Sophy Griffiths

Sophy Griffiths

Girls Journeying Together Facilitator

Town: Frome, UK
Girls Journeying Together groups: Frome, Somerset

Rites for girls offers a unique journey for preteens — Girls Journeying Together groups meet monthly, offering open, nurturing warmth, where girls can be themselves just as they are, growing up at their own pace. We encourage questions, sharing and open, honest communication, where they can be curious, share their fears, desires and dreams. It is such a privilege to be a guide and mentor for girls through this time of change.

In this fast paced society with high pressures on our children this work is invaluable. The girls deepen their sense of belonging, not just to the girls group but also to the wider community of women around them. I wish I had had this opportunity when I was their age.

As the mother of a pre-teen girl myself, I understand some of the challenges in staying connected to our daughters during this transitional time. When Kim gave her talk “Parenting girls safely through their teens” in my local area, I felt compelled to get involved.

My innate playfulness and light touch found a home in performance and circus for many years. These days I teach Pilates, running classes and retreats. I now run Girls Journeying together groups to help make girls lives a bit kinder, safer and more supported.

Felicia Perks

Felicia Perks picture

Felicia Perks

Girls Journeying Together Facilitator

Town: Eastbourne, England
Girls Journeying Together groups: Eastbourne, Sussex

I am looking forward to working alongside your daughter in a group to enable her to have a positive experience with puberty, transitions and friendships. I will provide a friendly, safe, inclusive space, giving the girls reassurance in this transition as well as the opportunity to ask questions. In Girls Journeying Together I offer a range of fun activities which help the girls to truly find their own unique understanding of themselves, as well as the world around them, whilst being able to be who they are, exactly as they are.

I have worked with families and children for over 30 years which has given me the pleasure of watching each person flourish and blossom and taught me a lot about myself too.

I am in my middle years with two grown children and one granddaughter who brings me immense pleasure. I enjoy being outdoors, reading, meditation and laughter yoga, as well as volunteering in my local community for several charities.

If your daughter would like to journey with me, sign up for my free taster session and please don’t hesitate to contact me if you wish to ask any further questions.

Sophie Beaupain

Sophie Beaupain

Accredited Girls Journeying Together Facilitator

Town: London, UK
Girls Journeying Together groups: Wimbledon, London

I offer the girls in my Girls Journeying Together groups a nurturing, fun, and safe space where everyone is welcomed for being there exactly as they are.  My promise is that each girl will be valued for her own individuality and feelings as she explores the year long journey.  The group forms a circle of support around the girls within which they connect with each other, explore topics about growing up in today’s world and give and receive support from each other.  Each month is different and unique.  

Based in Wimbledon, London, I joined Rites for Girls in 2019 to support girls during their adolescence as it is such a transformational time in their lives – with highs and lows, new experiences and challenges.  I joined after hearing a talk by the psychologist Steve Biddulph who spoke about the need for this work and it resonated with me.  It is a privilege to bring Girls Journeying Together to the local community and be of service to girls and their families.  

In terms of my background, I’m a mother of two and auntie to four special young people.  When I’m not facilitating groups or working, I’m usually outside somewhere with my family, walking with my dog or doing sports.

For any young girls reading this with their mother or friend/relative and wondering whether to join a group, please come along to a free taster session to find out more about it. It’s hard to get a full flavour of what this is all about until you’ve experienced a taster session. Then you can decide if you would like to join a group with no pressure to join if you don’t want to.  You can think of me like a mentor or guide for the journey but actually I want the group to be your group so you would have input as to what we cover along with plenty of opportunity to ask questions if you want. 

I hope to meet you sometime soon.

Anya Kingsley

Anya Kingsley

Accredited Girls Journeying Together Facilitator

Town: Norwich, UK
Girls Journeying Together groups: Norwich

Girls need a strong community of women around them. I offer a safe and supportive space within our home to enable the girls to explore the changes that the transition to womanhood brings and to enable them to harness their own personal power with the support of their own sisterhood. The groups will be full of fun, exploration, warmth and care.

