SCCFF helps educate teens on relationships

THOMPSON FALLS – Sanders County Coalition for Families has been hard at work during the month of February, teaching young girls valuable life lessons during Teen Dating Awareness Month.

Advocate Chris Magdalene explained that teaching young girls to have self respect and a good self esteem early on helps to lower the chance of them later getting involved in abusive or unhealthy relationships.

In an attempt to help further some of the girls from Sanders County, Magdalene took four eighth grade girls to Bozeman on Feb. 8 and 9 for the annual Girls For a Change conference.

The grass-roots initiative aims to empower girls to take charge of their future, become confident about their personality and helps them to achieve self-sufficiency and success.

The 8th annual conference hosted 185 girls from 34 communities in Montana.

This year’s theme was about innovation and Magdalene said it was a good opportunity for the girls to learn about themselves and see what else is out there.

“It gets them out of this little community and they get exposed to a lot of things they didn’t know about,” said Magdalene. “It exposes them to things they might find interesting. I think it helps them think about what they can do and what they are able to do.”

Numerous workshops were put on by women volunteers and included kick boxing, Bollywood dance lessons, self defense classes and a “Reduce, Reuse, Refashion” session which allowed the girls to recycle clothing into other forms of art.

The girls who attended were all a part of the Girls Circle Magdalene hosts for the teens around Sanders County.

Magdalene currently runs girls groups at the Junior High and Elementary School in Thompson Falls and also helps assist advocate Barb Mosher in the Trout Creek schools.

“These groups are about building self esteem and helping girls kind of work through friendship issues. It helps them think about their values and their strengths,” explained Magdalene. “It also helps them to identify their dreams and to follow those dreams.”

Starting on February 28, Magdalene will start a Women’s Circle, which is a women’s group that uses art expression and often times journaling to help identify feelings they may be experiencing. The free and confidential class will take place every other Thursday and starts at 5:30 p.m.

Magdalene explained that art expression helps the participants pinpoint a certain theme that is picked out each evening.

“It helps people identify feelings they don’t know they had and helps move it out of the body and into a piece of art,” explained Magdalene.

Although there is no women’s group set up for Plains, Magdalene said if there is an interest in the community, she would be more than happy to set one up.

For anyone interested in a Plains Women’s Group, Magdalene encourages them to contact SCCFF at 827-3218.