Heather Latter
This weekend, 70 girls from across the region will come together at Sunny Cove from the second-annual “I Am Awesome! (And I Know It!)” retreat for a “journey of the heart, body, mind, and spirit, providing that being uniquely you is the perfect you.”
While the inaugural event was for girls aged 10-14, the target age for this year’s event was expanded to 10-16.
And director Renée Martin-Brown of Emo is pleased to see girls of all of those ages taking part.
“The girls will be separated into two age groups for all the workshops,” she explained, noting those aged 10-11 will be together while those aged 12-16 will make up the second group.
“That’s just so the content can be appropriate for the age levels because the older girls are going to be able to dig deeper in their topics on a more mature level than the younger group,” she reasoned.
In an effort to “make a difference” in the world, Martin-Brown is organizing the retreat once again as a way to help young girls develop self-esteem.
“My vision is that this weekend will nurture and develop self-esteem while exploring areas such as positive body image, peer pressure, confidence-building, exploring emotions, media influences, and much more,” she explained.
She added the girls will discover more about themselves while participating in various workshops.
Martin-Brown has brought on board professional women who will teach the participants about drama, music, visual arts, yoga, creative writing, and Internet safety.
They include Paula Wing (drama), Joella Notte (visual arts), Carrie Shouldice (creative writing), OPP Cst. Anne McCoy (Internet safety), and Kathy Loney (yoga).
There also will be a guest speaker, Kirstan Jewell, who will offer an inspirational message about overcoming adversity.
As well, an on-site social worker, Rachel Gessie-Ladouceur, will address topics such as self-esteem, confidence, self-care, coping skills, and healthy relationships (i.e., anti-bullying).
Earlier this year, the retreat was named a grand-prize winner in the Aviva Community Fund competition, earning $45,000.
“With that money, we were able to expand the program to reach anywhere between 70-75 girls, where last year we were looking at 20-25,” Martin-Brown noted.
“So the impact is greater,” she said. “We are able to reach out to more girls.
“We are able to network them better to meet new friends and other people who might be going through similar struggles,” Martin-Brown added.
“We know that they are facing copious mounts of bullying, cyberbullying, bullying at school—it’s everywhere in their lives,” she stressed.
“And because of technology, it never stops,” she added, noting she wants to give the girls coping skills to deal with that.
The money also is being used to have social workers and mental health workers on-site for the duration of the retreat.
“That was very important and one of the leading things we campaigned for,” said Martin-Brown said, noting the social worker was there for just three hours one afternoon last year.
“It wasn’t enough—they need more support than that,” she stressed. “And they need qualified support. . . .
“No girl has to go talk to the counsellor but she is there to lend a ear, open up conversation, and is also the self-esteem educator,” Martin-Brown explained, saying some girls are dealing with really heavy issues, such as living in foster homes or the death of a parent.
“These are all impacting these girls and they are under 16,” she noted.
As per Aviva rules, the $45,000 the retreat won had to be spent on the program for this year. But Martin-Brown also wanted to be able to have some sustainability for the retreat.
“So in our initial submission to the contest, we said we would have the girls do a fundraising component to raise money for girls in future years,” she explained.
And that’s what they did.
While there was no cost for those attending the retreat this year, Martin-Brown asked them to raise a minimum of $300, if they were able to.
“That way, we’ll have money to put forward to next year,” she reasoned. “And so far, the girls have raised over $12,000, so they’ve done really well.
“I’m very impressed with their dedication.”
Martin-Brown said many worked hard all summer holding garage sales, bakes sales, lemonade stands, tag days, and bottles drives.
“So that’s been amazing and inspiring to see,” she enthused.
“Once the girls put themselves out in the community, the community once again supported them. And for that, we are really grateful.
“I’m just really proud of the girls,” she reiterated.
Martin-Brown also thanked the corporate sponsors, Aviva Insurance, Cloverleaf Grocery, Gillons’ Insurance, Tim Hortons, and Stutz Brown & Self Law Firm, and their partners, the OPP Youth Foundation.
She also is pleased to have girls from all over Rainy River District.
“They are from Rainy River and almost every community through to Fort Frances,” Martin-Brown noted, adding there also are 10 participants from the Dryden area and three from Red Lake.
“I’m really excited for this weekend,” she enthused. “It sounds like so many of them are really excited to be participating in the program.
“I’m looking forward to getting to know them and doing what I can to make a difference in their lives,” Martin-Brown added.
“I’m hoping it will be inspiring for them.”
She knows last year’s participants got a lot out of the weekend. Some are returning for a second year, and in their registration essay expressed how valuable the retreat was for them.
“Attending last year’s retreat really helped me gain confidence and it taught me to love and never doubt myself,” one girl wrote.
“The retreat really did make me believe I am awesome!”
Another returning participant wrote that she is hoping to show other girls that being unique and different is okay.
“It’s really important to me to keep my goals a priority and to stay true to myself while not letting peer pressure and society get in my way,” she noted.
“I hope to also learn positive life skills and different ways to deal with stress and other negative things in life.”
“I think if the girls can find their self-worth at a young age, then going out into the world they will know their own value and pass it on to the people they meet,” Martin-Brown stressed.
“They can be mentors for others.
“The hope for the weekend is they will go on a journey of personal discovery through these workshops, and they are going to find the one thing they are really good at,” she added.
