Comox Valley Girls Group Testimonials

“Being a guest at Girls Group was the highlight of my week. It was so cosy, comfortable, and welcoming and I felt right at home with the girls and the wonderful facilitator.

What the Comox Valley Transition Society is providing to girls in our community is invaluable, and I believe will help to successfully ‘inoculate’ our female youth against harmful media messages, as well as teach them how valuable, important, beautiful, and special they are- regardless of outside messages and/or circumstances which tell them otherwise.

As a woman’s pscyhotherapist, I cannot express enough how important such work is, but I can tell you that I feel that Girls Group will prevent serious problems for these girls when they reach womanhood that I work with everyday such as: eating disorders, abusive relationships, drug and alcohol addiction, and family dysfunction.

If we can prevent these serious problems from developing by offering healthier alternatives to our young women, we are definitely on the right path.”

“This experience has prepared me for my career.”

“I encountered challenging behaviours in my group and did a good job handling

them because of what I learned in the training.”

“I have learned so much about what girls are dealing with today in the world.”

“I can’t wait to have the opportunity to facilitate again!”

“I liked feeling like an “equal” to my co-facilitator who is so experienced.”

“I found I had a lot to offer to the younger girls.”

“I want to start my own mentorship program to these girls who could really need it.”

“I’m happy I was a supportive person to these girls.”

“I just wanted to first of all say THANK YOU for what the Comox Valley Girls Group has given to M. She was SO reluctant to go initially and now she wants to go again to the next one. Little did she know that all of the team meetings/Drs /Professionals that we visit for her have all HIGHLY recommended this for her! (Just so you know)

It comes recommended from more than you know! M doesn’t talk much about her session at the end of the night, but that’s ok. We know she is learning and gaining positive experiences.”

When I think back to girls group four years ago, I go to a happy place. For two years, girls group became a home away from home. For each group I joined the girls created a sisterhood which still stands today. We were taught about how to deal with things.  Like for instance, all of the similar hardships we faced into today’s world with media and bullying. We also talked just about our own person struggles. We worked on arts and crafts, hula hoop making and diaries, to become more confident in ourselves by using expression. And sometimes we just talked. We created a safe place to grow and to become the people we truly are meant to be. My experience with this has lead me to the young women I am today. Because of my experience with girls group, I have decided I want to help women for the rest of my life.  When I was offered the peer facilitating training I was pumped up. This training was very similar to girls group setting. A group of us came into the safe room, sat down and got to know each other. We all had one goal, and that was to finish the training. I am over joyed to have this peer facilitating training under my belt. I use it in my everyday life and it has brought so much knowledge.

The skills I have learned, the confidence I have gained honestly comes from being in girls group. It was the beginning of a snow ball effect.  Girls group has added towards my passion towards helping people. The biggest skill I learned was being able to hold my own. To stand up for what I believe in and fight for what is right. It gave me a voice, even in a group of girls so diverse from each other; the fear of talking was erased. Girls group gave me belonging; it gave me a positive place just to be who I am. The skills I have also learned are thinking out loud, being able to share my ideas and adding towards some else’s thoughts. In the simplest place I began to feel like I meant something and that I could inspire other people. That is what girls group did for me.

When I went back to do my peer facilitating training, I felt alive. If you haven’t figured this out yet, I will do anything to expand my knowledge. Within the training I learned that maybe it is sometimes better just to listen, to acknowledge” oh so you feel” and that it is okay to sit in silence. You know the best part of all of it was working as a team to understand how to help people by using role play. It was filled with laughs and yet another bond was formed between each of us.

I bring this all into my everyday life by making sure that my confidence shows through my actions. I make sure I hand out smile to people who aren’t smiling. And I make sure of the feelings of people around me and I try my hardest to take that into consideration. I would like to say one thing and only one thing, I am only human, but I will never ever stop fighting for what is right in the world, and thanks to this beautiful journey of girls group and peer facilitating I have decided that I am unstoppable.

Good morning ladies and gentleman. I am here today to say thank you for your support for the Girls Group programs and to share some of what I have gained as a participant in the group.
My name is Katherine, and I am a grade nine student at Highland Secondary. At school, my favourite class is math. I sing in the choir, play the French Horn in the school band – and am learning to play trumpet so that I can play in Jazz Band. I compete with Destination Imagination and enjoy sports – especially volleyball. Outside of School, I study dance at the Laurie Tinkler School of Dance, paddle on a youth dragon boat team and am active in my church youth group. As you can see – my life is quite full! Most of the time, it is a lot of fun. But sometimes – it all gets to be too much.
For many teens today, life can be quite stressful. There is a lot of pressure – from peers – from school – from fashion -from family and from the future. Some of my peers choose unhealthy ways to deal with their stress , such as drugs, drinking and risky behaviours. That is not the path that I want to take.
Going to the Girl’s Group taught me important lessons about respecting myself and staying true to me not matter what others say. It taught me about my rights as a woman and that I have the power to say no to things that I don’t want to do. I learned about healthy ways to handle stress and anxiety. I also learned about healthy relationships – and paying attention to the red flags of an unhealthy one.
One of the most important parts about Girl’s Group for me was gaining confidence. I can be really hard on myself. Girl’s Group helped me to realize that I don’t have to be so hard on myself and helped me to see my value as a girl.
I think that all girls would benefit from the experience of Girl’s Group. Many simply don’t know about it or have things that block them being able to attend. Some of the lessons that I learned at Girl’s Group are taught at school – but that is not the most effective place because the setting is too large – and many of the kids at school are not safe to be honest with.
Girl’s group is a comforting and relaxing setting. I found everyone there easy to connect to and talk with. The confidential and non-judgmental nature of the group made me feel safe. I made lots of friends at the group who I honestly never would have met without the group. I am glad that I had the opportunity to take part in the group.
Now I am trying to give back by taking part in the peer support steering committee.
Thank you for listening to me. I hope that you will continue to support the Girls Groups. It has been very important for me – and for very many other girls.