Lynzy Boeswald-Lalande wins YWCA award for self esteem work

Morning North6:49Women of Distinction Award winner

Lynzy Boeswald-Lalande is one of the winners in this year's YWCA Women of Distinction Awards. She's the program intervention coordinator at Voices for Women Sudbury Sexual Assault Centre in Sudbury. Find out why she was honoured with this award.LynzyBoeswald-Lalandewants you to know that you are "enough."

Through therapeutic art outreach, the program intervention coordinator at the Voices for Women Sudbury Sexual AssaultCentre is tryingto convince women and girls that they have worth as people and deserve to be in healthy relationships.

Boeswald-Lalande alsobroughtthe "I Am Enough" campaign toSudbury, and will receive a YWCA Women of Distinction Award for her efforts.

The takeaway message of that campaign for young women is straightforward.

"You aredeserving of love," she said. "You don't have to be the prettiest, or the smartest, or the best athlete in order to obtain self worth."

Boeswald-Lalande said her group was inspired to action in Sudbury by cases like that of Amanda Todd, 15, who committed suicide in 2012 after being bullied online.

"Her last statement was, 'I have nobody. I need somebody.' So, for that statement alone, how do you not want to open up to students about this, right?"

Calls for help

Through the outreach program,Boeswald-Lalandesaid young women learn and talkabout the impact of social media on self worth, sexual violence and exploitation, as well as emotional abuse and victim blaming.

She said high schools are calling her group for help.

"Young girls, they feel as though, they're in a relationship where they're walking on egg shells. They're abusive relationships, whether it's emotionally or physically....And they feel as though at the age of 17, no one else is going to love them."

Boeswald-Lalande said to break cycles of domestic abuse, young women have to internalize feelings of self-esteem, and know appropriate boundaries, including privacy limits.

"With some of these girls that we're getting calls from, there's stalking that's a bigissue as well", she said.

"Whether it's physically stalking, or online stalking, or [a partner] needs to know the passwords to their email, their Facebook accounts and then, of course, stalking their phones is another big one as well."

As a part of Health Science North'sViolence Intervention and Prevention Program,Boeswald-Lalandealso helps women who have suffered abuse to regain self esteem through therapeutic art.

The group, in collaboration with Artists on Elgin,meets once a week at theVoices for Women SudburySexual AssaultCentre downtownto express grief and pain through art and hopefully, find comfort.

"This October, we displayed [some of their works] at the Sudbury Art Gallery ... It was amazing to see the women come together, and connecting, and knowing that trauma doesn't define them, and there is peace and beauty out there."

Boeswald-Lalandewill receive her YWCA Women of Distinction Award at a galaMay 1.