‘Power of a Girl’ discovered at Soroptimist Mother Daughter Conference

Vestrum says the conference covers topics such as resiliency, anxiety, internet safety, tips and traps around self-harm and suicide prevention.

“If we can help just one girl in our community or one woman, we’re happy to have the conference one way or another.”

“Keep an eye out for anything that we’re doing in town,” adds Vestrum. “Soroptimist International Central Alberta, we’re always looking for members, volunteers and we put on some pretty good programs and we’d love to see people come.”

Keynote Speaker Alison Springer says her organization, Young Women of Power, provides conferences, workshops and mentorship programs for teen girls.

“Our biggest vision is to transform and change girl culture,” says Springer. “One of the things that we struggle with is a lot of females don’t like some part of their body. Another aspect is constantly comparing and competing with one another and as a result, we don’t get along very well.

“What we want to do is help instill female pride again in girls,” Springer added. “As well, help them become more allies rather than enemies. In that, we’ll be changing the culture and so that’s something that’s really important.”

Dealing with negative things that people may say about you, its impact and what to do to protect yourself are other issues Springer addresses.

She stresses men can also play a key role in changing girl culture, saying it’s important for men to encourage other men in empowering and supporting the females in their lives.

“At home, being able to celebrate your girl and your daughter or the females that are around you and identifying their strengths and speaking it out loud,” explains Springer. “Many females have a hard time seeing what that is and so that’s something else that men can do.”

Jocelyn Gates is a Practicum student with Young Women of Power in Calgary and works with at-risk youth girls. She says girls need to know there is help out there if you need it.

“It’s O.K. if they’re down at the moment,” concedes Gates. ‘By getting the help they will learn and they will grow and there’s a lot of people that care about them that they don’t know about.”

For more information on Soroptimist International Central Alberta, visit their website www.soroptimistcentralalberta.ca.

by Sheldon Spackman

‘Power of a Girl’ discovered at Soroptimist Mother Daughter Conference

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