Every Wednesday evening a group of young females meet in Basildon to spend time together and build friendships.
The ‘Being Me’ project, run by Bar n Bus, brings together 16 females of secondary school age for two hours to chat, be creative, talk to trusted adults, laugh and have fun – all in a safe and trusted environment.
With few places for girls to come together and meet, the ‘Being Me’ project was set up with the aim to develop potential in young women and allow them to support each other emotionally and physically.
Regular sessions have meant the girls have formed friendships and are supportive and encouraging of each other which means the group can discuss all kinds of issues and subjects without fear or worry.
The Wednesday evenings are quite varied, some weeks a guest speaker may talk to the girls – about their life journey, career or experiences. The girls try self defence classes, Yoga, art and DIY projects. The group also suggest outings to do together – giving them opportunities to visit places they may not normally visit.
When we visited, the girls were doing creative paintings on things they found positive in their lives or things that, to them, represented positivity – butterflies, stars, scenery.
The environment was really relaxed with the girls chatting and laughing. They then talked about positive and negative relationships and how to tell the difference – all this against a backdrop of games and music.
