Girlfriends!

Confidence, Connections, Community, Camaraderie

by Robyn Floyd, Phillippa Adgemis & Christine Shiel

Developed out of the needs and relationships of teenage girls in Australia, the Girlfriends! program is practical, creative, versatile and challenging, providing teachers with ideas for developing a student-negotiated program that addresses the needs of girls in the middle years of schooling.

The Girlfriends! program improves social competencies by building connectedness to peers, school and community. Girlfriends! has been successfully trialled and operated in a diverse range of communities throughout Australia.

Features

• The pre-program focus group, introductory sessions and 30 forum suggestions are sufficiently flexible for teachers to modify and target for the needs of any school community.
• Forum topics include Healthy relationships, Friends, Safe partying, Nutrition, Speaking effectively in public, Environmental awareness, Fit and healthy, Money matters, Personal values and many others.
• The program invites participation from local community leaders and builds links for girls within their community.
• The program seeks to empower girls in their early adolescence and increases feelings of confidence and wellbeing. Evidence has shown that after the course girls feel stronger, more aware of the effects of peer pressure, have clearer goals and a greater understanding of how to achieve those goals.
• The participants play a major role in determining the direct content of the course and it exposes students to ideas that enable them to make empowering choices.
• The authors are all very experienced teachers in senior positions in Melbourne.