Raising girls comes with its own set of challenges. Organizations like The Power of Girls and Girls of Excellence Incorporated are serving parents of Atlanta to conquer those challenges. The two groups are collaborating to host a Mind Body and Spirit Wellness Day. This event assembles experts in fitness, mindfulness, nutrition, and other areas of health to teach the children and parents methods to become their best selves.
“This will be an amazing event for our girls and their families. We are putting the tools and resources out in the community to support everyone. They’ll walk away with something that can help them in the next step in their journey.” said Toya Russell-Phillips, MBA, Founder of Girls of Excellence.
On Saturday, February 24th, the Mind, Body, and Spirit Wellness Day was held at Atlanta Metropolitan State College. The event was open to the public and marked the third year of its occurrence. Girls of Excellence and Power of Girls organized the event to provide parents and girls with tools and information on better self-care. The event covered various aspects of personal hygiene, healthy cooking, and physical activities. Attendees were provided with resources and contact information to help them build better habits for a better life. The primary goal of Wellness Day was to equip young girls and parents with the necessary skills and knowledge to take care of themselves.
“I am personally invested in this because of the things that I went through when I was younger, but we didn’t talk about it. Now we have a venue to talk about these different things,” said Tameka Kee, Founder of The Power of Girls.
“One of the things that we will cover at the event is Period health. It feels so taboo, but we no longer talk about those things. We did not have the conversation back when I was in school,” said Key.
Girls of Excellence Inc. and the Power of Girls are two youth mentorship programs for girls ages 8-18. Both expose girls to topics, experiences, and education that can make them exceptional women in the future. The two organizations are applying their way of cultivating to the parents in The parent cafe, The newest addition to the Wellness Day. The parent cafe aims to teach parents how to advocate for their children and start the process of healing from their trauma.
“When it comes to advocacy, the parents don’t know what’s available for their child to be successful on their journey. The resources within the school that sometimes the counselors only select the certain students they feel will succeed,” said Russell-Phillips.
The founder of Girls of Excellence Inc. explains how parents sometimes have struggles that have not healed. From her experience, she encountered parents with struggles who didn’t have the support to resolve them. At the parent cafe, the team will bring experts who introduce ideas and information to make parents think and reflect. Suppose the parent is ready to take the next step to Therapy or any resource at the Wellness Day. In that case, Russel-Phillips and Kee are prepared to make the connection.
“What happens a lot with our parents is they’ll say “My child needs to see a therapist because XYZ happened.” You don’t have to wait until that time to introduce Therapy. You can talk to someone who has that background way before something happens,” said Kee.
“Moms and dads have their struggles. Sometimes they think, “Oh, my kid doesn’t need to know this” or “My children don’t don’t need to know that.” But the children know, or they are feeling it. The hidden issues are coming out in ways that mom and dad don’t realize,” said Russel-Phillips.
The teams behind Girls of Excellence and The Power of Girls are gathering the right components for an enriching experience at the Mind Body and Spirit Wellness Day. With all they have scheduled, every daughter and parent will gain a new device from the event to navigate life.