LEADERSHIP & EMPOWERMENT A WELLFIT GIRLS TOOLKIT
Through adventure and outdoor education, small group training programs, physical challenges and creative expression, we want to teach girls they can climb high in all areas of life.
“We aren’t born warriors, we grow into warriors.” Jill Wheeler
TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP
7 Principles of Leadership
1. Development of Personal Leadership Style - Emphasis on individual styles of communication are encouraged and developed. 2. Seek Adventure - Break through perceived limitations every day. 3. Experience is the greatest teacher - Challenge is an important part of growth; embracing obstacles as opportunities is a cornerstone of developing strong leaders. 4. The Whole is the Goal - All aspects of the individual are explored in the Wellfit Girls
Program and no one is left behind in the group.
5. Integrity - Finding and listening to your authentic voice. Aligning actions with beliefs.
6. Self-discovery + Interpersonal communication - Understanding and honoring the self in order to effectively
communicate with others and nurture positive, supportive relationships.
7. Tenacity - You either win or you lose. There is no end goal in this type of learning. There is no specific graduation, closure or end product. Learning and continual growth is the goal.
We don’t discover our destiny. We shape it with every step we take.
- Jill Wheeler
LEARN MORE About Transformational Leadership
*Transformational leadership is said to have occurred when engagement in a group results in leaders and followers raising one another to increased levels of motivation and morality.*
THERE ARE 4 COMPONENTS TO TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP, SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS THE 4 I’S:
1
IDEALIZED INFLUENCE (IL): the leader serves as an ideal role model for followers; the leader “walks the talk.” and is admired for this.
2
INSPIRATIONAL MOTIVATION (IM): Transformational leaders have the ability to inspire and motivate followers. Combined these first two I’s are what constitute the transformational leader’s charisma.
3
INDIVIDUALIZED CONSIDERATION (IC): Transformational leaders demonstrate genuine concern for the needs and feelings of followers. This personal attention to each follower is a key element in bringing out their very best efforts.
4
INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION (IS): the leader challenges followers to be innovative and creative. A common misunderstanding is that transformational leaders are “soft,” but the truth is that they constantly challenge followers to higher levels of performance.
THE WELLFIT GIRLS LEADERSHIP PROGRAM takes place in an intentional community. The goal is to inspire and empower each individual while elevating the group as a whole. The intention is to inspire, nurture and develop each girl’s individual leadership style.
Empowerment happens when you start from where you are, create a vision for what you want and consciously move toward fulfilling that vision for the life you desire.
“We must train with small cares in order to put up with great adversity later.� -Tibetan Buddhist nun, Pema Chodron
THE CHALLENGES
Body Image & Self Esteem
Even as women have made enormous strides in education, politics, and the workplace, girls report struggling with body image and self-esteem at younger and younger ages and stories abound about bullying around appearance and sexual behavior.
GIRLS’ DISSATISFACTION MANIFESTS AROUND BODY IMAGE, PARTICULARLY WEIGHT, AT AN ALARMINGLY YOUNG AGE:
Over 80 percent of 10-year-old girls are afraid of being fat.
By middle school, 40-70 percent of girls are dissatisfied with two or more parts of their body, and body satisfaction hits rock bottom between the ages of 12 and 15.
Notably, girls’ self-esteem plummets at age 12 and doesn’t improve until 23, an unhappiness attributed to changes in body shape, as “females first experience a decline in self-esteem between the ages of 12 and 13, a time when most females have entered puberty.”
THE CHALLENGES Body Image in the Media
A fair amount of girls’ unhappiness and pressure results from media– which presents images that tend to portray a narrow standard of beauty.
According to a 2010 study:
81% percent of girls would
63% of girls think the body image
rather see “real” or “natural” photos of models than touched-up, airbrushed versions, yet 47 percent say fashion magazines give them a body image to strive for.
represented by the fashion industry is unrealistic and 47 percent think it is unhealthy, yet 60 percent say that they compare their bodies to fashion models, 48 percent wish they were as skinny as the models in fashion magazines, and 31 percent of girls admit to starving themselves or refusing to eat as a strategy to lose weight.
The impact of the environment that these young girls are exposed to can lead to eating disorders, bullying, alcohol abuse, early onset of sexual activity and, perhaps, counter-intuitively, obesity.
