After a successful workshop in November the town's community facilitator is hoping to bring in a conference aimed at empowering young women.
“I'd like to do one here and it would be open to other communities,” said Heather Dixon, community facilitator for Innisfail.
Dixon said the conference would be done under the Innisfail Family and Community Support banner.
“Young women are close to my heart. I think that as a grown woman now I feel a responsibility to our young women,” she said.
The workshop that Alison Springer, the founder of Young Women of Power, lead in November aimed at girls in Grades 6-8 was a success, Dixon said.
“The girls loved it. I had moms phoning me the week after,” she said.
The conference would be aimed at a slightly different age group, Grades 7-12. It'd aim to teach girls good self-esteem, street smarts and about healthy relationships amongst other things.
“It's tools they can take with them and use,” she said. Currently Young Women of Power conferences are held in Calgary.
Springer said she's looking to host more conferences like the one in Calgary in other communities, including Innisfail.
“That's totally something that's possible,” she said.
The goal is to reduce statistics of violence against women by teaching them about good self-esteem and even what to do if they think someone is following them.
She said teaching the young women to hold on to their values is important.
Doreen Zyderveld Hagel attended the workshop in Innisfail as an observer after hearing about it at church.
She said her impression is that giving the girls the “tools” mentioned by Dixon and Springer is in part prevention instead of reaction to girls getting into trouble.
“I think what impacted me the most is that the mirror lies to you,” she said of what she took from the workshop. She said Springer said people often only see their flaws in the glass.
Instead, Springer told the girls to look at the whole picture, she said.
“It's more about your character and what you contribute to society. That's far more important than beauty,” Zyderveld Hagel said.
She thought a conference for the area could benefit lots of people.
“I think it'd be great if there was enough publicity,” she said.
Dixon said she's hoping to have a conference organized for the area based out of Innisfail sometime in 2013.
