from yaprap July 2008
by Isabel Seidel
YAPRap Feature Writer
It’s always great to visit a community centre that has good leadership and therefore a lot of vision. That is why I enjoyed my visit to the Women’s Cottage in Richmond so much.
Richmond is at the end of the metropolitan train line and the start of the Bells Line of Road across the Blue Mountains. The town itself has a lot of character with charming old colonial buildings and a beautiful park in the centre of the town. The Women’s Cottage is centrally located in an unassuming house. Once you step inside, you can see why women feel so comfortable there. It’s just got a nice feeling about it, with cosy rooms and lots of information accessible to women. The Women’s Cottage is a community based information and resource centre run by women for women and children of the Hawkesbury district. It is funded by Department of Community Services (DOCS) and employs an anti-violence worker and front desk workers who assist women experiencing domestic violence.
A couple of years ago the Women’s Cottage decided that they wanted to create a program that would bring young women into contact with the Cottage, as young women were not accessing the services provided there. The Women’s Cottage gained funding for four years from the Western Sydney Area Assistance Scheme (WSAAS) to create the Young Women’s Mentoring Program.
What is the Young Women’s Mentoring Program?
The Young Women’s Mentoring Program is about fun, friendship and support, and learning what healthy relationships are. The program trains 17-25 year old young women to mentor young girls aged 12-16 years on healthy relationship issues. Mentoring occurs through workshops, an annual camp, newsletters and producing DVDs on issues relevant to young women.
The Women’s Cottage employed Kate Mason as a part-time Young Women’s Worker, to help design and implement the program.
The young women's mentoring program is about healthy relationships with self and others. Workshops focus on raising girls' self esteem and giving girls an opportunity to work and have fun together. The emphasis on healthy relationships with self is based on the understanding that the way we treat and think about ourselves impacts on how we relate to others and what we will accept and not accept from others in relationships.
To begin the program, Kate had to engage young women 17-25 years to encourage them to become mentors. Kate was fortunate that a young woman, Leanne Martin, was doing her work placement at the Women’s Cottage and through such things as a jewellery making workshop, speaking at the local high schools and articles in the local newspapers, they recruited seven young women were interested in becoming a mentor.
What does becoming a mentor involve?
Kate says that young women can’t just automatically become a mentor. Once the young women say they are interested in becoming a mentor they sign up to a 6 week group on healthy relationships. The group gives the young women the opportunity to decide whether being a mentor is something they are interested in becoming. This is a natural screening process as some young women opt to pull out during this stage. The young women who complete the group then go on to a 10 week TAFE outreach training course on mentoring.
It’s a big commitment for young women as the minimum required of the mentors is 16 weeks of training, and ongoing running of workshops and camps for young girls. However, this does not deter young women from being involved as the program offers opportunities to make new friends, socialise in a warm and supportive environment and have fun. The mentoring training is usually held on a Tuesday evening with dinner provided by the Women’s Cottage.
I was lucky enough to meet three inspirational young women mentors when I visited the Women’s Cottage: Leanne Martin who is the oldest mentor, Katie Greentree and Lenise Lawless. All three young women love the program and continue to be involved because they grew up in the region and could empathise with the issues the young girls faced. They want to provide young women in the area with an opportunity to learn the skills to help them make positive choices in their relationships with others and themselves.
Some of the issues facing young girls in the Hawkesbury region that they identified include:
- lack of transport options - the train line ends at Richmond and many people live outside Richmond in places such as Kurrajong and Colo which have limited bus services
- people in the region can often be very conservative with distinct male and female stereotypes
- there is a lack of services for young people in the region.
The young women’s mentoring program is at least addressing some of these issues by informing them of the services the Women’s Cottage runs for young people. The program also encourages young girls to be confident in who they are, hopefully enabling them to rise above stereotypes placed on them.
What topics are covered in the healthy relationships group?
