Multicultural women set for Swim and Survive success
Royal Life Saving WA’s Women’s Only Swim and Survive programs continue to go from strength to strength, with almost double the number of women taking part in Term Four across the Perth metro area than we saw in the previous term! The women’s only swimming classes are delivered as part of Royal Life Saving WA’s Access and Equity, which aims to ensure culturally appropriate swimming and water safety education is available for those in high-risk communities.
The program has been delivered at five locations this term, including Riverton Leisureplex, Cannington Leisureplex, Leisurepark Balga and The Swim School Wangara and Wanneroo. We saw 206 women take part across the five locations, building vital swimming and water safety skills ahead of summer, in a safe, culturally appropriate and welcoming environment.
Royal Life Saving WA Senior Manager Education, Trent Hotchkin, says although the main focus of the program is to reduce barriers to participation so that the women can learn vital swimming skills, it goes further than that. “Our programs are tailored to engage communities with their local aquatic centres and lead social impact efforts to build these aquatic centres as a community hub, introducing participants to a range of other activities the centres have to offer, meeting like-minded people and transitioning them into other wellness or leisure activities.”
We were excited to see two of the participants pass their Stage 9 Swim and Survive level this term! These women will move on to Stage 10 in 2022 and both have expressed an interest in one day becoming swim instructors themselves.
The Women’s Only swimming program is delivered in partnership with the City of Canning, City of Stirling and The Swim School WA, and was also promoted by Communicare, the Australian Asian Association, Ishar Multicultural Women’s Services and the City of Stirling’s Multicultural Hub, all of which are situated in areas of Perth with a high multicultural population. Through partnerships such as these Royal Life Saving WA is able to ensure those most at risk are engaged in swimming and water safety education.
The program is made possible thanks to funding from the Australian Government Department of Health and we look forward to seeing it continue to grow and made an impact in multicultural communities in 2022. If you’d like to find out how you can get involved in future lessons please click the link below.
