Lisa Johnson is the co-founder and executive director of BRIGHTLinks. She is a two time graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelors of Arts and concentrations in Therapeutic Recreation and Dental Hygiene. Although she has worked six years in adolescent and adult inpatient and outpatient psychiatric and substance abuse at Duke University Hospital and eight years as a Dental Hygienist in periodontics, she feels her greatest accomplishments are as a wife and a mother to two beautiful, profoundly gifted (PG) children who both thrive through homeschooling.
Through her experiences working as a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) and her own family’s experience within traditional schooling, Lisa recognized the academic, intellectual, social, and emotional needs of highly and profoundly gifted (HG/PG) children go largely unmet by traditional schools. In these restrictive environments, HG/PG students are often limited by or even punished for their asynchronous development, inquisitiveness, intensity or sensitivity, and overdeveloped sense of justice. Few teachers or schools understand these children, and fewer still have resources to meet their needs. HG/PG students struggle to connect with their same age mates as the intellectual, social, and emotional gaps between them seem too great to overcome. These unmet needs can lead to loneliness, depression, anxiety, underachievement, and school failure.
Lisa co-founded BRIGHTLinks to address these intellectual and emotional needs of HG/PG students and their families, recognizing that typical alternative learning opportunities were not enough. She envisioned creating opportunities for connection and camaraderie for this population through alternative learning pathways that meet their exceptional intellectual potential. As director of BRIGHTLinks, she continues to create alternative educational opportunities for the social and emotional well-being of HG/PG students and their families, as well as facilitate opportunities for connection within a supportive community.