The Circles run in 12-week sessions and generally include about a dozen girls between the ages of 8 and 18. Last week, Garvey was attending the last session of her fall group at the Gus Canty Community Center. Circles are also held at Mashpee High School, the Mashpee United Church Village and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council. Private donations, subcontracts with human service agencies and some money from the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women will keep the program going for the next few months, but long-range funding must be identified soon, she said. Facilitator Susan Lannen said it's so important for girls to have support and guidance from other girls and women.
Girls are very relationally oriented.
In the program, the girls use discussion, journals, and drama as outlets. We deal with controversial issues and try to help girls open up and feel accepted. People don't expect you to have opinions on things. Here, we can have opinions and I have discovered that my opinions help to define who I am. They are full of old ideas and old concepts.