BIO Girls Gives An Emotional Boost

“Beautiful inside and out.” That’s what “BIO” stands for in BIO Girls. The mission of this unique mental wellness program is to improve the self-esteem of adolescent girls across the Midwest.

Williston Site Director Cyrena Weeks first read about the program in a Chamber of Commerce newsletter and was won over by a lunch-and-learn presentation about the program.

“I thought, ‘Yep, we have to get this in Williston.’ I want this for our girls. I was all in,” said Weeks, who is the community evelopment coordinator with the Tri-County Regional Development Council.

BIO Girls seeks to turn around this statistic – six out of 10 adolescent girls battle low self-esteem – with a combination of life skills lessons, Christian nondenominational devotions, small-group mentoring and noncompetitive physical activities.

One lesson, for example, teaches girls four different ways to deal with anxiety. A survey at the end of the program showed 50% of the attendees had indeed decreased their anxiety.

Results like this make Weeks eager to see the program expand.

“I would love to emphasize the opportunity to have more groups in town, with more site directors,” Weeks said.

Financial support from Mountrail-Williams Electric Cooperative’s Operation Round Up Program helps make it possible.

“It is major,” Weeks said. “Our program is a pay as you can and 35% of our girls are on a full scholarship.”Helping young girls before they become troubled teens is priceless, according to Weeks.

“It’s about teaching them these preventative things, instead of them reaching rock bottom,” she said.

If you would like to read this story and others in the September issue
of the North Dakota Living magazine CLICK HERE!

_{*Pictured: LtoR Clara Oxendahl, Wilza McMillan, and Echo Steig}