AMHERST – It’s usually around wintertime when some people begin to feel a bit down. With Christmas over, sometimes you can feel like there’s not much to look forward too. A new program at Maggie’s Place is designed to help women focus on the positives in their lives and pick themselves.
“It’s directed at anyone who feels the need to lift themselves up a little bit, especially this time of year,” said Donna Farrell, the prenatal program co-ordinator who helped organize the program. “Women usually go around taking care of everyone else, so (this program) gives them a little time for themselves, and do some fun self-esteem building activities.”
Women who attend the program are going to be in for a real treat. Farrell said the participants are going to go on a shopping trip to Frenchy’s and she’s even looking at taking the girls out to have their nails done.
“That’ll be the spa day but we’ll have some working days too where we’ll be working on some journaling,” said Farrell. “We’re going to be talking about things like being assertive so we’re going to do some skill building around being assertive.”
Farrell said she also plans to have different sessions revolving around self-care, self-esteem, self-reliance, stress management and communication. She said she’s also looking to have CANSA get involved to help hold some workshops on resume and portfolio building.
To reinforce the idea of positive thinking, Farrell said one of their weekly activities will be to write down something positive about the other participants.
“Each week, we’re going to draw names and they have to write something positive,” she said. “We have buckets and we’re going to put positive notes in someone else’s bucket every week, because someone telling you you have a nice smile can make you feel good. At the end, you get to take the bucket home and you’ll have 10 weeks of people saying nice stuff about you that you can keep and remind yourself about.”
The program’s first meeting will be Jan. 23 from 9:30 a.m. until 11:30. Anyone interested in registering, or looking for more information on the program, can call Maggie’s Place at 667-7250.
jturner@amherstdaily.com
