Section 1 - About EYCZ
THE ESCAPING YOUR COMFORT ZONE MISSION
Escaping Your Comfort Zone is a community of body positive adventurers with the motto “The outdoors don’t care about your size, your pace or your fitness, and neither do we!”
There is a common assumption that in order to be adventurous you have to be slim, fit, fast and willing to go huge distances. We are turning that idea on its head by proving to women that the outdoors do not care about your size, your pace or your fitness, and neither do we. We hike slowly with no judgement, we leave no body behind, and have a ball doing it!
Purpose:
To build self confidence in women who previously never imagined that hiking and adventure was something they were capable of. Encouragement and support from a non-judgemental community builds everyone up, and creates a sense of belonging to a tribe of likeminded people.
Focus:
New friends, a sense of belonging and adventure. No focus on weight loss or fitness.
Creation of a community that makes participants want to return to EYCZ hikes as they are supported in a fun, safe and organized way.
Developed from the evidence, the EYCZ program design takes a social approach to overcoming the critical barriers including the fear of judgement from other women, lack of confidence and self-efficacy, and social anxieties. EYCZ has a strong social media community that is highly active and is a supportive introduction for potential participants and a key to sustaining engagement with women as they move forward on their journey to developing positive physical activity habits.
Benefits:
Removal of the guilt from “having” to get active, and replacing it with “looking forward to” fun with friends in the outdoors.
“Self-care” – life enhancement, improvement in confidence and the feeling of “self-care”. Ideally this will extend to participants wanting to share their experiences with family & friends.
Physical and mental health benefits of activity, being outdoors, feeling like part of a supportive group, and the feeling of looking after yourself
HOW DOES ESCAPING YOUR COMFORT ZONE WORK?
EYCZ is a Not-for-Profit Bushwalking Club and is part of Bushwalking Victoria.
It was set up by Richelle Olsen in May 2016, and now has leaders across Victoria, Sydney and Canberra.
The day to day admin is mostly done by Richelle, supported by Sarah Wilson, who oversees all the volunteer leaders. All membership and merchandise admin is managed by Jo Britton, and Loey Matthews is our resident blogger, storyteller and Inclusion Guru.
Membership Fees – there are several options for participants, yearly, monthly and a per-walk payment. Membership fees cover insurance, accounting, systems, volunteer training etc. All membership fees are on an honesty system, there’s no expectation for leaders to check that attendees have paid. See the membership page for the costs.
Insurance – as a Bushwalking Victoria Club, we have public liability insurance that covers the club and all volunteer leaders, as well as personal accident insurance for our hike participants. (this does not cover personal hiking activities, only hikes which appear on the EYCZ booking sites)
Events are open to women, and non-binary people. They are welcome to bring kids under 18 at no charge. We also run family & friends hikes for everyone on an ad hoc basis. It is important to note that children 12 and under are not covered by our personal accident insurance.