We have replaced real-time relationships with ever-edited cyber connections that are causing less intimacy and more isolation and loneliness. We don’t match up to the carefully crafted lives we are creating on social media. Teens feel vulnerable and alone and often wonder, would people really like me if they knew the real me?
Human relationships are rich and messy and they’re demanding and we clean them up with technology; and when we do, one of the things that can happen is that we sacrifice conversation for mere connection. We shortchange ourselves and overtime we seem to forget this or we -Sherry Turkle
THE CHALLENGES Loneliness is the number one reason people seek out therapy.
Loneliness
According to a recent national survey, 25% of all adults experience painful loneliness at least every few weeks, and the incidence among adolescents and college students is even higher. Loneliness is neither a permanent state nor “bad� in itself. Instead it should be viewed more accurately as a signal or indicator of important needs that are going unmet.
The Impact
Being alone and lonely, and even just the fear of being alone, makes many people insecure, anxious and depressed. Until a person can learn to enjoy their own company, they may constantly find themselves lonely or getting into relationships that are, or end up, based on fear. All too often, people who are not comfortable with themselves unknowingly stop themselves from not only being the best person they can be but from experiencing deep levels of intimacy with others as well.
What is Loneliness?
Loneliness is an emotional state in which a person experiences a powerful feeling of emptiness and isolation. It is more than just the feeling of wanting company or wanting to do something with another person. Loneliness is a feeling of being cut off, disconnected, and/or alienated from other people, so that it feels difficult or even impossible to have any form of meaningful human contact. Lonely people often feel empty or hollow inside.
WHY ARE PEOPLE IN THERAPY?
THE CHALLENGES Eating Disorders
9,000
Fifteen percent of young women have substantially disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. The National Center for Health Statistics estimates that about 9,000 people admitted to hospitals were diagnosed with bulimia in 1994, the latest year for which statistics are available, and about 8,000 were diagnosed with anorexia.
1 in 100
Studies indicate that by their first year of college, 4.5 to 18 percent of women have a history of bulimia and that as many as 1 in 100 females between the ages of 12 and 18 have anorexia.
The National Institute of Mental Health estimates that eating disorders affect more than 5 million Americans each year. An estimated one thousand women die each year of anorexia nervosa. As many as one in ten college women suffer from a clinical or nearly clinical eating disorder, including 5.1% who suffer from bulimia nervosa. Each year millions of people in the United States are affected by serious and sometimes life-threatening eating disoders. More than 90 percent of those afflicted are adolescent and young adult women.
According to The Center for Mental Health Services 90 percent of those who have eating disorders are women between the ages of 12 and 25. • 8,000,000 or more people in the United States have an eating disorder. • 90% are women. • Eating disorders usually start in the teens but may begin as early as age 8. Source: National Institute of Mental Health, National Center for Health Statistics, National Eating Disorders, SAMHSA’S National Mental Health Information Center.
THE CHALLENGES SMOKING: 13 percent of women smoke to lose weight Teenage girls often start to smoke to avoid weight gain
Smoking & Alcohol Abuse
ALCOHOL:
Teenage girls with low self-esteem are twice as likely to report alcohol use. 12-year-old girls with low self-esteem are two-and-a-half times more likely to engage in heavy alcohol use at age 15.
THE CHALLENGES Bullying
WHAT IS BULLYING?
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) anti-bullying website, Stopbullying.gov, bullying is defined as “intentionally aggressive, usually repeated” verbal, social, or physical behavior aimed at a specific person or group of people. Some bullying actions are considered criminal, such as harassment or hazing; but “bullying” alone is not illegal.
28% of U.S. students in grades 9-12
reportedly have experienced bullying or are feeling bullied, while 28 percent of students in grades 6-12 report the same. Experts agree that most incidences of bullying occur during middle school.
m? Classroo Gym Class ?
Hallways? Cafeteria
?
Bathroom?
WHERE IS IT?
According to one study cited by the DHHS, 29.3 percent of middle school students had experienced bullying in the classroom; 29 percent experienced it in hallways or lockers; 23.4 percent were bullied in the cafeteria; 19.5 percent were bullied during gym class; and 12.2 percent of bullied kids couldn’t even escape the torture in the bathroom.
