The first Free2b Girls Group was founded in 2017. It began in response to a very real need…..
Tani our Founder, had recently moved to St Helens and saw a great need for young women in the community to have a space to themselves. There was lots of footy, heaps of cricket, a skatepark a dirt bike track, cadets and scouts, but not a lot for girls who didn’t like those kinds of things.
A mother had told her she was ‘worried’ about her teenage daughters. Girls had shared they were ‘bored and had nothing to do but go to the shops.’ When asking local school staff what they thought about an after school girls group, Tani was met with enthusiasm, almost a sense of relief - ‘there is nothing for girls if they don’t play sport, a girls group could be fantastic!”
So, she and a friend started up the first free2b girls group at the St Helens Neighbourhood House in June 2017 and after a month or so there were up to 15 girls coming through the doors each week.
In 2019, in response to other communities asking: "Why do girls keep coming to your girls group? What do you do each week that's so special? Could we have something like this too?" Tani decided to found 'Free2b Girls' and develop a way for girls groups to run in other parts of Tasmania.
Free2b Girls have a simple outlook..
provide a safe space with adult mentors, food and craft.
Then open the door…
Values
Our core values of freedom, choice and creativity within boundaries of safety, tolerance and respect have been developed by the girls themselves, are reflected in the programs we run and embodied in our organisational ethos and culture.
Purpose
Our primary purpose is to enable girls in rural and isolated communities to have safe, engaging after-school spaces where they can grow, learn, and connect. Through mentorship, activities, and community support, we aim to nurture confidence, foster leadership and encourage girls discover and own their unique strengths and gifts.
Committment
We believe very girl deserves a safe, supportive environment where she can grow, learn, and explore her potential. We are committed to enabling a sense of community and belonging - spaces where girls can be themselves without fear of judgment. We are passionate about breaking down intergenerational and geo- gendered barriers to ensure girls have the tools and supports they need to survive and thrive.
Purpose
Our primary purpose is to enable girls in rural and isolated communities to have safe, engaging after-school spaces where they can grow, learn, and connect. Through mentorship, activities, and community support, we aim to nurture confidence, foster leadership and encourage girls discover and own their unique strengths and gifts.
How we work, how we think…
Before starting up a girls group in a new community we always ask girls if this is something they would like. We often do a school incursion and ask about what they enjoy doing in their community after school and if there’s places they like to hang out in.
When we’re told:
“There’s nothing to do and nowhere to go...”
a response we so often hear, we ask our next question:
“Would a ‘girls only space’ help?’ and always get an overwhelming
‘YES!”
Then we start envisioning together what a girls group in their community could look like.
Some of the ideas we’ve had from girls we’ve talked to have been pretty wild and amazing (a pink Free2b Girls House with beanbags, green couches with pillows that feel nice, smoothie makers, purple rugs, a glitter cupboard, materials to make ‘slime’ forever, a swimming pool, endless tim tams and so on) but the standard requests have always been for food, a craft box and ‘time to ourselves.’
Then next question we ask is why they think a girls only space is important. The responses we receive often surprise us:
“Because we won’t need to fight for our food’
“I can dance freely’
“We won’t need to shout to be heard all the time,’
“ I’ll be able to just be myself and talk about what I want to without being judged or teased.”
‘I won’t need to catch the bus on the day Free2b is on. There’s no security camera on the bus, and I never feel safe.”
Tani, founder of Free2b Girls, says these are the main reason why she continues running Free2b Girls – a small social enterprise that inspires and encourages communities to care for and value the younger generation, in particular girls and young women. By establishing a Free2b Girls Group for 2 hrs after school once a week where there’s food, shelter, friends and supportive women, communities are giving their girls a sense of safety, belonging and respect.
Having listened carefully to participants in Free2b Girls Groups over the years, Tani has learnt how being a teenage girl in a rural community has very specific challenges. Further consultations and research show these challenges exist for rural girls throughout Australia and the world, pointing to a huge gap in programs and services tailored to this demographic. Hence her decision to create the Free2b Girls organisation in 2019 and provide consultation, trainings and materials to communities so they can run weekly groups for girls and begin actively addressing these challenges.
“A Free2b Girls Group is such a simple thing communities can give to their girls - a safe, inspiring space, outside of school or home where girls can express themselves, get creative, eat good food, be with friends and just feel who they are for a while, without being told who they should be.’’ Tani
The licensing and training model Free2b Girls offer helps upskill organisations and communities to work with youth, particularly girls and young women. Free2b Girls provides the mentoring and training required to establish a locally run girls group, along with a resource package that includes attendance sheets, risk plans, participant forms, policies, safety guidelines, research materials, funding templates, activity ideas and sustainability strategies to name a few. An annual license fee ensures continues use of our logo, ethos and IP, access to ongoing Free2b trainings and connection opportunities with a network of Free2b Girls Groups across Australia.
Our ‘Free2b Team’ has over thirty years combined experience working in the youth and community sector and value ‘ on the ground’ expertise to guide us in our work. We also regularly engage our Youth Consultancy Team consisting of nine young people whose insight and experience helps us make decisions and keep our organisation accountable, inspired and relevant for the future. Free2b Girls materials, trainings and Youth Consultancy Team have also helped support the development of additional grassroots youth initiatives including our 1:1 mentoring programs ( free2b time/free2fly) the establishment of a LGQTIA youth group in St Helens and the YCNECT initiative in the Break O Day region.
To find out more about how Free2b Girls works with communities or to engage our Free2b Team for trainings or consultancy, please contact us or join our next free2b PRE session on November 23rd 2026