About

What is Girls Circle?
Girls Circle is a research-based model which encourages girls to hold on to their voices and stay true to themselves. Through sharing their ideas and concerns in a safe, confidential space, girls experience enhanced judgment and critical-thinking skills to make wise, healthy choices and counter trends toward self-doubt by improving self-esteem and body image.
Girls Circle aims to counteract social and interpersonal forces that impede girls’ growth and development by promoting an emotionally safe setting and structure within which girls can develop caring relationships and use authentic voices.
Each week, the trained Girls Circle facilitator will lead the girls through a format that includes each girl taking turns talking and listening to one another respectfully about their concerns and interests. The girls express themselves further through creative or focused activities such as journaling, drawing, poetry, collage, and drama. Guest speakers who are experts in the fields of body image and self-esteem will enhance the experience.

Who is Girls Circle?
Girls Circle is comprised of 6-10 girls between the ages of 11 and 14 and their trained and certified adult facilitator. To participate, girls make a commitment to attend the meetings, and agree to follow the Circle guidelines:  respect; no put-downs or interruptions; offer experiences rather than advice; keep the focus on oneself; and keep what’s said in the group private. Girls are free to share at their own pace.
Why Girls Circle?
Research indicates that Girls Circle groups are beneficial to girls’ well-being and result in decreases of alcohol use, decreases in self-harming behaviours, increases in attachment to school, and increases in self-efficacy.
Surveys of girls who completed Girls Circles revealed significant improvements in body image, interpersonal relationships, choosing friends who treat them well, and expressing their needs to adults.
Body Image is the focus of our Girls Circle because perception of one’s physical appearance has been consistently recognized to be the number one factor in predicting self-esteem. Negative body image can lead to eating disorders, depression, anxiety, sexual difficulties, poor self-esteem, and increased suicide risk.
Your Girls Circle Facilitator:
Laura Connell is a certified Girls Circle facilitator and mother of two young girls ages 8 and 12. She is a fashion writer who shines light on the industry’s unrealistic standards of beauty. For more information, please contact Laura at 416-903-9714 or girlscircle2012@gmail.com