About Rites for Girls
Our mission is to change the world – one girl at a time.
Rites for Girls mentors girls right through their adolescence and we train women to facilitate girls’ groups. In Girls Journeying Together groups preteen girls prepare for puberty and learn how to take charge of their emotional, social, and mental well-being.
This guidance continues through their teenage years. Our Facilitators also support their mothers as the girls journey through this pivotal phase. Girls’ Net provides guidance and camaraderie through times of challenge to small groups of same-age girls (aged 8-18) in weekly online sessions. Our Mentors offer tools for coping well and the girls access their inner resources while also realising that they’re not alone.
Rites for Girls Board
Kim McCabe
Kim McCabe is the founder and director of Rites for Girls, author of ‘From Daughter to Woman’, and mother of three. As the originator and facilitator of Girls Journeying Together and Girls’ Net groups her vision is that every girl grows up expecting guidance as she matures and knowing of a girls’ group she can join.
“I studied child psychology at Cambridge University, was a counsellor to young people and taught sex education in schools and youth groups. I also trained as an assertiveness trainer, a 5 Rhythms shamanic dance teacher, and a business management consultant.
In my early twenties, I worked as a counsellor to distressed teenagers. Girls were harming themselves physically and mentally and I promised myself that I’d find a way to equip girls so they wouldn’t end up endangering their well-being. After thirty-five years of working with young people, I have found a way to give girls the robust support they need to see them through their teens.
I live in the Ashdown Forest, near Forest Row in Sussex, England. As a home-educating mother of one girl, two boys, two cats, and a number of aloe vera plants; wife to a Kiwi, daughter to itinerant parents, friend to a cherished few, and lover of time alone too, I sometimes shout at my children, accidentally step on the cat’s tail, or forget to water the plants, but I love them all.”
Helena Løvendal
Helena Løvendal was born in Denmark in 1958. She has worked in private practice in London, UK, since 1988, is co-founder and Director of The Centre For Gender Psychology & Creative Couple Work, and originator of ‘Ways of Woman’ inner leadership programs which she has led since 1993. Helena offers psychotherapy, coaching, and workshops for individuals and couples, as well as specialist training and supervision for professionals in the field of relationship and sex and gender relations in the UK, Scandinavia, Russia, and mainland Europe. One of the first qualified Sexual Grounding Therapists®, she is a SGT Senior Trainer and has been Head of Education SGT International since May 2013. Her first book ‘Sex, Love and the Dangers of Intimacy – a Guide to Passionate Relationships when the “Honeymoon” is over’, published by HarperCollins in 2002, was re-published in 2010 by Lone Arrow Press.
www.helena-lovendal.com
Karen Abi-Karam (Board Chair)
As well as running both Girls Journeying Together and Girls’ Net groups, Karen is working towards a PhD with her research exploring how we can better support girls and women from menarche to menopause.
In addition to her passion for understanding the needs of those approaching major milestones, Karen brings many years of corporate communications experience and professional connections to Rites for Girls. All of which enable her to support the Board, the Management Team and her fellow Facilitators and Mentors, to take our work to the wider world.
“For more than 20 years, I have combined my corporate career with a holistic practice as a therapist, doula and independent celebrant and have served on the management teams of several other not-for-profit and membership organisations. I am delighted that my eclectic career and academic pursuits can be put to good use in service of the next generation of young women.”
Karen is an active and hands-on auntie – nine times over; she lives in Forest Row, East Sussex with her husband and most recently adopted cats, Bella and Boris.
Alison Bain
Alison has spent 35 years navigating the corporate and co-operative worlds. Whilst her specialist function is marketing, she also has broad business experience of working in the UK and the US. Throughout her career, Alison has always sought out and been involved in projects that give back and benefit others, including launching the American Express Red Card to help prevent people from dying from aids in Africa, launching Project Rugby to help build young people’s confidence through the game of Rugby and launching the Doing Good Together fund to support local good causes in the community.
She regularly consults for Save the Children and has been a member of their Corporate Advisory Group for the last 7 years.
