"We want strong girls, women that are empowered and self confident feel good about the decisions that they are making," says Nicole Whitton. "That's why we keep doing what we're doing."
Whitton is the executive director of the Battlefords and Area Sexual Assault Centre. Last Wednesday, members of the Saskatchewan Association of Realtors met with Whitton and counsellor Julie Huestis to hear about the program to which their association has granted $5,000.
Chris Guérette, chief operating officer of the Association of Saskatchewan Realtors said each year members fundraise $30,000 or more, with $5,000 being granted to six organizations chosen by a panel of realtors from six regions across Saskatchewan. Coming together to choose the grant recipients is a huge learning opportunity for realtors, says Guérette.
Meeting with Whitton and Huestis were association members Tracy Voigt, Stephanie Lees and Al White, who is a past president of the provincial association, as well as Mayor Ian Hamilton of the City of North Battleford and Battlefords MLA Herb Cox. They heard about BASAC's program entitled Inspiring Change, now going into its second year.
Whitton said she and Huestis, who came on board BASAC about five years ago, felt passionate about starting prevention/education programs for students, starting with Girl Power and 2BBoys for pre-teens.
They have done both these programs throughout the Battlefords and area, including First Nation schools.
Last year, she said, they started a program for older girls, the Inspiring Change Teen Group, working with two Grade 9 classes at North Battleford Comprehensive High School.
Whitton said when Huestis was asked to take the program on, "she grabbed it and just ran with it, and that's why we are all here today."
Several facts were laid out to the visitors, as established by canadianwomen.org: nine out of 10 girls say they feel pressure from the media to be thin; only 14 per cent of girls in Grade 10 say they are self-confident; almost half a million girls have posted YouTube videos of themselves asking "Am I pretty? Am I Ugly?"; negative body image makes girls less likely to be physically active, resulting in only 11 per cent of girls aged 16-17 being physically active enough to benefit their health; half of all women in Canada have experienced at least one incident of physical or sexual violence since the age of 16; and, less than 10 per cent of all sexual assaults are reported to the police.
"Because of these facts, this is why BASAC created the 10-week empowerment group to offer to teen girls." said Whitton. "And those are just some of the facts."
The first week of the program is about the concept of power. What is empowerment? What is self-empowerment? It's about of importance of gaining knowledge and understanding yourself, said Whitton.
Week two is about communication - how to share feelings, body language, verbal and listening skills.
Week three is about body image. Little girls, teen girls and women are influenced by images in the media, magazines and music videos.
There is concern and alarm about the overall impact of media, which has become so powerful young women are comparing themselves to professional underweight models, said Whitton.
"The messages are in our faces and these girls' faces every single day," said Whitton. She added these messages have actually been around for a long time.
Huestis noted there was a Barbie doll available in the 1960s that came with a scale and a little book on How to Lose Weight. Inside it said, "Don't eat."
Week four is about relationships and peers, which goes hand in hand with the focus of week five, girl-on-girl bullying.
Anger management is the focus of week six, which includes learning how to apologize.
Journaling and meditation, their benefits and how to use them is week seven's topic.
Alcohol and drugs is the top of week eight, and week nine looks at personal safety, talking about sexual assault, acquaintance rape and things to be aware of to have more personal safety in their lives.
Week 10 is a wrap up and review.
Throughout the program, the girls learn through conversation, activities, crafts and videos. Each session of the program is an hour and a half long.
Whitton said BASAC is excited about this year's program, which gets underway at North Battleford Comprehensive High School Oct. 28. After the first year's pilot program, said Whitton, they received evaluation and feedback and "over the summer made it even better."
The Association of Saskatchewan Realtors created its Quality of Life Legacy Fund in 2013. This is the second year it has awarded grants. In addition to BASAC, grants went to Yorkton Women in Need - Shelwin House, Riverside Mission Inc. of Moose Jaw, Rose Garden Hospice Association Inc. of Prince Albert, Saskatoon Crisis Nursery and Regina Sexual Assault Centre.
All the funds raised go toward the grants, and any funds over and above the $30,000 go toward a funding endowment that will, hopefully, be self-sustaining in the future.
