Young teens and mums of Narrabri were invited by Narrabri and District Community Aid Service Inc (NDCAS) to attend a free ‘Empower Me’ evening in honour of International Women’s Day and NSW Women’s Week at The Exchange last week.
The event which was funded by NSW Women’s Week was inspired to celebrate ‘self-care’ and increase health and wellbeing and participation and empowerment for girls and women living in a rural community.
Community engagement and communications officer Kayla Nehrkorn was thrilled with the well-received initiative, which booked out in a matter of days.
“I did something like this when I was a teenager, and I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this in the community since,” said Kayla.
“It was a great opportunity to discuss women’s business and champion each other.”
Mums and daughters split into two groups to learn about appropriate skincare, and women’s health and both groups received information that they had never been aware of before.
NSW Health continence nurse Lavinia Hill (Alvin) took the 14 mums and carers through a ‘continence’ session, where they had candid discussions about bladder, pelvic floor, and early intervention information that women need, especially after having children.
“I’d heard Alvin from Narrabri Hospital talk before and I was fascinated, but the talk on the day just exceeded all my expectations,” said Kayla.
“The women laughed so much, we had the best time, and a lot of the feedback that it was such an open and comfortable space to talk about the uncomfortable.”
During the mum’s session, 23 young teenagers aged between 11 and 15 years old learned about skincare from local beauticians.
They learned tips and tricks about how to properly cleanse their face, the proper use of makeup, and the importance of applying sunscreen every day.
The teens also received complimentary beauty bags laden with skincare, headbands, journals, lip balms, and even a mirror, and plenty of other goodies to take away.
“We wanted to do something to teach the basics to teenagers because there are so many trends online and they have so much access to information, we wanted them to have access to the right information,” Kayla said.
NSW Women’s Week is a chance for women and girls across the state to come together to support one another, share information, and celebrate women’s achievements.
“The room was buzzing with these young teens and women who had time to catch up with other women and their friends, and a nice chance to enhance those social connections of mothers in the community,” said Kayla.
“We’re really happy with the response, and the mums even requested a Mother’s Day skincare event, so there are plenty of opportunities to do more things like this in the future.”
