Girls Circle Facilitator Training is the most practical and useful training I have attended. The trainers were extremely knowledgeable in both facilitation and working with adolescent girls. After attending the training I was able to implement the Circle program and have received enthusiastic feedback from the girls who have participated in the group. The training provided concrete tools for facilitating Circles as well as thoughtful ideas and discussion for working with girls. I would recommend this training to anyone who works with girls in a group setting.

We have been facilitating two girls groups for several weeks now and just finished our first appreciation groups. I wanted to let you know what a remarkable experience it has been. I have seen such amazing growth in my group members, so have other school staff and the word of girls circle is now spreading through Chicago Public Schools! I have been trained in many therapeutic modalities and done many groups and I wanted to let you know this program has really stood out. There have been several moments during this process, after different group sessions, where me and Dawn are left with a feeling that we have bared witness to something so special, almost spiritual occurring. I hope to be able to continue this work next year, right now I am working under a one year grant but I am working to keep it in the school.

Creating a Girls Circle in Cancun, Mexico has been an experience which has given a new dimension to my life. In a country where women are expected to be strong while remaining within very firm, long-established roles, it has been a joy to work with a new generation of girls, who are courageous enough to take an honest look at what being a girl these days means and who are ready to speak their minds and be heard.

I was very fortunate to attend the Girls Circle Initial Training. The facilitators provided us with lots of useful information, and I got a first-hand experience of how a girl might feel by taking part of a Girls Circle group. I learned a lot and met people who, like me, share the goal of helping girls be better prepared for life. The program curricula are well organized, and all the areas of a person’s development are covered.

The program in itself has made a tremendous difference in the relationships our girls are having. Our first couple of weeks into the program, our girls were constantly at each other's throats. Whenever one girl would voice her opinion, other girls would pipe in with rude and opposing remarks. They were always trying to put out themselves as the best with the only opinion and downgraded the others. After a few weeks with much work on respect for one another, they started really listening to the other girls talk. It finally started to dawn on them that they don't have to necessarily like the other girls but respect them. They realized their stories were similar and they all do have things in common.