In the CLP, we aim to promote young people's lifelong positive development by supporting their identity formation as they make the transition to adulthood. 

Forming an identity is about finding a place for oneself in society. This process occurs at not only at the societal level but also at the interpersonal level in daily interactions with other people and at the subjective level in internal psychological processes. These three levels of identity are called social identity, personal identity, and ego identity. Social identity is defined by the recognized roles and statuses a person has within a community. Personal identity is defined by the person’s characteristic patterns of behavior. Ego identity is the person's sense of psychological continuity connecting his or her past, present, and vision for the future. 

During adolescence, young people encounter social contexts that challenge them to begin to define who they are and to decide who they should become—socially, interpersonally, and psychologically. This is a time when positive and negative life paths begin to separate from another, and when a negative life direction can be transformed in a positive direction. In this pivotal developmental moment, the identity that a young person begins to form plays a vital role in guiding the choices and actions that give direction to his or her life.

Having a sense of “who I am” and "who I should become" helps young people make sense of the choices they face and take the actions with which they give direction to their lives. Choices and actions that conflict with “who I am” and "who I should become" produce cognitive dissonance and anxiety; those that resonate with “who I am” and "who I should become" produce feelings of personal expressiveness and self-actualization. In this way, forming an identity provides youth with an internal steering mechanism for navigating a path through life. It is the positive development of this steering mechanism that the CLP aims to support.