How GRG Got Started
How Girls' Respect Groups Got Started
Several years ago, Lorna, Anne & Natalie were working with schools & community groups in Toronto on Bullying Prevention issues. They began to realize that underlying bullying is a lack of self-respect & a lack of respect for others. They wondered how to tackle the problem even earlier, by helping kids understand & value respect, especially through those difficult middle school years. At the time, Lorna had just seen a copy of Courtney Macavinta & Andrea Vander Plyum's wonderful new book,
Respect: A Girl's Guide To Getting Respect & Dealing When Your Line Is Crossed
(
Free Spirit Publishing, 2005)
. When Lorna, Anne, & Natalie started reading it, they knew it would make a great starting point for a respect program for middle school girls. They sketched out lesson plans & pulled together other great materials - games, poems, videos, self-assessment quizzes, role plays, etc. They started running the program in Toronto, testing it out in local middle schools. Fast forward a few years & here we are!
This work is truly "it takes a village" work. No one of us can do the work on our own, and yet we must all contribute to the work. We salute the efforts & accomplishments of those who've come before us to guide & inspire us, and we are grateful to take our place in the long chain of contribution to making this world a better place today & for future generations. We send a big, respectful thank you to Courtney & Andrea for their book, which inspired us to create
Girls' Respect Groups: An Innovative Program To Empower Young Women & Build Self-Esteem!
Check out Courtney's great website & follow her work at
RespectRx.com
. See our Resource Center for links to Courtney's & other great websites for girls.
