James Storrar

EVA-FEM EMPOWERMENT, VITALITY AND ASSERTIVENESS - FEMALE EDUCATION IN MENTORING Background: EMPOWERMENT, VITALITY AND ASSERTIVENESS - FEMALE EDUCATION IN MENTORING (EVA-FEM) is a series of six editions of Erasmus+ projects to develop competences in well-being for disadvantaged young women and girls who had experienced different psychosocial threats and exclusion; migrants; victims of conflict, disaster or traumatic events such as spinal injury; victims of abuse; sexual or physical violence; transgender persons; women who had been trafficked or orphaned and additionally for young females from the wider community who may have had a personal crisis which affected their mental well-being. The first edition intended to empower young women, promote independence and increase knowledge in different types of communication skills with which to enhance their psychosocial wellbeing. Prepared by J. Storrar, R. Sweeney & S Pellitt September 2018 The concepts behind EVA-FEM were driven by evidence from the Rat Park experiment by Bruce Alexander, the science of epigenetics, the vast amount of research from the Housing Choice Voucher program and current research into the effects of small RNA molecules which all showed that the effects of stress and trauma in people’s lives are passed down through the generations. The consequences of previous generations lived experiences were probably passed onto the current generation. Eat poorly, and your body will remember; genes will be expressed - and you will probably pass the consequences onto your children. Mounting evidence has shown that sperm can separately take note of a father’s stress and traumatic life events and transfer the baggage to children even without any gene expression. We deduced that if it were somehow possible to change the environment, a better life could be forged for the individuals and the community for generations to come. It was clear that empowerment was the key, but that needed to be looked at in a new way because change had to come from the individuals in the community, not top down. The research led us to conclude that interventions are necessary on both an individual and a community level if effective change is to be made. Graphic provided by MIND Prepared by J. Storrar, R. Sweeney & S Pellitt September 2018 The first edition of EVA-FEM brought together 195 young women and girls and leaders from Ireland, United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, France and Greece. The context revolved around the topics of inclusion, equity, gender violence, gender discrimination, and the empowerment of women in general but specifically those from disadvantaged backgrounds. EVA-FEM sought to create resilience for young women who had had significant life events giving them the ability to react and adapt positively to difficult and challenging events and experiences and bounce back from them in a positive way and to show that young women and girls could share and take responsibility; that they could participate and cooperate successfully in society. EVA-FEM intended to show that sport can help improve the lives of young women from different disadvantaged backgrounds in Europe and beyond to get them more involved and integrated into society and make them happier and more motivated people. The over-arching aims were to empower and include young women and girls with fewer opportunities by giving them a greater sense of their identity and value and improving their skills and strengths whilst exploring the self-confidence gained through practical self-defense tools. Through non-formal and informal learning, the women explored different tools that could empower them, strengthening friendships and communities and changing the self-perceptions of people from different cultural and economic backgrounds. They examined the need to create a framework for a Prepared by J. Storrar, R. Sweeney & S Pellitt September 2018 course of self-defense and empowerment which they themselves could go on to teach. Ultimately, EVAFEM aimed to provide young women with the opportunity to reflect on the personal bio-psychosocial threats in their lives as well as the threats to their communities and create both a personal and community action plan. To address these issues young women visited three countries; UK, Greece and N. Macedonia to participate in informal and non-formal learning and self-defense, sports and outdoor activities. All of the activities were run by coaches and facilitators especially trained in inclusion to guide the learning. The physical activity program was designed to develop self-motivation and self-esteem and a sense of safety, empowering and increasing the independence of the participants. The participants gained an insight into self-defense tactics whilst learning how to share their feelings and to build trust. The activities were monitored by experts who had worked with people with fewer opportunities on a daily basis. The second Edition of EVA-FEM is involving groups of women and girls from Turkey, Greece, UK, Ireland, Croatia and Romania. The third Edition will involve a new group of countries and will include men and boys. Methodology: The concepts utilized in EVA-FEM are not new and come from bodies of existing work: non-formal and informal learning; Recovery Concepts from mental health and addiction; Person-Centered Approaches to training and education; mental wellbeing from Mental Wellness Awareness and Health Promotion; and empowerment, self-discipline, and self-awareness from Martial Arts. All of these may be seen separately in current bio-psychosocial approaches utilized throughout the health and social care field. What is new is the synergy of these old and well researched and recognized processes into a new philosophical process which encourages empowerment through the development of both self and of the community. How it works: Traditionally the five core areas of the program have always been delivered separately, by specific groups. Non-formal and informal learning is often used by facilitators, mentors and coaches in youth Prepared by J. Storrar, R. Sweeney & S Pellitt September 2018 education; Person-Centred approaches are fundamental to education and training; Recovery has always been associated with mental health and addiction related issues; Mental Wellness Awareness and Health Promotion have always been linked to behavior change and policy development; Martial Arts has focused on the empowerment, self-confidence and self-awareness that comes with defensive tactics and the inner discipline needed to achieve this. EVA-FEM combined all five in a non-formal and informal program to develop not only individuals, but their communities as well. EVA-FEM was conceived as a person-centred sustainable process, it was intended to be utilized as a grass roots development program, with the active participation of the people who will change their communities. In effect, EVA-FEM is doing what is normally done from the top down by policymakers, but from the bottom up. Universal Transformation Management Framework (UTMF) Prepared by J. Storrar, R. Sweeney & S Pellitt September 2018