Alison was brought up in Europe and the Middle East as her father was in the army. She moved house every 2 years and attended more than 10 schools before arriving in the UK to study Applied Biology at Kings College, London.
Outside of work, Alison is a mum, sister, wife, and cat lady. She loves doing family stuff, meeting new people, discovering art, travelling, gaming and beekeeping but not all at the same time.
Karen Dempster
With over 25 years’ experience in delivering strategic communication and change programs across UK, European, and global organizations, Karen is a highly accomplished communicator. Her passion lies in empowering teams and individuals to succeed, starting with self-awareness as the foundation for building resilient and supportive relationships. This commitment to her profession was recognized in 2017 with a Fellowship of the Institute of Internal Communication. Karen’s background includes Public Relations and Marketing, certification as a DISC personality practitioner, and professional photography.
As a mother, she brings personal insight into the value of strong, supportive communication in guiding young people through life’s complexities.
Karen co-founded Fit2Communicate in 2015 to empower schools through transformative communication, believing that strong relationships shape positive experiences for students and communities.
Karen’s work focuses on creating a world where young people have the support and resources they need to navigate their formative years confidently. By advocating for open, effective communication within schools and families, she champions an environment where young people can develop their emotional, social, and mental well-being.
Our Management Team
Sara Newton
Sara is our Community Outreach Manager. Sara discovered Rites for Girls in 2017 when she was looking for something more to support her journey as a woman. She joined our first training programme and has been actively involved with Rites for Girls ever since becoming an Accredited Girls Journeying Together Facilitator and part of our management team. Sara helped to adapt our GJT programme to keep running in-person through the pandemic and is piloting our GJT schools programme.
After 30 years as a successful freelance Project Manager, working with children, young people and communities in many arts organisations, and later as a children’s Deaf language teaching assistant, Sara brings her passion and enthusiasm for connecting people, working as part of a team and making a difference in people’s lives.
Sara lives in Sussex with her husband and daughter.
Alex Francis-Sears
Angeline Braidwood
Angeline is our Marketing Manager. Angeline discovered Rites for Girls through an article in The Times introducing her to Kim’s book, ‘From Daughter to Woman’. She was ‘blown away’ by the warm and common-sense approach to parenting teenage girls and in her capacity as a freelance writer reached out to interview Kim for a magazine article. Now she is working at Rites for Girls, finding it the perfect way to support her passion for inspiring others and future generations.
Previously Angeline ran her own business making beautiful bespoke baby carriers which she sold during the pandemic to pursue a lifelong dream to become a writer. As well as writing for magazines she is working on a novel, raising two creative, animal loving daughters and managing an ever-expanding menagerie on their family farm.
Becky Orpin
Becky, our Girls’ Net Administrator since 2020, “really loves being part of the inspirational and wonderful team at Rites for Girls.”
Becky had over 10 years’ experience as a Personal and Executive Assistant to CEO’s, COO’s and MD’s within the Marketing and Advertising Industry before founding her own business in 2017 to provide a professional Virtual Assistant service to businesses.
Becky enjoys homelife in Sussex as mum to one daughter, one son and one dog – and wife to her forever-patient husband.
Life is a constant blur of dance lessons, dog walks, dirty dishes and football matches – but one that she wouldn’t change for the world!
Our Trainers
Kim McCabe & Helena Løvendal
Kim and Helena co-created the Rites for Girls training for Girls Journeying Together Facilitators and Girls’ Net Mentors. Kim takes trainees through each girls’ group session as their preteen self to give a lived experience of the programme, and then trains women in how to deliver the sessions themselves. Helena provides the women’s work, enabling each trainee to become more fully herself, able to be in girls’ lives like the woman she would have loved to have in her life at their age.
Charlotte Sarre
Charlotte’s passion for reconnecting and empowering women and girls is what drew her to this work. She is an active Girls Journeying Together facilitator and Girls’ Net Mentor and together with Jo, she co-facilitates the Girls Journeying Together Facilitator training, guiding and preparing trainees to deliver the girls group sessions. She also runs women’s circles in South East London, where she lives with her family.