Having a mentor to guide me would have made such a difference to so many aspects of my life and my own difficult experience of the journey into womanhood has given me the passion to make it a positive and enriching experience for girls. Girls Group is the perfect place for the girls to explore and practice self belief, self care, kindness, self awareness and self acceptance.

I deeply value the community of women that I have in my life. Being in circle with other women has allowed a space for me to explore and voice who I am and to also witness this with other women within a safe and nurturing space. To be seen and heard has enabled some of the most powerful transformation within me.

I live in Norwich with my husband and our daughter. Before becoming a mother I had a career as a producer working for a production company delivering live corporate events throughout the world. I gave this up as it was exhausting and was impacting too much on my life and then I decided to start a family…which is exhausting and impacts on my life…but in an infinitely better way!

On Facebook? Join our regional group

Sara Newton

Sara Newton

Accredited Girls Journeying Together Facilitator

Town: Horsham, UK
Girls Journeying Together groups: Horsham

My name is Sara and I live with my husband, teenage daughter and ragdoll cat near Horsham.  I am passionate about supporting young people and offer a fun, safe space where girls can find out more about growing up.

I’ve worked with young people throughout my career and love being in their company, but being a young person in today’s world can be especially challenging. Girls might find they are struggling with anything from school and friendships to the highs and lows of emotions and their changing bodies, and anything else in between. 

Girl’s Journeying Together groups meet once a month, for a year, and the group goes a long way to help girls navigate these exciting but turbulent times. Whilst families offer as much love and support as they can, sometimes having a fun group to come and meet other girls who feel the same way, can be liberating. It’s a good chance to talk about what it feels like, know that they are not on their own, and build good habits for the future. Your daughter will carry the journey she makes in Girls Journeying Together for the rest of her life and hopefully make some lovely friendships along the way.

Having a daughter of my own, has deepened my understanding of a girl’s place in this world. It’s important that girls have a voice, feel proud of who they are and start to discover their true identity. Running Girls Journeying Together groups makes me so excited about ‘walking alongside’ these girls of today.

Besides running Girls Journeying Together groups, I also run one day workshops for girls and 3 hour workshops for dads. I’m also a Rethink Period Ambassador and support schools to become period friendly through the Real Period Project. I am also the UK Coordinator for The Rite Journey, a rites of passage school curriculum for year 9 boys and girls.

I look forward to meeting you and your daughter for a free taster session soon.

Jessica Shaw

Jessica Shaw

Accredited Girls Journeying Together Facilitator

Town: Winchester, UK
Girls Journeying Together groups: Winchester

My name is Jess, I have three daughters and I am one of three daughters. I am passionate about the work of Rites for Girls. I believe every girl has the right to experience a safe and nurturing transition to womanhood. Through girls journeying together groups, girls and their mothers will go on a journey which will equip the girls with a firm foundation from which they will be able to navigate the years ahead of them. They will feel empowered to make decisions that are right for them, as they begin a journey towards discovery and acceptance of themselves. Ready to face a world of conflicting messages telling them who they should be.

Before I started a family I worked as a corporate fundraiser for a deaf charity and a young persons homeless charity. I then became a secondary school history teacher. I decided not to return to teaching after I had my first daughter. When the opportunity to become a girls journeying together facilitator came up, I jumped at the chance. I look forward to taking the journey with you.

On Facebook? Join our regional group

Rhiannon Silver-Gilmore

Rhiannon Silver

Accredited Girls Journeying Together Facilitator

Town: York
Girls Journeying Together groups: York

I am passionate about the work of Rites for Girls and believe that girls thrive as they make the transition from girl to woman if they have the guidance of a strong female community around them.

The groups I facilitate are the beginnings of helping girls emerge into adulthood as strong, sure, capable young women and I am honoured and very excited to offer this to girls aged 10-12 in Yorkshire.

Our journey is fun, creative and heartfelt. Together the girls practice being true to themselves, learn about puberty, share their hopes and fears and begin to understand what it is to be with themselves – liking what they see. Lifelong connections are formed and over the year mothers make their own parallel journey together, gaining support and creating a close circle of women that the girls feel around them during their journey. This is such a powerful experience to give our girls and I absolutely love being a part of it.

