Chris Byrnes-Mikelsons, Program Coordinator – Jacaranda Cottage

In 2012 at the beginning of the year, Jacaranda Cottage received a grant to put on a camp for young women between the ages of 16-20 to promote confidence and work on their identity.
Our Coordinator, had heard Ruth Lewis-Jones talking about her program that she had put together and asked her to come and talk to our team to see if it was something we could use for our camp.
 

Ruth facilitated our team meeting sharing her heart and passion for girls and her heart break at the brokenness and low self worth that seems even more rampant in young women than ever before. She said that she had developed a program that in a non confronting and creative way gets girls to open up and face some of the things that hold them back and pull them down. Ruth also spoke about specific strategies that she uses within the creative forms to bring out the best in girls so they can see themselves for the beautiful, unique, strong, people they were rather than the confused, distorted image that society today is assuming as the norm.
 
We all immediately connected with her vision for her program because the heart of Jacaranda Cottage is to Impart Hope, Facilitate Restoration and Celebrate Transformation in broken and homeless young women. The activities that she showed that we would be using at camp were really craft and creativity driven to impart the really solid point to girls that they can expect better for themselves, they are beautiful, they are worthy of good things, that they have had a negative story that they can listen to and play the main part in, or they can use these strategies and write a more positive and empowered story. The point was, they can control their story, even if situations within that story are big, scary and feel overwhelming.
 
When Ruth told me the price for the whole package per girl for the program, working for a small not for profit refuge, it seemed like a lot. After going away and crunching some numbers and looking at what actually came in the package, as a team we decided that the investment of that money was well and truly worth it and a valuable one. The package we got, came with a manual and instructions for the facilitator and a pack for each girl that had all the materials needed to do the crafty activities. To buy this ourselves and organise the activities ourselves, would have taken time we didn’t have and would have cost more for us to do it.
 
When we gave the girls the packs, they were blown away at how pretty everything was and new and good. A lot of girls we did this with had never been shown that they are worth getting something so new and organised and awesome just for them. It was so professionally put together with all the materials needed from fabric, to wires, to needles and thread. We had to make sure there were pens and scissors but overall we didn’t have to worry about much.
 
The actual manual for both the leaders and the girls were so user friendly. Craft is not my forte and I am not very good with those kind of activities, even though I believe strongly in the message brought in the activity. The instructions were so good, that my weakness was not even an issue and everyone just understood what to do. It was that clear.
 
The activities that were done on our camp were so impacting and powerful that it helped get our girls to a different level in their self worth. It opened their eyes to things that were important to not only think about but have some healthy discussions around. Often though, what is heard in the context of learning something is not what is taken away. Only around 10% of content is actually retained. The great thing about Esteem Designz activities was that not only are you addressing some pretty big issues in a way that really doesn’t confront in a bad way but you are doing something with your hands that cements the point that is being made which also helps with the take home message. On top of that though, it also speaks into the follow up portion in that because they have made something themselves, they have something that they would be proud to put up in a visible spot to remind them of what they learned.
 
Our theme on the camp was learning your identity and building the confidence to walk in it. A key part of that was breaking free of the heavy and unnecessary rubbish that was overshadowing the girls lives. Crap that has been spoken right into their hearts and minds that they have bought into and were living out. Lies that had been controlling their actions and being worn as their identity. We hoped for our girls to BREAK FREE and that is exactly what Esteem Designz Program enabled our girls to do. It was a smart way of asking girls GREAT questions so they discovered and told us for themselves what the chains that had been imprisoning them were and how to break them. The program was about giving strategies but showing girls how to fish rather than giving them a fish. It was all about empowering them to use the strategies when they didn’t have our team around them to encourage and build them up they learned to do it themselves.
 
In doing our follow up since doing the camp, it is so encouraging to hear our girls talk about the activities that we did as part of Esteem Designz and how they are using it still today. How they developed the craft piece even more and carry it with them to do what it was actually designed to do. They talk about having put it up on their wall and reminding themselves of the things they wrote. One girl has even used one of their pieces used in the activity in serious situations like self harm desire. The activities were designed to have the girls remind themselves in different ways that they are worth it and that is what it does literally.
 
I would recommend this program to anyone who is working with groups of young women or girls. It is powerful, creative, useful, and something that stays with you.