TLC is a national non-profit organization established to provide Information , support, and referral sources regarding the experience and treatment of trichotillomania (compulsive hair pulling). TLC’s educational resources are available to people with TTM, their family members and friends, therapeutic professionals, educators, and anyone with an interest in the subject. TLC’s mission is to raise public awareness, to maintain a support network and treatment referral base, and to raise funds for research to find a cure for trichotillomania. Founded by Christina Pearson in 1991, TLC is a grassroots organization largely run and supported by people with TTM. It is funded through memberships, publication sales, and donations. TLC has convened a Scientific Advisory Board composed of leading researchers and clinicians in trichotillomania in the United States and beyond, which meets regularly to share Information and propose research strategies. The quarterly newsletter In Touch, a membership benefit, is the organization’s main communication vehicle and covers a wide variety of topics, ranging from self-help options, to the experiences of teenagers with trichotillomania, to the latest scientific research. TLC can be contacted at: 207 McPherson Street, Suite H |
Please Join the Trichotillomania Learning Center. We hope our website will help you, but the true hallmark of TLC is the personal attention afforded each member. Services include:
TLC also offers a variety of volunteer opportunities, both in the Santa Cruz, California, office and nationwide. Whether you are a hair puller reaching out for help for the first time, or a parent, school guidance counselor, or pediatrician seeking to help someone in your care, TLC is here to help. Please join us. |
TLC Creates Community
- TLC's Annual Retreat
For fifteen years, TLC has held an annual 4-day retreat for hundreds of trichsters and their loved ones. This unique event is designed to focus on the experience of living with, and healing from, trichotillomania and related body focused disorders such as skin picking and nail biting and features special programs for adults, kids, and teens. -
TLC's Annual Conference
Every spring, TLC hosts an Information -packed weekend of workshops by the world's leading treatment providers and researchers. Yet much of the true benefit comes from sharing success stories and tears with new friends from around the country. -
TLC's Self-Help & Treatment Networks
TLC constantly expands and updates our national referral network of treatment providers and self-help resources
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TLC's Local Support Network
To help end the terrible isolation of trich, TLC has created a network of local volunteers who are happy to talk with you about trich and related disorders. You can have a friendly, understanding voice on the other end of the telephone when you need one.
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Support Groups
TLC assists in the formation and maintenance of support groups around the country. We have created an online listserve to enable support group leaders to share ideas and problem-solve.
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Home Base
With the "Community" section of TLC website, we've built a unique place for people to share their experience, knowledge, healing, and creative responses to life with TTM and related disorders.
TLC Provides Accurate, Comprehensive Information
- An Information Clearinghouse
Since 1991, TLC has worked with the world's leading researchers and clinicians to develop and publish scientifically accurate Information about trichotillomania. In phone calls, letters, workshops and conferences, we have listened to tens of thousands of people share their stories of life with TTM, and through this contact our understanding of the disorder is always evolving. More recently, we have been expanding our resources to include related body-focused disorders such as nail-biting and skin-picking. Each year, TLC responds to several thousand requests for Information from around the world. - In Touch Newsletter
TLC publishes a quarterly newsletter In Touch filled with articles and essays by leading treatment professionals, hair experts, dieticians, researchers, and, most importantly, by people living with TTM, skin-picking and nail-biting. - www.trich.org
TLC has created an acclaimed website: www.trich.org making freely available a wide array of articles about trichotillomania and its treatment. - Email News
A new, no-fee service, Email News is an email list through which TLC sends important late-breaking news about events, research studies, media appearances and new resources. - The Human Touch
TLC now has knowledgeable and caring staff to answer your questions - or just listen. Call us when you need to, at 831-457-1004. - Local Networking Events
TLC helps to organize local networking events and workshops run by volunteers around the country. If you want help reaching the trich community about an educational event, contact us.
TLC Educates Treatment Professionals
- Professional Conferences
TLC knows that most of us face ignorance in the medical community when we seek help for trichotillomania. Educating treatment providers and researchers is a vital part of our mission. One of the best ways to reach these communities is to exhibit at professional conferences. - Professional Publications
In partnership with our Scientific Advisory Board, each year TLC authors and publishes Information resources for the professional community. Our newest publications are:- Trichotillomania & Its Treatment in Children & Adolescents: A Guide for Clinicians
- Trichotillomania & its Treatment in Adults: A Guide for Clinicians. Now available in Spanish, German & Italian translations.
- Works In Progress:
- New booklets for kids & teens
- An Overview of Skin-Picking & its Treatment
- Professional Education Committee of TLC's Scientific Advisory Board
The Professional Education Committee works year round to reach fellow clinicians and researchers with Information about the latest developments in the field of TTM treatment and research, and to foster interest in careers specializing in TTM and body-focused disorders. - International Liaison Committee of TLC's Scientific Advisory Board
This committee is devoted to increasing professional understanding and developing treatment resources for TTM around the world. TLC now has members from eleven countries.
TLC Supports Research
- TLC's Scientific Advisory Board
Bringing together the leading treatment and research professionals from around the country - and the world - is one of the greatest services TLC provides the trich community. Before TLC was founded, there were a few pioneering doctors in the field of TTM, but they were scattered around the country and isolated from each other's work. Now, TLC's Scientific Advisory Board actively works to share their expertise and strategize about how best to improve treatment and find answers to the mysteries of TTM. The Board communicates via email and telephone throughout the year, and their work culminates in an annual, one-day conference devoted to analyzing their results and planning for the year ahead. -
Research Grants
Through generous donations by our members, TLC has raised enough money to fund our first Research Grants, totaling $10,000. A Call For Proposals has been posted. In consultation with our Scientific Advisory Board, we will select the winning proposals in the late Fall.
TLC Raises Public Awareness of Trichotillomania
- Media Support
TLC assists in the development of stories about TTM by providing the media with an accurate, comprehensive overview of the subject. TLC regularly refers journalists to knowledgeable clinicians and researchers and to sufferers willing to share their stories publicly. TLC also responds to inaccurate media portrayals of TTM and related disorders. - Publications
TLC creates & distributes new educational literature every year. One current project is a booklet titled, "Trichotillomania: The Best Kept Secret. A Guide for Professional Cosmetologists" to be distributed at cosmetology schools to raise sensitivity to the needs of hair-pulling clients.
- Volunteer Network
Under the direction of volunteer coordinator Erin Sullivan, TLC facilitates the activities of volunteers raising awareness and advocating for TTM around the country with letter writing campaigns, posting flyers, creating multilingual Information resources, and many other projects.