The Rock and Water Focus on Girls and Women training has been developed in the wake of the highly successful, internationally renowned Rock and Water program for boys, founded in 1994.

Originally designed to help boys’ social – emotional development, teachers implementing the program in their classroom found the lessons were equally beneficial to the girls participating. It was also evident that girls and boys differ in their social – emotional development and that the challenges of relationships, family, school, peer pressure, identity and roles in society were also different.

The Rock and Water Focus on Girls and Women training has been designed on the 3 strong foundations of Self Confidence, Self Control and Self Awareness taken from the 3 Day Rock and Water program. When developing the Girls and Women’s program, a 4th foundation was added – Stepping into Action. While most boys grow up with a strong sense of their physical presence, many girls for reasons – social, physiological and psychological, do not and this lack of physical awareness and confidence in their connection to their body can cause them to become “stuck” in situations. This can manifest itself in indecision, over thinking, staying in toxic relationships and depression.

While the 3 day Rock and Water training program teaches skills (especially for males) to develop a greater sense of empathy for others, the focus for girls and women is more about how not to lose their sense of self in another, to be able to connect and communicate deeply with others while being personally powerful enough to make their own choices in life.

The flip side to women losing their identity in their role as carer (for partners, children, parents) is that those women who may have experienced disempowerment through abusive relationships, violence, discrimination or just for lack of good female role models may become disconnected from their emotions and empathic sensibilities and act out violently or destructively. More commonly amongst women, however, is that this disempowerment or violence is turned inward and can lead to depression, self harm, eating disorders and anxiety.

The Rock and Water Focus on Girls and Women uses physical – psycho – social exercises designed to enlighten them to the possibility of their physical strength, that can then deeply connect them to their inner strength both emotionally and mentally. The course empowers those in need of learning how to stand on their own two feet and to be the captain of their own life’s path. For others who may have become callous in order to “survive”, it reconnects them to their empathic being, to their emotions, their own vulnerability and allows them to trust others because they are “strong” enough to do so.

The course is essential to all those who work with women and girls. It is run over two days and is supported with manuals, dvd’s and other resource materials. The course is divided into 10 lessons but can be condensed or expanded to fit the time constraints of school terms for example. This program is already being implemented in schools, in community groups and welfare agencies around the world and is being received with enthusiasm by the facilitators we are training.