Brindabella Women's Group

Women's Gathering 2009

 

The 2009 Women's Gathering was held on Sunday June 14 with the intention of providing some time out for mums as well as information on topics chosen to promote self care and increase wellbeing. For those in paid employment in many careers, attending conferences with other people doing the same or similar work with you and sharing information is a highlight. However, despite the recognised fact that the job of being a mother is a very important one, there are no "Conferences for Mothers" thus the idea of a Women's Gathering was born. Goals for the attendees included networking, socialising, support, relaxation, self care and learning. Goals for BWG included publicity, reaching out to other mothers and meeting potential members.

The Women's Gathering was a wonderful success. We had 48 women take part in the affordable day which went from 9.30am to 4.30pm. 35 of the women attending were not BWG members and 21 of these were from our target group (children under 5 and living in southern Canberra). In addition 17 attendees had never heard of BWG before hearing about the Gathering. These statistics show what a great opportunity the Gathering was for BWG to meet new potential members and to help mums that we wouldn't have had a chance to otherwise. As part of our planning, we designed and implemented an evaluation form for participants to complete. This has helped us to measure in a qualitative manner the impact the Gathering has made on those who attended as well as to work out what we might do differently or expand on if we were able to host another such event in the future.

A basic summary of the evaluation is noted below:

30 completed evaluations were received (note: committee members and those organising the day did not complete evaluations as we thought it more important to get the feedback from people who were new to the group).

100% stated that they "felt welcomed and included in the gathering"
100% stated that the "topics were of relevance to me"
73% stated that they could see themselves joining or attending sessions at the
Brindabella Women's group as a result of meeting members and participating in the Women's Gathering.

It should be noted that all of the respondents who indicated they would probably not be attending resided on the northside of Canberra. There were also many positive comments that people made on their evaluation forms, some of which are listed below. "Of all the parenting and education classes for us new mums, this has been the best for renewing my energy and soul." "Absolutely awesome and enjoyable day! I felt really blessed by all the effort that was put in for us. I really needed a day like this just to get away. I feel very refreshed and inspired by the excellent and relevant speakers - THANK YOU!" "It was a fantastic informative day and a credit to the organizers. I have left here feeling much better about myself!" "Thanks for a wonderful day - it has made me feel positive for the future." It is also worth noting that on the Tuesday session (16June) following the Gathering six women attended who had not previously done so with four of them becoming financial members of the group. Of these women, five had attended the Gathering and another had come along as a friend had attended the Gathering and told her how great it was.

Here are the contact details and any notes from the presenters on the day.

Justin Purtle - commonground solutions

m 0418 233 314
p 02 6241 4431
e justin@commongroundsolutions.com.au
w www.commongroundsolutions.com.au

or you can find Justin in the yellow pages under counselling, he has also mentioned that he is a medicare provider so if someone comes with a doctors referral they get about a $69 rebate per session.

Dr Jeannie Higgins - Higgins Psychological Services Pty Limited
e jeannie@higginspsych.com.au
w www.higginspsych.com.au
All Jeannie's material and many more resources can be found on her website.

Carol and Julie - Transform your life
e transformyourlife@gmail.com
p Carol Guy Tel 0416106260, Julie Cooke Tel 0410576295
See attached for powerpoint presentation and handouts

Kaye Lister - Tuggeranong Arts Centre
p 6293 1443
w www.tca.asn.au/classes.htm

Lisa Rawson - Body Shop at Home Consultant
p 0417 610 085