New program at Sydney YMCA offers safe space for young teens and pre-teens to talk openly
CBC News | Posted: December 4, 2023 8:55 PM | Last Updated: December 4, 2023
Safe Sisters encourages discussions about body image, healthy relationships and mental health
A new program that gives middle school girls a place to socialize and talk about important issues in their lives is now being offered at the YMCA in Sydney, N.S.
The free program, which is called Safe Sisters, takes place every Wednesday and is available to all female-identifying youth in grades 7 and 8.
"We know that's a really tough time for young women," Janice Curnew, the manager of programs at the Sydney facility, told Information Morning Cape Breton on Monday.
"They are hitting puberty, things are changing in their bodies and their social lives, and we wanted a safe space for them."
Curnew said the program started at a YMCA location in Ontario — where it proved successful — so she decided to start offering it in Sydney.
She said the program provides safe discussions about body image, healthy relationships and mental health. It also offers opportunities for physical activity and cooking.
Curnew said it's important the program is youth-led, with students in Cape Breton University's bachelor of arts and community studies program offering their expertise.
"The experiences that I had growing up are not the same as what these girls are experiencing, whereas these young women had those same experiences and they're very, very close to it, so it's more like an older sister kind of a relationship, right?" she said.
"You're going to go to your older sister before you're going to go to your mother in a lot of cases."
Caroline Wall, the YMCA's youth co-ordinator, helped design the program, based on information she gathered from focus groups at Malcolm Munroe Memorial Middle School in Sydney River.
Wall, 20, said mental health was a big topic of interest. The students were also interested in having guest speakers who could talk about financial literacy, social media and drugs and alcohol.
"These weren't things that people were talking to us about when I was that age," Wall told Information Morning.
"And I know for myself and a lot of other girls around me that this program is something that we really could have used."
Wall said when she was growing up, she participated in organized dancing, which she considers her safe space.
"That's something that I never shied away from, I never pulled back from, because I did truly feel like that was a safe space for me and I had support from my teachers and my peers," she said.
"And so I'm hoping that I'll be able to provide something similar for the girls in this program."
The program runs every Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Registration is not required and drop-ins are welcome.
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