THE CHALLENGES Low self-esteem can increase risk of
Sexually Active Teen Girls Early Onset of Sexual Activity
3x
Girls who had high self-esteem in seventh grade were three times more likely to have remained virgins than girls with low self-esteem.
2.5 x
50%
The risk of teenage motherhood is raised – by up to fifty percent – among teenage girls with lower self-esteem.
Obesity
Young girls who dieted had three times the odds of being overweight five years later compared with girls not using weight-control behaviors.
•Persistent use of dieting and unhealthy weight-control behaviors predicted greater increases in body mass index (BMI) 10 years later in overweight and non-overweight respondents. •People who feel discriminated or stigmatized against because of their weight were two-and-a-half times more likely to become obese, regardless of their
GET INVOLVED Adventure Therapy
Adventure Therapy
combines therapeutic and counseling skills with challenging experiences in nature in order to achieve wellness, build communities and establish healthy relationships between people and the environment. As a distinct and separate form of psychotherapy, adventure therapy became prominent in the 1960s. The underlying philosophy largely refers to experiential education. Studies show that facilitating experiences and adventures in nature can help people achieve positive change. Ewert, McCormick, & Voight, (2001) distinguished between adventure therapy, wilderness therapy, and outdoor experiential therapy. According to them, adventure therapy uses outdoor activities involving risk and physical and emotional challenge. Wilderness therapy usually refers to the use of primitive methods in wilderness contexts requiring adaptation or the ability to cope. Outdoor experiential therapy is outdoor treatment to promote “rehabilitation, growth, development, and enhancement of an individual’s physical, social and psychological well-being through the application of structured activities involving direct experience.� More recently, adventure therapy has evolved to include the use of adventure activities supported by traditional therapy. Adventure therapy approaches psychological treatment through experience and action. Problem solving initiatives, adventure, outdoor expeditions and team building activities are all a part of treatment. Some experts believe in order to be effective, there needs to be a real or perceived psychological and/or physical risk generating a level of challenge.
Study: A study from researchers in the U.S revealed that wildnerness therapy, which is also known as adventure therapy, CAN have a positive influence on teenagers. The teenagers receive daily therapy and showed an improvement in both self-esteem and self-control. The separation from their typical lives forced them to examine their behavior and problems in a unique setting while guidance from experienced therapists led
GET INVOLVED Yoga and Spiritual Training
Yoga & Spiritual Training
Being a warrior isn’t about exerting our physical strength. It’s about cultivating inner strength, an authentic power. Courage comes from within. Warriors cast out doubt + shed a light that inspires others into their own greatness. That’s what true leadership is. “Coming in tune with the needs of the body lets you nourish it in ways that you may ignore under the stress of daily life.” - Teen Yoga & Mindfulness Yoga and mindfulness training play an important role in the Wellfit Girls Program. Yoga improves self-awareness and self-esteem, which leads to teens believing they can climb high in all areas of life.
The benefits of yoga are physical, mental and spiritual. Teens learn the tools to help them unwind, relax and unplug from social media, the daily stress of school, extracurricular activities and family life.
GET INFORMED Immersion & Group Culture
The purpose of the small group is to create a healthy, empowering group culture that inspires each girl’s personal growth.
girls Wellfit Girls Program creates a unique culture of empowerment and transformational leadership where girls strengthen their voice and practice new skills in the safety of the group. Conversations happen in real time, challenges are addressed and vulnerability is encouraged.
The small group is a microcosm of the individual’s larger community. It’s a training ground for developing interpersonal skills, a positive mindset and pro-social behaviors.
GET INFORMED Group learning & Group Training Programs
YEPs Youth Empowerment Programs (YEPs) aim to use highly participatory,
youth-driven processes to help young people strengthen positive attitudes, skills and behaviors that improve functioning in all aspects of their life. Studies show YEPs improve self-esteem, social skills, and coping and problem-solving skills. Youth Empowerment Programs help prepare youth to be active members of their communities and society as a whole. Programs teach youth to work well with peers and can include job skill development and placement; mentoring; intensive case management; writing and communication skills services.
Example: What Works for Health
Interventions Interventions that strengthen protective factors in adolescents’ attitudes, skills, and relationships may be able to have far-reaching impacts on young people’s ability to overcome adversity and make successful transitions to adulthood. Psychosocial protective factors can counteract the effects of risk. They predict higher avoidance of problem behaviors as well as higher educational success and healthy development.
