DISCUSSIONS about peer pressure, mental health, self-care and parent-child relationships piqued the interest of approximately 150 high school girls who turned out for Office of the Children’s Advocate’s (OCA’s) summit on Tuesday.

The event, called ‘Every Girl is Special Validation Summit’, was held at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in St Andrew, a day after the ‘Real Male Code Summit’ for boys.

Both summits were held as part of Child Month 2022 celebrations.

The girls were from several institutions, including Anchovy High School, St Andrew High School for Girls, Muschett High School, Yallahs High School, Campion College, Titchfield High School, and Steer Town Academy.

Children’s Advocate Diahann Gordon Harrison told the Jamaica Observer that the function was necessary as some teenage girls have shaped their views of self-development through social media content.

“From our perspective at OCA, we are seeing social media giving girls a complex [understanding] of ‘Am I pretty enough, am I thin enough, am I cool enough, am I going to be accepted?’”

“We saw as well that self-esteem issues are at the bottom level for a lot of girls. I thought this would be a very good opportunity to just centre them by using people who are very relatable, people who are popular, people who look amazing, people who you’re seeing on television and in magazines and taking the time to speak to them one-on-one,” she said.

For 15-year-old Octavia Barron of Immaculate Conception High School, the topic of self-confidence was interesting.

“When you accept who you are and believe in everything about yourself and continuously make positive affirmations about yourself and knowing that you’re enough as an individual, the opinion of others don’t really matter,” she said.

Michaley Pusey, a 15-year-old student at Mile Gully High School, was eager to explain her views on mental health development.

“It’s all about taking care of yourself and focusing on what you want to become in life and not what your parents tell you to. It is important that you have someone to look up to and say you want to become as successful as them,” she said.

Sharing what she learnt, 19-year-old Nickelia Gooden of St Elizabeth Technical High School said, “Parents might not understand kids but we should try to talk to them and make them understand and stop keeping secrets from them in order to develop a better relationship.”

Some of the girls also explained the importance of having positive role models.

Thirteen-year-old Deanna Miller, St Andrew High School for Girls, said it is important for girls to have role models who can guide them through times of uncertainty.

“With so many girls being here, there’s bound to be one who may be in certain circumstances where they don’t have a proper mother figure there to guide them. Being here can give them some clarity, which I think is important to our development into becoming young women,”she said.

At the same time, 14-year-old Marvian Gooden from Muschett High School added, “I think it’s really important for you to learn that you’re not alone in terms of what you’re going through, even though if you don’t have a role model.”

Meanwhile, 13-year-old Marrisol Collins of Yallahs High School said: “… Take good care of yourself and you need a role model to look out for you and make sure you do the right thing.”

Guest presenters included parenting consultant at BossMom Magazine Michelle Gordon, Reggae artiste Queen Ifrica and Miss Universe Jamaica representatives.

Reggae artiste Queen Ifrica said she was pleased that the girls made notes during her presentation, which indicated a great level of interest.

“I am proud to say all the books were open and stuff were being written down and affirmations were being made. I gave them an idea of some of my personal experiences and the fact that I have survived them to the point where I can speak of them as memories. It was about giving them a basic idea of how to survive all those atrocities and be yourself through the process,” she said.

Miss Universe Jamaica 2020 Miqueal-Symone Williams added, “I am just very happy for this future of powerful Jamaican women that I am witnessing right now. I want them to understand how valuable they are and how important their mental health is because at the end of the day they will not do their best if they don’t feel their best.”