During the 6 week healthy relationship group the young women discuss healthy and unhealthy relationships, building self esteem, boundary setting, clear communication and goal setting. Kate created the content for the healthy relationship group and says that exploring the topics with the young women through art works really well. Some of the art mediums used include working with clay, painting and craft activities. The art encourages young women to redefine what they think is important, beneficial and great about being themselves through a creative outlet.
What does the Mentoring training involve?
The TAFE Accredited ‘Mentoring in the Community’ training goes for 10 weeks and once finished the young women receive a Statement of Attainment. The training aims to equip the young women with the skills and knowledge to work effectively in their role as a young women’s mentor. The course covers the following topics: understanding the values and ethics in relation to the young women’s mentor role; ability to identify the needs and issues of the target group of young girls; knowledge of and ability to access appropriate community resources and services; and interpersonal, communication and basic negotiation skills relevant to the role.
After the training - what next?
This is where the fun begins for the mentors as they now can put their new learnt skills into action. The young women form an activity group, where they meet every fortnight and decide what projects they are going to take on and how they are going to do it. Leanne, Katie and Lenise said that the fortnightly meetings are a great chance to be creative but also touch base with each other. The first part of the meeting is catching up with each other, as for the program to really work, the mentors have to get along with each other; it’s all about relationship building. When I met these young women it was clear to see their inspiration was infectious and they have clearly achieved some amazing projects, including:
- School holiday workshops for young girls held at the Women’s Cottage on jewellery making, journal covering and making bliss bombs. The workshops enable young girls to be creative, connect with each other and share whatever is on their mind;
- Facilitating the healthy relationship workshops with girls at Hawkesbury High;
- Creating and distributing a newsletter in the Hawkesbury region that targets young girls with articles on healthy relationships;
- Holding an annual healthy relationship camp for 12-16 year old girls. The young mentors help to run the camp under the supervision of Kate. The mentors facilitate the workshops at the camp on healthy/unhealthy relationships and body image issues. The camp also includes a lot of fun activities such as life adventure site activities, watching videos and craft activities such as mask making;
- Writing and producing a DVD for young girls on body image issues. The DVD is an excellent tool for communicating the sensitive issue of body image;
- Organising a Young Women’s Art Exhibition with the aim of supporting young women’s creativity. Jewellery making workshops were also held at the exhibition which was a great success.
What are the next goals for the young women mentors?
When I spoke to Leanne, Katie and Lenise they were so excited about the future potential of the program. They are currently undertaking a Toastmasters course in order to become more confident in their public speaking so that they can be interviewed on local radio to promote the program. They are aiming to hold a Careers Day for girls this year; the day would encourage young girls to explore their career options with guest women speakers from a range of different professions. They also are keen to get sponsorship for the young women’s mentoring program as they would like to see it continue! Leanne, Katie, Lenise and Kate said it is such an amazing program that really brings young women together. The young women mentors really develop strong friendships. Kate, the young women’s worker, said the mentees benefit from being motivated by inspiring young women.
Kate is positive the program will continue to develop, and this year she will place more effort in publicising the program in order to gain some financial support. She said roughly 15 young women have completed the mentoring program to date, with another 8 to go through this year. And roughly 80 girls have had direct contact with the mentors through the different programs run through the years. Young women enjoy coming to the Women’s Cottage as many have not been there before. She really enjoys working with young women, as they are positive and a lot can be achieved once a strong group of young women mentors has been formed.
It’s great to see a community centre such as the Women’s Cottage reach out to young women and make them feel welcome. The Women’s Cottage surely does have good leadership and vision as the Young Women’s Mentoring program is also a domestic violence prevention program in a subtle way and that’s what I like most about it. As preventing domestic violence in our community is all about promoting healthy relationships and what a great place to start the education process – with young girls. I’m sure the inspiring young women mentors will go on to do great things. If anyone in the Hawkesbury would like to get involved in the program please contact Kate Mason at the Women's Cottage on a Tuesday or Thursday for more info.
More information
Kate Mason
- Women's Cottage
- 02 4578 4190 or 0448 864 723