The Bay St. George Women’s Centre is offering its third round of free self-esteem workshops to help women improve the way they feel about themselves.

By Stephanie Tobin

The Bay St. George Women’s Centre is offering a series of workshops to help women who suffer from low self-esteem brought on by negative events in their lives.

Karen Andrews-Savoury is the executive director of the Bay St. George Women’s Centre. Andrews-Savoury believes that many women who come out of abusive situations may not have the confidence in themselves to overcome the obstacles they face.

“In order to be able to be self-sufficient in the community and be able to provide for yourself or for your family, it starts from inside,” Andrews-Savoury said. “This was a way to give women an opportunity to develop new skills and coping techniques to be able to become stronger.

From left: Sheila Felix, volunteer coordinator; Jackie Mercer, GURL project coordinator; Melissa Martin, program coordinator; and Karen Andrews-Savoury, executive director. The four women look at some life collages, which are a part of the self-esteem program offered at the Bay St. George Women's Centre. - Stephanie Tobin photo

“Instead of them looking at all the problems that they have, they look for solutions and resolutions,” Savoury-Andrews said. “They don’t feel trapped and they don’t feel isolated; they feel like they have a group of people, a group of women, who can support each other rather than feel alone through their journey.

“We want women to support each other and to feel empowered with each other,” Andrews-Savoury said. “Feminism, to me and as I relate it to the program, is not power over somebody or power under somebody, but it’s power with somebody.”

Sheila Felix is a volunteer coordinator at the Bay St. George Women’s Centre and has been present for each of the workshops. Felix has noticed that women have come out of all three programs feeling more happy and confident.

“I do find that the people who take it - you see a nice gradual building of confidence each week,” Felix said. “You can see their confidence growing each week and you can see the benefit, and they are building their self-esteem.”

Melissa Martin is the program coordinator. Martin considers the whole experience empowering for the women who choose to participate.

“I think it takes a certain amount of courage for them to even come into the first one,” Martin said. “You do see a difference even from the first session; it can take a while but by the end they’re all comfortable and can speak up about their own experience.”

One of the most important parts of the program is the connectivity between the women who share their experiences. The women who come out of the program often keep in touch with one another once the program is at an end.

“We always do feedback at the end of the last session,” Martin said. “What usually comes up in the last class is ‘What are we doing next week? We’re going to keep doing this, right?’ There’s always a lot of positive feedback.”

For more information on the program, along with other programs, contact the Bay St. George Women’s Centre at (709) 643-4444.