A message from our CEO:
Last month, my mom passed away. She was always my biggest fan, support, and advocate. My mom helped me develop a strong sense of self-worth growing up by always encouraging me to do my best and supporting me whether it was in academics, extracurricular activities, or relationships. When I struggled, she got me help whether it was a tutor to help me with algebra or singing lessons when I didn’t get into the school show. She taught me there was no shame in asking for help when I needed it. My mom taught me the importance of self-discipline and a good work ethic when it came to being a student and pushed me to obtain the highest level of education I could explaining that an education is one thing nobody can ever take away from you. My mom always encouraged me to have friends and date during my teen years. She was always there to talk through problems and navigate these relationships. She taught me the careful balance of maintaining relationships but also knowing when they weren’t healthy and to let them go. My mom emphasized the value of quality over quantity when it came to friends and not giving into peer pressure. Consequently, I never felt the need to go along with the crowd.
As a child, you assume everyone has parents similar to yours. However, as I grew up and even more so when I started working with clients in therapy, I realized that not everyone has parents or another support to help them develop positive self-worth and healthy relationships. While girls may have more opportunities today than ever before, it is also one of the most challenging and confusing times to be a girl. Thus, I used my own upbringing as well as my clinical training, skills, and experience to create Camp Girl Power in 2014 and founded Girls Empowered in 2015 to provide the opportunity for all girls to learn how to be EMPOWERED by providing them the knowledge, skills, confidence, and resources to stand up for oneself, make positive choices, and be in control of one’s future.
Girls Empowered has created a scholarship in loving memory of my mom, Rhonda Bonnie, to provide the opportunity for a girl in our local community in financial need to attend Camp Girl Power this summer. Contributions towards this scholarship are welcome. They can be made in honor or memory of a mother or mother figure. Please make donations online to https://www.girlsempowered.org/donate-now/ or mail a check payable to “Girls Empowered” to PO Box 201, Doylestown, PA 18901. Donations should be designated to “In Loving Memory of Rhonda Bonnie Scholarship”. Please specify if you would like the donation made in honor or memory of a mom in your life and where to send an acknowledgement letter.
Be EMPOWERED,
Dawn H. Haaz, Psy.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Founder and CEO of Girls Empowered, Inc.
dawn@girlsempowered.org
