Our Canada – August-September 2019

Let’s Get Together!

A brand new festival and retreat for women

of all ages, cultures and walks of life

by Laura Sniderman, Toronto

CAUSE FOR APPLAUSE

FIRST

THREE

PHOTOS

LEFT

TO

RIGHT: CLAIRE BOURGEOIS.

FAR

RIGHT: AMBER ELLIS, CREATING LIGHT STUDIO

H

ello! My name is Laura, a

graduate student in clin-

ical psychology, and the

founder and CEO of a brand new

women’s initiative called The Get

Together. Based in Toronto and

working with a highly motivated

management team and a legion of

volunteers, our ultimate goal is to

redefine what a community can

look and feel like.

For the last five years, I have

run women’s retreats, which led

me to the realization that posi-

tive social relationships and the

development of purpose are two

vital aspects of self-esteem. Both

elements are also cornerstones

for the framework of successful

communities.

Designed to eƒect meaningful

change for women at both the

personal and community level,

The Get Together is an annual

four-day festival for women of all

ages (19+) and backgrounds that

launches this August. One of the

central themes is for participants

to connect around a concept we’ve

coined, “wisdomsharing.” This

unique approach to the festival

platform means that every single

woman who attends will contrib-

ute to the betterment of others in

a meaningful way—by choosing to

lead a 45-minute workshop, per-

form live on our main stage, sub-

mit art for our onsite art gallery, or

volunteer. If none of those “ways”

resonates, you can also suggest a

way you’d like to contribute!

Early on in my career host-

ing women’s retreats, I began to

realize that the traditional model

of knowledge exchange, in which

expert teachers disseminate

information via a top-down ap-

proach, was rarely noted by par-

ticipants as the most impactful

experience of the retreat. In fact,

what seemed to be most influen-

tial were primarily the opportu-

nities provided for participants to

share their own life experiences,

vulnerabilities, passions and skill

sets. It was in these moments

that participants felt a sense of

love and belonging, of meaning

and purpose, mainly because they

were being seen and heard as

individuals in a welcoming group

setting. The end result was that

the experience left participants

feeling changed, for the better.

Above and beyond my personal

experiences, there is solid research

that links the presence of “purpose

and meaning” to well-being. For

example, the research of Nansook

Park and Christopher Peterson

(2010) found that “Individuals

with a sense of purpose and

meaning report greater life satis-

faction, more positive emotions,

higher levels of optimism, and

better self-esteem.” As this trend

towards viewing participation

as a mechanism to enhance

self-esteem became increasingly

apparent, I not only realized that

providing a platform for all women

to share their wisdom was a mean-

ingful way to enhance self-esteem,

but also that we are conditioned

to believe that only experts have

The Get Together is a new venue

for women from all walks of life and

cultural backgrounds to share their

acquired wisdom with one another.

18 Our Canada AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2019