In a slow, calm, comforting tone, Jill Hillabrant asks Anaheim High School students to write down their purpose and goals.

“What do you deserve?” Hillabrant asks.

“What gets you angry?”

“What do you like about yourself?”

The seven students scribble on their notepads. After the exercise, most are too shy to answer, some reveal lofty aspirations, and others are more blunt:

“I want to study at USC,” one male student answers.

Another says, “I want to go to college so my parents can be happy.”

Hillabrant interjects: “Are you only going to college for your parents? What makes you happy?”

“If they are happy, then I’m happy,” the female student says, smiling with others sharing the same sentiment.

In its third year, the Tilly’s Life Center after-school program provides teens a safe environment where they can feel free to open up about their feelings and express their teenage angst.

“We’ve helped kids come out of the closet, deal with their parents, and other issues,” said Hillabrant, who has done these kinds of programs for the past four years.

Tilly’s Life Center started in 2012 at the Boys & Girls Club in San Juan Capistrano. Over the years, it has expanded to schools in Huntington Beach, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Mission Viejo andin Los Angeles County.

The class meets for 90 minutes weekly for 12 weeks.

Tilly Levine, 61, co-founder of Tilly’s Clothes and Shoes, founded the Life Center as a way to help kids positively go through an important time in their lives.

“Teenage crime rate, depression, suicide is up,” Levine said. “For kids 15 to 25 years of age, this is the most crucial development of their brain. It’s a very good time to give them those tools so they will develop in a positive emotional way.”

Levine said it’s her goal to make these type of classes be part of the mandatory school curriculum.

After a recent class, Hillabrant said bullying is a major issue now.

“A lot of parents forget how stressful being a teenager is. We want to help them deal with life issues that come up.”

Hillabrant guides the students on how the class would be run with the goal of building up their confidence. For the next 12 or so weeks, the students will learn how to meditate, make arts and crafts, and create a video.

Vanessa Chavez, a 16-year-old junior, says this is her third year in the program. She said the program allows her to “open up.”

“For some reason, because of our age, people don’t like to listen to us,” Chavez said. “Life is really hard. Our parents expect us to do our AP classes, go home and do chores and then find a job and work.

“This class is a little escape from the real world and have some fun.”

Contact the writer: 714-796-2443 or jpimentel@ocregister.com or follow on Twitter @OCDisney