By Renee Wood
Yarra Ranges women have gathered to rejuvenate their wellbeing and reconnect with nature through a Voices of Women special event
The Reset and Restore Workshop was held at Coldstream Community Centre on Saturday 13 August, inviting locals to take some time and space for themselves by participating in nature connection and self care activities.
The workshop has been held previously in Montrose, with facilitator Rachel Millsom invited back to conduct the Coldstream workshop.
Voices of Women President Josette O’Donnell said it’s a great opportunity where women can step away from their daily lives and focus on themselves.
“Rachel has this really gentle way of bringing you into connection with yourself and appreciation of the women around you and really inviting whatever needs to come up but also being very respectful,” Ms O’Donnell said.
Ms Millsom, who’s an Australian Association for Bush Adventure Therapy counsellor, leads the nature based reflection process where you’re consciously walking and drawn into the environment, reconnecting with your thoughts and surroundings.
“It’s just very gentle processes. We did a quiet meditation as well that was just around, again, being grounded coming into your body to breath awareness of your breath.
“So it’s not rocket science…We just need time and space to be with ourselves.”
This specific workshop came from the Voices of Women Storytelling for Change consultation which saw online conversations started among Yarra Ranges women, discussing how the pandemic had affected them.
The disconnect from one’s self, family and others was a strong issue that arose during the meetings, which further informed the production of a report that’s been provided to community organisations.
Voices of Women (VoW) holds another key program, Taking it Step by Step which is a six month mentoring support program that connects pairs of women to learn off one another.
It’s a unique concept that’s not solely based around a professional focus, but something that Ms O’Donnell said can be any specific goal that the mentee comes up with.
Some examples include career, parenting, building confidence and overcoming family violence.
“We really believed in the power of mentoring and we have run the mentoring program for the third time this year and have had great support again from Eastern Health, Yarra Ranges Council, Cire community service and EDVOS.”
Also a part of VoW is their strategic plan is to support the rights of women, lobby government on behalf of women, focus on solutions for issues faced by women.
The volunteer based committee meets regularly to discuss and build strategies on how to ensure women’s voices are heard in the Yarra Ranges and beyond.
“We really love supporting each other and working with each other, and if women are new to committees or would like to learn more about what’s involved that could be another opportunity for them to see what’s involved and possibly take on a portfolio but do so with support.”
If you’re interested in joining the committee or future events, visit voicesofwomen.org.au or contact President Josette O’Donnell on contactus@voicesofwomen.org.au
