• About
• Press
• Programs + Speaking
• Events
• Blogs
• Books
• Tools
• Coaching + Training
• Shop
• Contact

Feeling the need for more respect in your life? Join the club. No, really—join the club! Lots of teen girls we've met are starting Respect Rx Groups at their schools and within their communities and you can too.

A Respect Rx Group is an empowerment group led by girls for girls. It's like a book club-meets-dish session where girls can just be real, share and get support from each other. It's all about getting and giving total respect while working together to change your world—inside AND out!

Keeping reading to find out how to start your own Respect Rx Group! We also have a RESPECT Book Club just for mothers and daughters.

Some suggestions for getting started:

Step No. 1: Find an adult woman sponsor. Ask a trusted woman to sponsor your group to ensure that you feel safe and have someone to turn to for resources and support.

• Ask a parent, teacher or guidance counselor, for example.

• Your sponsor should *not* run the group, but hang out as an observer.

• You can invite her to participate in discussions—it’s up to the group.

• If you need her support or advice, she should stay after to talk with you.

Step No. 2: Create a Respect Pact. Once you have a sponsor, and decide when and where you’ll meet, invite girls for the first group. Get a copy of RESPECT before the first meeting. If you can’t afford one, have each girl pitch in $1 or borrow a copy from you local library. In the first meeting, design your Respect Pact. Read your Respect Pact at the beginning of *every* meeting before you start. These are the agreements you’ll make together about:

How you’ll run the group meetings (such as how you’ll begin and end).

• How you’ll show each other respect. What you’ll do if the pact is not respected.

• How you’ll rotate leadership tasks (see below).

• How you want your sponsor to support the group, like stepping in to facilitate a dialogue if the Respect Pact is broken.

• What resources you’ll use in the meeting, such as trusted helplines or other books besides RESPECT.

• Any other respect rules, like turning off cell phones during the meeting. Two rules that should be in every pact:

1. What is said here, let it stay here (the no gossip rule).

2. No advice during Shares. Each girl should have a set time to share and you shouldn’t give each other advice—just listen. Know that each girl has the solutions inside of her and don't try to fix each other. The #1 way girls say they feel respected is when people listen to them. So try that first.

Step No. 3: Rotate leadership each meeting. Respect Rx Groups are led by and for girls, but there should be no set leader or officers. Always rotate roles at each meeting. At the end of each meeting, decide who will be the Secretary for the next meeting. The secretary reads the Respect Pact and Your Rights and calls on girls for “shares.” She can also pick the passage from RESPECT that you’ll focus on for the meeting. Decide on other roles you’d like for the group.

Step No. 4: Try the sample meeting format. Here’s one suggested way to set up a 1-hour group:

• Set up the chairs in a circle.

• Have the Secretary read the Respect Pact.

• Take turns reading a section from RESPECT. After a girl reads, she can share how the topic relates to her life, or about anything respect-related that’s on her mind. Each share should be 3 or 4 minutes.

• Once every girl has read and shared, do an activity together from the section of the book you’re focusing on. It might be a group activity or a quiet journaling activity—or you can agree to do it before the next meeting on your own. In the next meeting, you can share your journaling assignments.

• Close the meeting by reading Your Rights together.

• Hang out afterwards to get extra support—including from your sponsor!

Disclaimer: Respect Rx Groups are not governed, monitored or overseen by Respect Rx LLC. This is a suggested way to spread RESPECT. Go for it!

Comments (0) | by Courtney on June 6

email to a friend | link to this article

email this entry to a friend