Before starting a family, I worked as an artist, gallery curator and artists’ professional development facilitator. I specialised in working with emerging artists, providing practical support and guidance but also helping them to begin to see and believe in themselves as professional artists. It was with this work that I first found my love of supporting people in transition and when, after a period of full-time mothering, I heard of the opportunity to train as a Rites for Girls facilitator I jumped at the chance. I offer Girls Journeying Together groups from my home in York, which I share with my husband and our daughter and a cat.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have about Girls Journeying Together.

Karen Abi-Karam

Karen Abi-Karam picture

Karen Abi-Karam

Accredited Girls Journeying Together Facilitator

Town: Forest Row, England
Girls Journeying Together groups: Forest Row, East Sussex

I offer the girls in my Girls Journeying Together groups a safe, nurturing and fun environment where they feel they can be themselves without judgement or expectation. I promise to make space for them to explore their feelings and values…and to ask as many questions as they need to.

I am drawn to supporting girls through puberty in acknowledgement that it can be an overwhelming time of great change that deserves to be recognised for all the joy, anticipation and uncertainty it brings.

Through my own training and personal development, I have benefited from many years as part of and facilitating groups; I am delighted to bring this powerful opportunity to girls at such a critical time in their lives.

Over the last 17 years I have been working with people as they experience major milestones in their lives. Alongside my role as a Girls Journeying Together Facilitator, I am a Holistic Therapist, Birth Doula, Independent Celebrant and Milestone Mentor.

I am an active and hands-on auntie to nine children, from toddlers to teens; I live in Forest Row, East Sussex with my husband and Buddy, a cuddlesome tabby cat.

Sarah Blagg

Sarah Blagg picture

Sarah Blagg

Accredited Girls Journeying Together Facilitator

Town: Sheffield, England
Girls Journeying Together groups: Sheffield, South Yorkshire

I am passionate about helping girls to develop a healthy, vibrant relationship with their own unique body, heart, mind and creative spirit. I believe it is vital to learn to trust oneself and feel able to dream outside of the box. I hope to inspire girls to follow their dreams.

Girls Journeying Together groups can empower girls to feel well informed, supported and nourished by each other at this time of transition in their lives while having fun together! I offer down to earth guidance, information, wisdom and support. Girls Journeying Together groups provide a space where each girl can be herself as she is and as she is becoming. Learning in a friendship circle based on mutual respect and trust helps to nurture a sense of self-confidence which is so beneficial for life.

I love the creative art forms. I am a 5Rhythms Dance Teacher, Open Floor Movement Teacher, Yoga Teacher, Artist and mother of two girls. I am Canadian, married to a Brit and living in the UK since 2005. I have degrees in both Art Education Specialization and Sculpture/Installation. I speak English and French. I love this planet Earth, nature and am a great believer in making positive change for the next generations. I offer Girls Journeying Together Groups in our home in Sheffield in a lovely space with a garden.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have or sign up to my free taster session.

Lisa James

Lisa James picture

Lisa James

Accredited Girls Journeying Together Facilitator

Town: Wallasey, England
Girls Journeying Together groups: Wallasey, Merseyside

Welcome and thanks for your interest in Rites for Girls. Adolescence can be exciting and enjoyable but also difficult and confusing at times. Girls Journeying Together groups are a safe place where girls aged 10-12 come together and build friendships to help them become strong, sure and capable young women.

I’m really excited about the potential that our fun, creative and supportive groups can have in helping our daughters navigate their teenage years with confidence and resilience, and I’m honoured to be a part of this work.

I’m a mum to two daughters, and I’ve lived in Wirral for most of my life. I’ve worked in education for almost 20 years and I’m also an accredited Mental Health First Aider. I love to read, travel and go walking, especially in the Lake District. I will be offering Girls Journeying Together groups from my home which I share with my family and our pet Labrador, Bailey.

Please get in touch with me if you want to chat or have any questions about Girls Journeying Together groups.