Catherine Manning wants to teach local girls to love what they see in the mirror, by running in-school self-esteem workshops. 84903
By Lilly O’Gorman
SELF-esteem workshops in schools and a parenting seminar in Berwick are being aimed at troubled teenage girls, whose mental health is in decline, according to experts.
The rapidly expanding Casey-Cardinia growth corridor was chosen by sexuality education provider Family Life Victoria (FLV) for a talk next month by its patron, psychologist and million selling parenting author Steve Biddulph.
Spokesperson for FLV Jenny Wood said over the last five to 10 years girls were represented more highly in statistics surrounding binge drinking, eating disorders and self-harm.
“Steve, among others, has become concerned that girls aren’t doing so well anymore,” Ms Wood said.
Mr Biddulph said girls today are dealing with things four years younger than previous generations.
“Our 16 is their 12. Our 18 is their 14. So for parents, protecting childhood from worries about fashion, weight, and keeping up hobbies and interests that girls feel happy and free in are very important,” Mr Biddulph said.
He said he and his colleagues had noticed a huge drop-off in girls’ mental health and he blamed the media for creating anxiety in increasingly younger girls about how they looked.
Beaconhills College Berwick Campus will host the seminar. Principal Tony Scheumack said it was a chance for local parents to hear from a world-class psychologist.
“I think parenting is a very difficult task these days and the more opportunities families take to learn, the better.”
Enlighten Education facilitator for the past two years, Catherine Manning, wants to present self-esteem workshops to girls at all high schools in Casey-Cardinia to combat alarming suicide statistics.
The Cardinia resident says girls need more help dealing with the pressures of social media and body image.
Ms Manning said body image anxiety was one of the main issues facing today’s teenage girls.
“Up to 75 per cent of teen girls are on a diet on any given day, and increasingly girls are engaging in self-destructive behaviours such as binge drinking and self-harm,” Ms Manning said.
“As we know, in our local municipality we do have alarmingly high rates of depression and suicide and that’s a really huge concern to me.”
Ms Manning agreed that the media played a big part in creating anxiety in young women.
“I think we sometimes forget that teen girls are going through the same things we went through when we were growing up, however, today there is even more pressure on them due to the relentless media images and messages they are bombarded with, and the added complications with social media,” Ms Manning said.
“Of course, social media is here to stay, and there really are great benefits that come with that, but young girls just need to be given the tools to engage with the medium in a positive, helpful way.”
She said the workshops helped girls to “decode” messages received via the media and taught strategies for friendship issues and stress management.
Enlighten Education delivers in-school workshops to more than 20,000 girls a year across Australia.
“It is a leading program, and the overwhelmingly positive feedback we get from the girls we have worked with, proves that we are changing lives.”
Visit Beyondblue.org.au, call Suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 257 or Lifeline on 131 119 if you are in need of immediate assistance, or talk to someone you trust.