Jo Jackaman
“One is not born, but rather becomes a woman” — Simone de Beauvoir.
So many factors shape our self-perception and how others perceive us as women. That’s why I’m drawn to this work, where working with women to become facilitators means exploring and honouring their unique paths to womanhood. It is a collaboration that I feel excited to be part of, helping plant the seeds that will empower young girls to embrace their journeys and thrive as young women and beyond.
Rites for Girls Ambassador
Golda Rosheuvel
British acting royalty, Golda Rosheuvel is our first Rites for Girls Ambassador. Commenting on her new role, Golda says: “I have become a Rites for Girls Ambassador because I know this is something I would have benefited from as I was approaching my teens. I am inspired by the passion and commitment of the women at Rites for Girls to help girls grow into more confident, empowered, emotionally resourced women and I am delighted to be on board.”
The appointment was cemented after Golda spent the day hearing from girls who have attended groups facilitated by the organisation. “On meeting some of the girls who have been through Rites for Girls programmes, I have heard first-hand how the organisation creates a space for them to share their experiences and learn from one another with openness, honesty and respect – guided by a trained Facilitator or Mentor. I’m honoured to become the first Rites for Girls Ambassador and am looking forward to being part of something that brings a brighter future for the next generation of girls as they navigate the challenges of adolescence and beyond.”
Why do we need Rites for Girls?
Girls are suffering. Surveys show that our children have some of highest rates of anxiety and unhappiness ever, with a 25% rise in mental health problems over the time of the pandemic. Preteen and teen girls are particularly vulnerable. One-quarter of 14-year-old girls in the UK suffer depression1 and one-quarter of 16-24 year old girls have self-harmed2, and this is repeated across the western world. Parents work long hours, extended families live far and wide, teachers are pushed to meet curriculum demands — so girls are relying more on their immature peers for support.
Girls need help with how to manage stress, bullying, divorce, siblings, exams and social media. Women can give them this support, and other girls can give them a feeling of camaraderie. Belonging to a girls’ group can be enormously supportive to mothers and daughters alike, giving each girl a community to grow in, with inspiring adults who care about her and take time to guide her.
Rites for Girls helps girls from the age of eight right the way through to their early twenties. Girls tell us that Girls Journeying Together and Girls’ Net gives them a safe place to be themselves, to feel accepted, to learn, to find inner strength and new friends, have fun, and realise that they’re not alone. 
Supporting mothers of daughters
No-one should have to parent alone. Rites for Girls offers talks, guidance, and coaching for mothers. Mothers with daughters in Girls Journeying Together groups participate in sharing groups as an integral part of supporting the mothers and their daughters.
Rites of Passage
Rites for Girls Facilitator Training
Rites for Girls Association
Qualified Facilitators belong to the Rites for Girls Association which oversees their supervision, continued professional development, and supports their work.
Rites for Girls is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. You can read our policy for safe and ethical provision and our safeguarding policy.
Accredited Facilitators and Mentors
To find out who’s qualified to facilitate Girls Journeying Together groups near you, check the map and read the profile of each accredited practitioner. You can find our list of Girls’ Net Mentors when signing your daughter up to Girls’ Net.
If not listed on this site, then someone is not qualified or sanctioned by us to run Girls Journeying Together or Girls’ Net.
‘From Daughter to Woman, parenting girls safely through their teens’
Kim’s NEW book is published by
Robinson Publishing in 2018.
Browse our range of Mother-Daughter Date Diaries (including a unisex version) as introduced in chapter one of Kim McCabe’s book.
1. McManus, S., Hassiotis, A., Jenkins, R., Dennis, M., Aznar, C., & Appleby, L. (2016). Chapter 12: Suicidal thoughts, suicide
attempts, and self-harm. In S. McManus, P. Bebbington, R. Jenkins, & T. Brugha (Eds.), Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital.
2. Patalay P & Fitzsimons E. Mental ill-health among children of the new century: trends across childhood with a focus on age 14. September 2017. Centre for Longitudinal Studies: London.