Girls EmPOWERed Summer Camps in Laguna Beach

Living Your Gifts, a Laguna Beach Company that applies ancient indigenous wisdom to modern times, through its workshops, ongoing groups, and coaching, announces its 2014 Girls Third Step™ Empowerment Summer 

Camps, that will be offered:
Week of July 14 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (9-12) 
Week of July 21 Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (13-15)

“When culture and communities fail, our Workshops focus on specific demographics who are navigating transitions in a culture that does not support healthy, mentored, guided initiation. This Third Step™ Workshop and Summer Camp is designed to put support around girls who are navigating a damaging culture without healthy, mentored, guided support,” said Co-Founders, Susan Hough, and Jen Hutchinson. 

“We connect the indigenous wisdom- in this case from the Dagara people of West Africa- who believe that ‘every child brings a necessary gift into the world, for the sustainability of the Village,’ with the modern movement that is recognizing girls gifts ‘as the most powerful force for change on the planet.’ The Workshop guides girls to find their value within, and to realize how important their gifts are in the 
world now, which is something different than they are being shown and taught in the media.”

The Co-Founders relate a concept from the author Karla McLaren who says that “ancient and indigenous cultures used initiation as a ‘container’ to overseen an individual’s growth,” and that it usually has a three step sequence: separation from the known world, enduring an ordeal, and being welcomed back as an initiated adult. “She describes it perfectly when she says, ‘in our society, initiation occurs whether we want it to or not, and when we don't understand this, we create unrelieved suffering.

“We see this happening to girls as they navigate what we call ‘The Self Esteem Epidemic’ in the US. Women and girls ‘get initiated’ into a culture of manufactures, unrealistic, and damaging images by the Media. Girls suffer from the ordeal of the Self Esteem Epidemic,” studies how that even though girls talk, read, and count earlier than boys, are ready for formal schooling at earlier ages, and earn higher grades in elementary school- by Junior High, they suffer a drop in self-confidence that leaves them twice as likely to be depressed. “And then there is no third ‘healthy welcoming back’ step. At LIVING YOUR GIFTS, we create a ‘welcoming-back community’ based on the empowering truth that girls are 'the most powerful force for change on the planet.' In this way, our THIRD STEP™ Workshop, welcomes girls into a community that recognizes their ‘gifts’ “We hope this allows girls to transform the beliefs that their value and identity comes from more than their appearance, with the information, statistics and stories we provide, of how girls are playing a critical and powerful part in the world. We connect them to their inner selves, and allow them to begin to experience and live as who they really are, instead of who they are told and shown they are supposed to be.”

About Living Your Gifts:
Living Your Gifts, is a Laguna Beach based social enterprise that seeks to connect all individuals to their gifts as a means to transform limiting beliefs, and dysfunctional patterns. We use indigenous modalities that go beyond self-help, into the realm of lasting and profound healing. The Co-Founders Susan and Jen have over 30 years of experience mentoring and guiding children and teens in various therapeutic, and 
program related settings. 

Contact:

For more information on groups, workshops and coaching for men, women, teens, families and individuals, visit: www.livingyourgifts.com, or contact Susan Hough @ susan@livingyourgifts.com or 703.505.5152

 $375/$75 for one week

Register:  http://www.eventbrite.com/e/living-your-gifts-girls-empowered-summer-camps-july-2014-tickets-1081059...