Reach delivers 100% youth led workshops that develop the social and emotional wellbeing of young people. Our facilitators are armed with the kind of insight only another young person can truly understand.
Mirror is an in person 90-minute workshop targeted at students in years 9 and 10 designed to provide a space for female identifying young people to explore, challenge and question the expectations and ideas that exist in society regarding femininity and the gender binary. The workshop asks participants to reflect on the impact of stereotypes and the expectations placed on them by society, others and themselves as they go through in-depth facilitation by a team of female only Reach facilitators.
The Mirror workshop encourages young women to examine the constraints and constructs placed upon femininity and to understand the authentic self that lies beneath these. Creating a sense of unity as women and working towards rewriting the norm of what it means to be a woman. Navigating the fast paced, ever-changing world as a young female comes with many challenges, often young females go through life thinking that they are alone in their experiences. Mirror provides a space for participants to honestly share where they are at in life, and all the thoughts and emotions towards their experience as a female in contemporary society. Mirror empowers our young participants to understand their value and promote their sense of self-worth and live by their own choices.
Your support will reduce the financial costs of Mirror workshops for schools across Australia. By enabling Reach to offer Mirror workshops to schools at a reduced cost, your support will enable schools in low socio-economic areas to access Mirror workshops for their students who would otherwise be unable to access this important opportunity.
Mirror Workshop Objectives
1.Provide an opportunity for judgement and insecurities to become present in the room
2.Highlight influences that are present in society and explore how specific influences affect us
3.Identify individual behaviours and beliefs
4.Create unity as women
5.To understand our authentic self beneath the constraints and constructs
6.Practicing authenticity in a supportive space
7.Re write the norm
8.Challenge the female stereotype
Desired Outcomes for Participants
•Greater understanding of the role judgements and insecurities can play on how the group interacts
•Acknowledgement of the impact of societal views on femininity and the affect this can have on participants
•Increased understanding of individual behaviours and beliefs
•Increased curiosity
•To have an experience asking and being asked questions, and to operate from a place where they feel like themselves.
We will know we are successful if we can increase the number of schools from low socio-economic and highly diverse backgrounds that can experience the Mirror workshop.
Reach workshops are supported by a comprehensive evaluation framework maintained by our internal wellbeing team of psychologists and social work professionals. This framework involves both a pre-workshop and post workshop evaluation of participants to determine the direct impact of their engagement with Reach. Post workshop delivery we evaluate the experience of all participants and their teachers. We provide them a questionnaire of qualitative and quantitative questions to determine whether we have successfully achieved our objectives and desired outcomes. Reach evaluations not only allow us to review the impact our programming has had on participants but also allow our work to stay relevant and impactful to the young people we engage.
At the end of the calendar year, we will create an Impact Report that outlines key takeaways, provides statistical analysis and highlights key quotes from participants and teachers from the year’s workshop delivery. An example of an impact report for a different program can be sent to you.
If we are to achieve gender equality we will need to pull every lever; being more intentional about bringing women into focus supports smart investment decisions. Philanthropic dollars are limited; it is investments in women and girls that bring the greatest opportunity for social change.
Also known as Australian Women Donors Network (ABN: 28 141 197 471), Australians Investing in Women is a registered charity endorsed by the Australian Tax Office as a deductible gift recipient (DGR1) under a special listing, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.