‘Girls who Run’ helps build strong, resilient young ladies
By Aimee Walsh
A PROGRAMME to promote mental health and holistic well being for young girls is being launched by a local woman.
Tara Wilson Black created the programme ‘Girls who Run’ to help to build strong, resilient young ladies aged 8 to 12 – instilling lasting values with a strong sense of self-worth and self-belief.
Lisa Young, Mischa Young - Harte, Hannah Wilson Black and Tara Wilson Black
“I collaborated with a neuro coach, psychologist and I trained as a Sport Coach with Sport Ireland so a lot of expertise [has gone into] bringing this program to life,” explains Tara.
“We created the programme for this age group to give each girl the tools she needs to thrive during adolescent years and beyond.
“The psychologist was absolutely blown away with the programme, and she said, if you can get this age group – before they hit puberty and give them the life skills and the toolkit.”
Tara decided to start the programme after noticing during the pandemic that there was a serious need for mental health services.
“I have a 12-year-old daughter myself and she is not into GAA, she’s not into soccer or basketball and her mental health suffered really badly during the pandemic and there is a friend of mine and her 10-year-old daughter had the same thing – panic attacks and anxiety through the pandemic,” Tara told The Echo.
The programme is designed to combine a holistic active well-being camp for young girls with lessons that will teach valuable life skills. The programme achieves this through the practice of mindfulness, meditation, yoga, nutrition and exercise.
“We encourage our lil’ queens to stand out from the crowd. March to the beat of their own drum. Embrace their uniqueness and quirkiness. To be their true authentic self. To be innovators and creators and to value diversity,” Tara explained with pride.
Tara ran the programme with eight young girls over six weeks and was amazed at the feedback.
She said: “The feedback has been phenomenal, both from the parents and from the kids themselves. We did a team building activity, skipping, hula hoop, and mindfulness.
“How we know the programme actually worked was we gave the kids a colouring sheet for a mindfulness colouring programme. On the page it had questions like ‘how do you feel? And one of the girls wrote ‘happy’.”
The ‘girls who run’ summer camp program runs from July 5 to August 23. Monday to Friday , 10am – 2pm daily.
For more information email girlswhorunireland@gmail.com or visit our website Girls who run or on Facebook.