GET INFORMED Mentor & Mentee Relationships
Research confirms what we know intuitively - Mentoring works.
At its most basic level, mentoring helps because it guarantees a young person that there is someone who cares about them. Mentors provide their mentees with experience, support and guidance that they may not otherwise have. About 40% of teenager’s waking hours are spent without companionship or supervision. - Students who meet regularly with their mentors are 52% less likely than their peers to skip a day of school and are 37% less likely to skip a class -Mentors help keep students in school -Mentors help improve a young person’s self-esteem
Example:
The 2013 study “The Role of Risk: Mentoring Experiences and Outcomes for Youth with Varying Risk Profiles,” examined mentoring program relationships, experiences and benefits for higher-risk youth, and among the the findings determined:
Results:
-A reduction in depressive symptoms -Gains in social acceptance, academic attitudes and grades
The study’s results suggest mentoring programs can be beneficial for youth with a broad range of backgrounds and characteristics BUT that tailoring the training has even stronger benefits.
GET INFORMED Mentoring & Academic Achievements
A Public/Private Ventures project funded by the Bill & This report builds on existing research, including a Melinda Gates Foundation and distributed by MDRC, research brief published by Child Trends and titled involved more than 1,300 youth, who were drawn from s “Mentoring: A Promising Strategy for Youth even programs serving young people in Washington State. Development� found that youth who participate in *Oversight and support for the project were provided by Washington State Mentors.* mentoring relationships experience a number of positive benefits.
Benefits:
-In terms of educational achievement, mentored youth have better school attendance; a better chance of going on to higher education; and better attitudes toward school. -In terms of health and safety, mentoring appears to help prevent substance abuse and reduce some negative youth behaviors. -Mentored youth tend to trust their parents more and communicate with them. -On the social and emotional development front, taking part in mentoring promotes positive social
attitudes and relationships.
Research has shown that mentoring has significant positive effects on two early indicators among high school drop-outs; -High levels of Absenteeism (Kennelly & Monrad 2007) -Recurring Behavior Problems (Thurlow, Sinclair
While there are groups that advocate and provide support for girls, no city government in the United States has addressed the issue of girls’ self-esteem and body image.
GET INFORMED Articles & Books
Articles:
5 Ways to Empower Your Teen Daughters Adventure Therapy Found to Be Safer than Staying at Home Therapy Gone Wild The Importance of Outdoor Adventure The Benefits of Yoga for Children Kaplan University School of Health Sciences YogaMinded: Benefits of Yoga for Teens Top Five Ways Teens can Benefit from Yoga and Mindfulness Therapeutic uses of nature continue to expand
Recommended Books: Richard Louv; The Nature Principle and Last Child in the Woods Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D; Mindset: The New Psychology of Success Cheryl Strayed; Wild Mombiot; Feral (about Re-wilding) Mike Dooley; Infinite Possibilities Dr. Daniel Siegel; Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain Sherry Turkle; Alone Together Malala Yousafzai; I am Malala Rachel Simmons; Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls
GET INFORMED Recommended Films: The Empowerment Project Ordinary women doing extraordinary things 34 days. 17 inspirational women. 5 female filmmakers. 1 dream.
The Empowerment Project is a feature-length documentary about five female filmmakers traveling across the US to inspire the next generation of strong women to go after their career ambitions. Driving from Los Angeles to New York over the course of a month, the filmmakers interview several women in a variety of career fields to encourage the next generation of strong women to thrive and be leaders.
Girl Rising
Girl Rising is a global campaign for girls’ education. They use the power of storytelling to share the simple truth that educating girls can transform societies. Girl Rising unites girls, women, boys and men who believe every girl has the right to go to school and the right to reach her full potential. Their mission is to change the way the world values the girl.
