Christine Dinas (The ETREA Foundation Treasurer) met Louise Plant during a BNI (Business Network International) event early in 2016. Christine heard that Louise was achieving amazing and life changing outcomes running group ‘personal transformational’ programs. Participants attending Vitae Amor workshops, were (mostly) distressed or traumatised individuals attempting to break free from personal and/or family issues, often including addictions, family violence, and sexual or emotional abuse. What caught our attention was the alignment of empowering values shared by both The ETREA Foundation and Vitae Amor Seminars, plus the outstanding transformational outcomes achieved by attendees to Louise’s workshops.
Christine immediately directed Louise to the Foundation website and involved the other Directors with the aim to look into building a relationship, as well as creating and supporting Vitae Amor in future collaborative projects.
First Meeting
The Directors met with Louise Plant over coffee on 11th April 2016, where we learned Louise’s own challenging personal background, her motivation and drive, her expertise in the field, her existing programs. We learned how passionate she is, and of her future plans to remodel and offer workshops to the group of kids identified as ‘at risk’ students at several secondary schools in her local area. Louise labelled it her Youth Boost Program. However, what had stopped Louise from rolling out Youth Boost was a lack of funding. Louise had been personally funding all the community and in-school Youth programs from her own salary and savings – as time and finances permitted.
We discussed the possibility where The ETREA Foundation could financially support Vitae Amor via an Organisation Grant. In May 2016 Louise Plant, submitted an application for a grant to fund the Pilot Youth Boost Program – a 2.5 day in-house retreat program offered initially to ten youths, where each participant would be immersed in self care, self responsibility, nutrition, family values, self love and life fulfilment processes and strategies. The major aim of the workshop was to instil life skills and prevention strategies within each participant to self assess, and thereby avoid future episodes of self-abuse, self-harm, violence and/or drug abuse. All followed up with support after the retreat concluded.
During our discussions, we also encouraged consideration of a personal development plan for Louise herself and/or her company Vitae Amor Seminars. Louise had carefully considered that recommendation and the grant application included partial funding towards the 12 week coaching training she subsequently undertook.
Pilot Program
Louise Plant requested and was granted $8,980 to run the Pilot Youth Boost program. This covered all retreat expenses including the accommodation, food, and the four facilitator’s modest salaries. Louise’s initial timing expectations for August 2016 was deferred to November 2016 and the Pilot Program was attended by 8 ‘at risk’ teenagers and 4 adults. The success of the Pilot Program has lead to breakthrough life changes to 8 young lives with the greatest potential to break repeated cycles of social trauma within those families (and their communities). It is our understanding that Louise actively maintains a closed Facebook support group, and is currently building a social media community called Raw and Real Relationships. Following the success of the Pilot Program ‘Youth Boost’, Louise has plans to restructure, relabel and rebirth that program as a Youth Leadership program (different title but with the same overall successful breakthroughs and life-changing outcomes).
We, the Directors of The ETREA Foundation, loved interacting with Louise. We are inspired by her passion, her desires for a better world and found her call to action in changing a few lives at a time is refreshing. Louise has a trusted grass roots network in place (within the social structure of the schools) that offers efficient and discreet attention to those ‘high risk’ teenagers where life paths can be influenced by a network of the ‘right people’ at the ‘right time’. We eagerly await future opportunities to work with Louise Plant and Vitae Amor Seminars again.
