How our Inspire Project has been supporting young women within our local community
It has been a busy time for Motherwell Cheshire, and in particular for our Inspire Project.
Over the summer, three of our Inspire volunteers took part in a scheme run by the London School of Economics, Make Space for Girls, to answer one very important question: Have girls been designed out of public spaces? Working with the facilitators, Rowena, Abbie and Abbie looked at our local public spaces to see if they were accommodating to girls and together came up with insightful recommendations on how we as a community can make our spaces more welcoming for all.
Our conference to celebrate International Day of the Girl was a huge success! The talks were well received, and we had a lot of engagement from attendees afterwards. You can find the presentations from the event on our Resources page.
We’ve had a great uptake on our school self-defence sessions. So far, Brine Leas and Sir William Stanier have had three sessions each. The girls who attended gained new skills and increased confidence, with a staff member describing the sessions as “so empowering”. We will also be rolling out more sessions at Shavington Academy and we can’t wait!
Our Inspire Counselling service is going from strength to strength. We are currently working with young people in Crewe, Nantwich and Winsford – in schools, colleges and externally. The work we have done over the past year has seen 9 out of 10 Inspire clients feeling more able to cope with their situation and feeling more positive about themselves, along with 3 out of 4 clients attending school or college more regularly.
We are excited to have launched our School Empowerment Groups and to already be working with Shavington High School, Malbank High School and Springfield School. These groups are a hub of activism for young people to discuss the issues that matter most to them and make meaningful change in their school and local communities.
For more information about any of the initiatives above, please contact Abbi Jarvis on abbi.jarvis@motherwellcheshirecio.com