Hi! Debs here. Working as a teacher in a Secondary School in Oxfordshire was when I really began to notice the impact of low self-esteem in our teenage girls, and how many girls were struggling. Struggling with low motivation, self-consciousness and a lack of confidence. Some girls who were slow to raise their hand in a lesson or volunteer answers for fear of being wrong, or looking around them to check they were fitting in. Panic attacks, anxiety and low mood amongst other symptoms. For some it impacted their education, but more importantly, their sense of self and true belonging.

According to Dove, 61% struggle with low self-esteem - fuelled by social media that encourages comparison, and accelerated by a pandemic that has dented social confidence. By the time they reach 18, girls are twice as likely to experience mental health conditions than boys, which inevitably has strong links with conditions such as anxiety, eating disorders, self-harming and low mood.

As a charity we want to help teenage girls build self-esteem and make good decisions. So after lots of chats with the teenage girls themselves I began to get a deeper understanding of the struggles going on behind the scenes, and this is where the idea of our charity, Know Your Worth, came about…