Free Being Me

Last week undertook some 4 (Peer Education) training with some other members of the Senior Section from across the UK. Peer Educators can be any girl in Girlguiding under the age of 25, and the idea is that they can discuss certain issues with young people (or sometimes adult members) that their Leaders may not discuss with them. 

Held in Amersham (just outside London), I was amazed by the wide spread of people who attended the training, with one young woman even travelling down from the Highlands and Islands (Scotland) for the event! It just proved to me the impact that the project is having on young women, and the fantastic work that the organisation is doing in focusing on it. 

It was a pretty intensive weekend; we needed to discuss the role of a Peer Educator as well as the programme that we would run in sessions with people. Although there is a range of resources available, one of the most popular at present is the Free Being Me resource. Developed by WAGGGS (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) and Dove, this challenges society's  expectations and gets young women to think about the ways women may be being portrayed in the media. The hope is to enable self-confidence in an individual when the world seems to have an obsession with airbrushing and Photoshop. We played spot the difference with a few different images and had to identify what had been changed, and this really highlighted to me the silly lengths that companies will go to, to sell their products. To name a few, we spotted a woman whose arm had been edited out and the same woman had also had her neck elongated! 

Ultimately the programme is designed to make young people appreciate that there is no such thing as the perfect body (despite what publications such as The Sun and OK! seem to be portraying), so long as you're healthy and happy; there's no point getting caught up on the 'image myth'. 

The other sessions that I can now run are: Healthy Relationships and Youth Health which is really great because in some respects it is similar to the PSHE/Circle Time topics that young people would study at school, but the delivery technique ensures they are fully engaged in the topic. Most importantly the topics are relevant, with Leaders linking them in with their own programme or with circumstances which may have occurred. 

I had been intending to become a member of (4) Peer Education (formally 4cast) for some time, and this came at just the right moment because the fact it was a residential means that it can count towards my Queen's Guide Award! 

I can't wait to get started and run my first session. Excitedly, I've been contacted by a couple of Leaders who would be interested in a session for their young members so bring it on!