Being a girl is fab and it’s fraught with drama. There is so much stuff that takes up our lives that sometimes it seems as if it’s a struggle just getting ourselves out of bed let alone dealing with all the bigger stuff – parents, friends, boyfriends, or the future.

We could all do with some inspiration, advice and just a girly perspective. Bellaboo discovers a girly haven to help us through the turbulent teens

What does a girl need? She needs friends. She needs advice. She needs inspiration. She needs knowledge. She needs self-awareness. All of these things have come together in a very cool space – www.whatagirlneeds.com.au. What a Girl Needs was started by school counsellor, Kylie Donnolley, who was inspired to start the program as a means of getting positive messages out to girls.

“Working as a school counsellor made me realise that only the girls who were in trouble would be the ones to seek out counselling, and yet the tools we gave these girls could be helpful to a much wider audience,” Kylie explains.

“There is so much going on in girls’ lives that I thought it would be great to make information and strategies to help them cope with it all readily available to them.”

The schools program is about tackling issues and offering practical advice, messages and inspiration through a series of workshops covering everything from self esteem and body image through to friendships, bullying and goal setting. Schools can sign up for the workshops and girls get to take part. The Bellaboo Crew thinks it’s pretty cool to have somewhere that you can go to that helps with the everyday stuff as well as the bigger picture bits – like career, goal setting. We haven’t taken part in one of the schools programs yet but hope to experience it first-hand soon.

The website is pretty cool, ‘cos you can go on there and just look up stuff that’s of interest in your own time and in private. The articles are practical and not talking down to you. It’s just like getting some interesting perspective and advice from a bigger, cool sister. We loved What A Girl Needs so much because we all need a different perspective sometimes or a bigger, cooler sister to turn to when it all becomes a bit much. We figure us girls are each others best support and inspiration. We can all learn from each other and each other’s experiences and that’s why we love what Kylie and her team are about. They provide some much needed guidance on all the stuff that counts to us.

We were so impressed with it all and, as What A Girl Needs was on about the same stuff as Bellaboo, we decided to partner with them. So, we’ll be putting together a cool skin care module for the schools program to help girls learn about how to look after their skin and everyone who attends a program gets a free uber cool Bellaboo sample wallet. If you want your school to run a What A Girl Needs program then nag your teachers and get them onto www.whatagirlneeds.com.au or go check it out for yourself!