For Immediate Release
September 04, 2003

Contact:
Anne Drouin
(207) 774-5801
Beryl Wolfe
(207) 883-6083
E-mail: beryl@wolfenews.com
Web Site: http://www.martinspoint.org

BRUNSWICK, Maine - Martin's Point Health Care will offer its self-esteem building workshop for teenage girls called "Go Girls" four times throughout the fall.

Free and open to all adolescent girls in the area, the single-session workshops will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. on September 18, October 16, November 20 and again on December 18 at Martin's Point Health Care in Brunswick, located on Farley Road near Cook's Corner.

The confidential workshops will focus on issues such as body image, dieting and lifestyle. All adolescent girls are welcome, but space is limited and reservations are welcome. For additional information, call the Martin's Point Health Education Center at 828-2497 or 1-800-260-6681.

"The Martin's Point Go Girls program gives girls the tools to fight the relentless messages from the culture that everyone wants to be thin," said Joyce Sarat White, a Licensed Professional Counselor who leads the Brunswick program. "It is impossible to grow up female today without worrying about weight, so this program helps combat that."

Research has shown that up to 10 million women and girls ö and another one million men and boys ö have eating disorders, which include anorexia, bulimia and binge eating, White said. Moreover, from 40 percent to 60 percent of high-school girls perceive themselves to weigh too much, with 15 percent considered "chronic dieters" ö though two-thirds of them aren't overweight.

A key element of the "Go Girls!" workshop is a facilitated discussion in which participants explore their body-image issues, as well as general principles about eating disorders and prevention and the connection between the media and self-esteem. The session also includes an in-depth look at how advertisements are developed and their underlying messages.

"Being dissatisfied with your size and shape extracts a high price from girls, affecting their self-esteem, their relationships with others, their performance in school - and their health," White said. "Programs like 'Go Girls!' can help them navigate the rocky road through adolescence and strengthen their self-confidence."

Established in 1981, Martin's Point is a not-for-profit health care provider with facilities in Portland, Brunswick and Windham, Maine, and in Portsmouth, N.H. Martin's Point has a staff of more than 300 health care professionals and serves 54,000 patients ö including military retirees and dependents of active military personnel ö under all major health plans.

The Martin's Point Health Education Center has a variety of related resource materials that includes publications and videos. The center also offers information and classes that focus on a host of other topics, ranging from smoking cessation to disease management.

Martin's Point serves patients in the areas of family practice, internal medicine, pediatrics, surgery, radiology, cardiology, and mammography, as well as other fields. For additional information, visit online at www.martinspoint.org

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