Films
Warrior One A group of teenage girls embark on a five-month training and leadership program, which takes them to Machu Picchu, one of the Seven New Wonders of the World. Wellfit Girls Program is the opportunity of a lifetime, yet pushes the girls to the limit. From the beaches of Florida to the peaks of Peru, their adventure provides a path to personal discovery and
Half the Sky
Turning oppression into opportunity for women worldwide. The central moral challenge of our time is reaching a tipping point. Just as slavery was the defining struggle of the 19th century and totalitarianism of the 20th, the fight to end the oppression of women and girls worldwide defines our current century. Hidden in the overlapping problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality is the single most vital opportunity of our time — and women are seizing it. From Somaliland to Cambodia to Afghanistan, women’s oppression is being confronted head on and real, meaningful solutions are being fashioned. Change is happening, and it’s happening now.
PREVENTION Resources from the Department of Health & Human Services
Exercise + Fitness
o Physical Activity for Everyone | Centers for Disease Control + Prevention o Exercise and Physical Fitness | MedlinePlus o Exercise for Older Adults | National Institutes of Health
Diet, Nutrition + Eating Right o Dietary Guidelines for Americans | U.S. Department of Agriculture + HHS o ChooseMyPlate.gov | U.S. Department of Agriculture o Eat Healthy | Healthfinder.gov o Smart Nutrition 101 | Nutrition.gov | U.S. Department of Agriculture & HHS
Healthy Lifestyle
o What is Overweight + Obesity | National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH o Healthy Weight – It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention o Make a Difference: Talk to your child about Alcohol | National Institute on Alcohol Abuse + Alcoholism
GET INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY Support Organizations that promote positive change in young girls
SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS THAT PROMOTE POSITIVE CHANGE IN YOUNG GIRLS
Questions - What about other solutions? •Exercise •Therapy •Social interactions
TAKE ACTION Watch
What to Watch Online Click on: The Innovation of Loneliness Sherry Turkle’s TED Talk Connected, but Alone? Amy Cuddy’s TED Talk Body Language Shapes Who You Are Meaghan Ramsey’s TED Talk Why Thinking You’re Ugly is Bad For You
Support
Rachel Simmons and Claire Sannini’s TED Talk
Tweet it: Support the movement for adolescent girls and tweet your friends to tell them to take action to help girls around the world. Visit GirlUp
TAKE ACTION Website Resources for Teens
SheHeroes
www.http:....
SheHeroes empowers 8 to 14-year-old girls of all backgrounds to dream big, explore their interests and passionately pursue careers in any field regardless of gender. Through our online content and streaming video profiles, girls picture their own potential by engaging with the influential stories of exceptional women role models who have overcome obstacles and achieved career success. Like Sally Ride, we believe: “If you can’t see it, you can’t be it!” SheHeroes.org
Help Guide
Life isn’t easy for teenagers, but no one should feel unhappy all the time. These articles can help you identify, understand, and overcome the challenges in your life. HelpGuide.org Emotional Intelligence Toolkit
Girls Leadership Institute
Girls Leadership teaches girls the skills to know who they are, what they believe, and how to express it, empowering them to create change in their world. GirlsLeadership.org
Sisu Girls
Sisu: (noun) - determined, brave, & resilient SisuGirls is about inspiring and encouraging girls to have the determination, bravery and resilience to be the girl they want to be! We want girls to have the self-belief and conviction to try new things, the tenacity to endure, and the bravery to push boundaries. SisuGirls.org
Girl Talk
Founded in 2002, Girl Talk is a student-to-student mentoring program that pairs middle school girls with high school girls who serve as mentors. Weekly meetings are held before or after school, Girls Incorporated during which the high school leader conducts valuable lessons that Girls Incorporated® is a nonprofit organization that inspires all address issues middle school girls face every day. Some examples girls to be strong, smart, and bold. With local roots dating to 1864 of weekly lessons are Being Nice, Underage Drinking and How to and national status since 1945, Girls Inc. has responded to the Talk to Your Parents. Our mission is simple: We exist to help young changing needs of girls through research-based programs and girls build self-esteem, develop leadership skills and recognize the public education efforts that empower girls to understand, value, value of community service. and assert their rights. In 2007, Girls Inc. reached over 900,000 MyGirlTalk.org girls through Girls Inc. affiliates, our website, and educational New Moon Girls publications. New Moon Girls is the creative safe social network and magazine GirlsInc.Org for girls ages 8 and up – worldwide! NewMoonGirls.com
GET INVOLVED
30 seconds • Give yourself a compliment. • Give someone else a compliment. • Stand in front of the mirror and say a mantra, “I’ve got this”, “I am enough”, “I matter”. • Replace negative thoughts with deep breathing.
