff and program provided at "Let Me Be Me" in Nanaimo, BC.

February 2017 I was able to enroll our child to attend LMBM. She had been formally asked to leave the school district she was attending as she was not able to manage the environment and structure of a main stream school system. Our daughter was in grade one and from September until her arrival into LMBM in February she had not cracked a book or started to take part in her education program. Unfortunately, the environment made it impossible for her to learn which in turn created unsafe and inappropriate behaviour for a school classroom.

When my husband and myself started to explore optional education programs we where struck with the way Carla and Lee welcomed the possibility of teaching our child. They were very positive and appeared to have the skill set to manage the situation with her. The put us at ease right away and we decided to look no further once we had met with them understood what they where able to do to teach her.

We are very happy to report that our daughter has thrived to a degree that we did not expect. Both Carla and Lee are able to work with challenging behaviours with what appears to be ease. Our daughters behaviour has improved greatly at home because she is calm and not overwhelmed by her educational setting. We appreciate their flexibility in working with our child and also their flexibility in requests we have made. Although I could speak on and on about how pleased we are with the behaviour improvements and the professionalism we are experiencing the amazing thing....our daughter is learning!! She is loving learning! She is getting the self esteem boost she has needed because of the pride she has in what she is learning. Although she is still a bit behind in her educational grade level she is catching up a lot quicker than we expected. She wants to go to school in the mornings and often doesn’t want to come home at the end of her day. We appreciate the masterful way Carla and Lee have found a way to teach her.

We wanted to write this letter to highly recommend Nanaimo LMBM to any parents that are struggling finding an educational program that is working with their children. We have witnessed the way Carla and Lee interact not only with our child but also with the other children in the school. They are FANTASTIC!!

Thanks so much for your time.

A very satisfied parent ;)

I am honoured to serve alongside Carla and Lee as an educator at Let Me Be Me. It is such a blessing working alongside these bright and cheerful women who always have a smile and something positive to say. Student's accomplishments - and there are many - are always celebrated by Carla and Lee. Even in the most challenging times, they see the good in everyone and in every situation. They care so deeply about their students that they treat them as family. Thank you for inspiring confidence in young minds and love in young hearts.

Graeme Arkell - former teacher at LMBM

Seeking Team Mates

Are you looking to join a team whose goal is to make a positive difference in the lives of children and youth? Practicum students, experienced volunteers and trained staff are encouraged to contact us to become part of our fun loving family at the

Let Me Be Me Learning Foundation!

People we covet for their support

Graeme Arkell, Tina Louie, Carrie Thomson, Jo Urbanovich, Si Chen.

Also the great people of Oak & Orca Bioregional School, Ascend Online School, SelfDesign Learning Community and the Ministry of Children and Family Development here in Nanaimo, BC.