The Impowrd Program strives to equip and enable individuals to give them the ability to become empowered, confident beings living up to their full potential. We equip individuals with the skills they need to navigate life and make informed decisions, through sport, education and community.
Izelke Benecke - Founder
Izelke is a vibrant and passionate individual that is driven by her vulnerabilities and failures of her fast life-experience at such a young age. She adds value with her unique perspectives and insights from her ability to embrace challenges. Professionally, she prioritize individuals that focus on their mission— such as empowerment and upliftment above profit. She strives to be a person who values benevolence, embody kindness, charitableness, and compassion. Driven by her passion for education and the ocean she combines the two in a unique methodology that has developed from her own learning disability and previous traumas.
She believes in embracing failures because one can never stop learning. She loves using the ocean as a frame of reference - if there was no high tide or low tide there would be no waves to ride.
We use innovation, creativity and untapped human potential to take care of individual's mental health and well being first. We then intervene academically, making sure students are equipped to succeed at school. We believe the following sectors can be used to achieve that each in their own unique expression and solutions.
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Education - We offer educational resources and upliftment for children with trauma & learning disabilities that is diverse, affordable and easy to access for each phase.- We adapt the curriculum for educators and students so that it lightens their load.- We offer assistance, upliftment and community for educators.
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Sports - We use physical movement as a transferable skill to reflect and implement a growth mindset to challenges. We mainly use water and the water sport, surfing.
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Communities- We host collaborative empowerment workshops for teens, men, women and elders that are culturally relevant and in aid to solve problems faced by communities.
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However, we only equip and enable individuals to emotionally
regulate and do not offer any medical or psychological intervention.
How Impowrd began
As a result of Izelke's short-lived corporate career, she developed the Impowrd Program to empower others. Her trauma and learning disability provided valuable insight into the struggles of individuals who share her experiences.
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One of the underlying factors of trauma is the lack of self-belief and the impact on our self-esteem. The ripple effect is often seen in children's grades and behaviour at school. She used her corporate knowledge combined with the insight of the education system to create educational resources and adapt the curriculum for those affected by challenges. As she walked her own path to healing she started surfing at the age of 25 which was her life-changing experience, to finally overcome one of her own biggest challenges.
In her research she found that funding models do not often address mental health issues and that the system primarily focuses on academics. Knowing how this impacted her self-esteem she sought a solution that was affordable, empowering and allowed for innovation
