The Salvation Army North York Temple is Building Confidence and Self-Esteem in Teen Girls

 

The Salvation Army North York Temple is empowering and building self-worth and confidence in young girls in the community with the goal of helping them create positive relationships in their lives and prevent incidents of human trafficking.

The program, which was officially launched in September of 2022, runs through the school year and is available to girls in grades 7 to 12.

Woven Program Director Mikaila Tao says thanks to The Salvation Army Innovation Grant, she was hired in the Spring of 2022, to begin connecting with girls in the community, many of which are new Canadians and or are from low-income families.

Much of the program is about helping girls create friendships, have a safe place where they can be themselves and build community connections.

The program starts with games and activities so the girls can get to know one another and get to know the leaders at The Salvation Army.

Mikaila says Woven focuses on topics around self-worth, peer relationships and building self-esteem so the girls are less likely to accept harmful or negative relationships in their life. “It’s about letting the girls know that someone cares about them. Here they can build healthy friendships and have caring adult women walk alongside them.”

During the sessions there are discussion circles where a topic is presented, such as healthy relationships, red flags to look for in relationships, how to manage negative emotions, how to cope with difficult issues at home, bullying, setting life goals and how to accomplish them.

Mikaila says after the first year of programming, she saw some big changes in the girls. She sees them developing positive relationships and wanting to go to Woven sessions to be with their friends. Some of the girls even voluntarily take the bus to get to the church to talk and share what’s going in their lives.

“As an example, I have seen one of the girls blossom so much. She started out being very shy and insecure to being very friendly and loving by the end of the session. To see this happen is so wonderful,” said Mikaila.

Woven is also about teaching the girls that God cares about them. The girls have the opportunity to ask questions and share their own experiences with faith.

“How I see it is God brought them here so they can know Him. So much is relationship based in this program,” said Mikaila.

To support this and other transformational programing please visit SalvationArmy.ca or call 1-800-SAL-ARMY.

By: Caroline Franks