Less than 30 seconds - 5 minutes
1 minute
• Call someone special in your life and tell them you love them. • Stand up to bullies. • Speak only positive words about others (and yourself) • Meditate for strength of mind and inner peace. 1-minute meditation here.
5 minutes • Write as many positive affirmations as you can. Say them. Repeat. • Write a love letter to yourself. • Meditate for strength of mind and inner peace. 5-minute meditation here. • Speak your mind against bullies. Ask for help. Inspire Kindness.
GET INVOLVED 10 minutes - Ongoing
10-20 minutes • Exercise: Walk. Run. Hit the gym. DO something active. • Watch the TED talks mentioned in this Toolkit. • Read the articles mentioned in this Toolkit. • Journal on all the things in your life you are grateful for and that
1 hour • Exercise: Walk. Run. Hit the gym. DO something active. • Watch the documentaries mentioned in this Toolkit. • Check out the websites in the toolkit. • See a therapist, trusted friend or mentor or teacher one hour a day/week or month (as often as you need)!
Ongoing
• Get outside. Explore all the Regional, State and National Parks in your area as often as you can. • Invite someone who sits alone at lunch to sit with you. • Make a donation to programs that support girls empowerment • Volunteer as a youth leader, tutor, or Big Brother/Big Sister in your community • Connect with outdoor clubs, fitness and running groups in town through Meetup or other social networks • Be a voice against bullies, negative messages about women, sexism or gender bias, violence and stereotyping. Do not share or post negative stories and gossip. Clean out the people (and social media feeds) that you may be following that support negative messages about girls and women. • STOP reading magazines and watching movies, tv and online videos that make you feel less than strong, powerful and beautiful!
GET INVOLVED Take a look at
Organizations & Resources
• Girls on the Run • Boys and Girls Club • YMCA • Kids Running America • Leave No Trace • Outward Bound • NOLS • Women’s Wilderness Institute • Girls Leadership Institute • The Girls Empowerment Workshop
GET INFORMED Current problems for youth and the cure
Problems:
1 2 3 4
Social media Isolation (from human interaction + nature) Lack of nutrition/over-processed foods + over-stimulated systems Competition
Cure: Holistic wellness/fitness/adventure small group and immersion programs. •Interpersonal connection •Immersion experiences (travel/groups/nature) •Fitness + whole foods •Collaboration
ABOUT THE WELLFIT GIRLS PROGRAM
girls
The Wellfit Girls empowerment program is a holistic approach to empowering and inspiring female leaders. It is a daily practice of holistic wellbeing and interpersonal relationships. The Wellfit Girls program inspires personal growth, healthy interpersonal communication, leadership training and mentoring to each girls’ greatness. In order to successfully transform future female leaders, the Wellfit Girls Program follows a curriculum that guides girls through a combination of physical, mental and interpersonal challenges. The girls commit to engaging in behaviors that encourages individual and group success. The intentional use of the mountains as metaphor, the outdoors and other methods used throughout this program help girls overcome self-esteem issues and learn coping mechanisms, leadership skills and communications skills. The girls workout with a personal trainer, learn yoga and have weekly leadership group sessions.
The girls are asked to dig deep in terms of who they are now and the person they want to become.
WELLFIT GIRLS BEHAVIORAL COMMITMENTS Serve the mission and goals of the Wellfit Girls group. Be committed to your individual success and the success of the group. Treat everyone with dignity and respect. Support leadership and growth in everyone. Respect all cultures and backgrounds. Be kind and open-hearted to yourself and others. Do your share, stay organized and be on time. Take a stand for others. Model integrity by being honest and accountable. Admit and correct your mistakes. Be willing to try something new every day. Photos to left: 2014 Peru Trip
WELLFIT GIRLS MAKE REAL CONNECTIONS “We expect more from technology than we do from each other. We’re lonely, but we are afraid of intimacy.” “Technology gives us the illusion of companionship without the demands of friendship.” -Sherry Turkle By showing up for oneself and others in the intensive group setting we fight loneliness and isolation. We are the most connected cohort of people in history and yet the most lonely; connection does not equal relationship.
Authentic Power + unrehearsed interactions that are not edited, photo-shopped and curated.
PRODUCED BY: