World Mental Health Day 2019: Saving girls from self harm

1 in 5 of our 14-year-old girls self harm.  We can change this.

Kim McCabe was recently interviewed for Ngunan Adamu’s ‘Upfront’ Show on BBC Radio Merseyside, and is currently on her national book tour which is selling out at every venue.  She visited Hilbre High School in Wirral last week to talk to parents and staff about some of the content in her book, ‘From Daughter to Woman, parenting girls safely through their teens’.  Here is a short review of the event:

Over 120 people came to Hilbre High School last week to hear best-selling author and founder of Rites for Girls, Kim McCabe, talk to parents about raising girls safely through their teens.  In the run up to World Mental Health Day on 10th October, and against a landscape of rising levels of mental distress amongst teenagers with nearly a quarter of 14-year-old girls in the UK self-harming (NHS, 2018), this event couldn’t have been more relevant, or timely.  As one parent who attended the talk said:

‘Went to a talk tonight about parenting daughters through their teenage years.  It was amazing. Kim McCabe you were inspiring! I loved your real life examples and the way in which you shared your experience as both a mother and a mentor.  I can’t recommend this talk enough. It took me back to my childhood and I can see where a lot of my traits were born. I feel so much more positive about my daughters reaching their teenage years, and so much more equipped to deal with the moments of stress which come with being a mother of girls.  Seriously, check out her book ‘From Daughter to Woman.’

Kim spoke passionately about how using a small number of simple techniques can help to make a girl’s journey towards adulthood safer, kinder and better supported.  Parents were able to leave the event equipped with ideas they could put into practice immediately.

She also spoke about the launch of a local Girls Journeying Together group for small groups of pre-teen girls, meeting monthly for a year to guide them safely into their teens.  There was much interest in this at the talk and next year’s free taster session for mothers and daughters is already almost full.

To find out more, visit www.ritesforgirls.com, and tune in to BBC Radio Merseyside on Sunday 13th October at 8pm to hear Kim talk to Ngunan Adamu on her Upfront show.