A gender gap in some aspects of well-being has opened up in recent years, with girls becoming increasingly unhappy with their lives overall and with their appearance. As girls get older, they are more likely than boys to experience emotional problems such as anxiety and depression. Emotional problems are associated with happiness with appearance and life as a whole, and these links are stronger for girls than boys.
The Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Report 2016
Girls benefit from the positive and supportive friendships and many young people cite friends’ and ‘friendship’ as a reoccurring key issue in their well-being.
However, many relationships encounter disputes arising from competitiveness, rivalry and other issues. Unresolved conflicts can lead to bullying and aggressive behaviour, which is of course detrimental to a girl’s mental and social wellbeing.
GFS Skegness delivered sessions to support Year Six girls at The Richmond School with an identified need. The sessions were designed to be fun and interactive to encourage discussion and debate.
Qualified GFS Development Workers facilitated group work and individual support to achieve the desired outcome; for girls to understand the importance of friendship and to use suggested techniques to resolve conflict.
The results from our sessions were overwhelmingly positive from the girls taking part and it is hoped that more of these sessions can regularly take place at schools in the future. We’ve presented our feedback in the infographic below.
