BodyThink.

Helping children build positive self-esteem.

Research has shown that girls and boys learn about body image and beauty ideals from a very early age and consequently often struggle to build a healthy self-esteem. This low self-esteem can lead to introversion, a withdrawal from normal life and a waste of potential and can often develop into an eating disorder.

Dove believes that to make a real difference, we must take action and contribute in ways that will help children celebrate their individual beauty, as part of a global initiative to reach 1million children by 2008.

The first step towards reaching this goal in Australia is the rollout of an educational program, BodyThink in Victoria as a collaboration between the Dove Self Esteem Fund, The Butterfly Foundation and the Victorian Government: who are committed to raising self esteem in schools following the Bracks Government's parliamentary inquiry into body image last year.

What is BodyThink?

BodyThink is a specially created workshop for school aged children (11-14 yrs) to help them grow up with an informed, balanced viewpoint. This includes putting the beauty world in perspective ; understanding and dealing with feelings about their physical appearance as well as how "ideal" images of beauty are created.

The workshop materials include a booklet with facilitation notes, surprising facts, activity cards and a DVD that investigates the photographic and filming trickery used to create 'perfect' images.

BodyThink was originally created by Dove in association with the Eating Disorders Ass UK (where it is called BodyTalk) and has been successfully utilised in schools across the United Kingdom with positive feedback from teachers, parents and student's alike.

BodyThink will be rolled out in Victorian schools via a series of teacher seminars across the state to empower teachers and adult mentors to implement BodyThink to their own students.

You can contact the Butterfly Foundation for more information on being part of the workshop sessions in Victoria. The workshop is currently limited to Victorian schools but we hope for national rollout in the near future.

Visit www.thebutterflyfoundation.org.au for more information or if you are interested in attending any of the teaching seminars.

Please note: BodyThink is a non commercial tool and to retain its educational integrity, there is no mention, distribution or promotion of Dove product range either in the booklet or at any of the teacher training sessions. There is only a brief credit to the Dove Self Esteem Fund in the booklet’s introduction copy.