Event: Reach Your Peak Expo | Peek Counseling
Reach Your Peak Expo | Peek Counseling
Beside the name being awesome…and having Peak in the name….lol…this was a fun event and volunteer opportunity that called to me!
My best friend (and fellow therapist in the community) and I went to volunteer at the Girls’ Expo this past Spring! Glad we did… Besides just catching up and being silly together (needed that!), we got to attend a day-long program with topics and presentations. Some aimed to teach girls about money management, online “self-defense,” science, math, and engineering, while others helped protect them against cyber bullying and peer pressure.
Colorado Girls Elevated, the nonprofit that puts on the Expo, also presented the honorees for their Young Woman of Distinction Award.
It was fun to see girls of all ages demonstrate their strengths, talents, and achievements. It was also a way to help show girl power and, for me, to be influenced, encouraged, and amazed by what girls can do in a positive way! Talk about inspiring…
Many of the program topics also got me thinking about the pressures of being a teenager now versus when I was one. And, to tell you the truth, it is about the same! Yes. Depression, eating disorders, self-esteem, relationships, and peer pressure are all still relevant today. Many of my clients are presently working on these issues. And, today, it’s not just teens that struggle with these topics, they can really affect anyone at any age.
Yet, some teen issues are new and really take some modern understanding. Things like cyber bullying, digital public humiliation, and online safety are relatively new. Or at least, if we can’t call it “new” anymore, the lines are always changing and new ways to accomplish their hurtful goals pop up constantly in the form of new apps, app capabilities, etc. For example, there are shutter releases that people can set up via bluetooth to take a picture from another room. Some hackers can even access your personal desktop webcam remotely. People can also set up fake accounts or steal your image and put it on an inappropriate website or product. There are few ways to reverse the damage.
When I think about that, it really makes me proud of girls today who are able to make it through such a complex experience. Of course, mine was too, but this is a new layer that really can cause such anti-social behavior, even when not trying to. (Who here isn’t guilty of scrolling when they should have been listening…?)
The Reach Your Peak Expo helped put modern issues affecting teen girls out in the forefront with speakers, workshops and entertainment.
I’m grateful that teenage girls are getting a voice through this event. In our not all that distant past, many families would disregard their children, hold them to unreachable standards, and expect that they obey every request. In some families, that still happens today. More than ever though, it seems that parents want to understand their children and be involved in their lives.
With understanding comes a reduction in conflict and that’s something I can get behind! This event was inspiring, encouraging, and empowering. Want to learn more? Click here to stay in the loop.