Three 'mighty' Derry women recognised at awards ceremony

Alison Mitchell, Naomi Arbuthnot and Rachel Kane were celebrated at the awards ceremony at the Slieve Donard hotel on Sunday, June 11. Alison was awarded the Mighty Women in Wellbeing Award, Naomi got the Mighty Women in Art Award and a special award was created for Rachel, the Inspirational Mighty Women in Art Award.

Rachel said: “I have an Instagram page where I share posts and videos and use it to promote people using art as a form of therapy if they’ve been in an abusive relationship. I left an abusive marriage so I use my experience to help others. Even being nominated was really an honour but to find that I had won Inspirational Women in Art means a lot to me. It encourages me to continue with my art and promoting it as a therapeutic coping mechanism. It inspires me to continue raising awareness around domestic abuse and violence to let other women know they are not alone, there is hope and recovery is possible.”

Alison and Naomi both work to promote positive mental health and coping mechanisms. Alison does mindset coaching and counselling and Naomi is an artist who often works in the Derry Print Workshop. The women came across each others social media platforms before going to the awards but the ceremony gave the trio a chance to get to know each other better and celebrate each others success.

Rachel explained: "There’s four finalists for each award and three of them will get highly commended while the other person is the winner. Alison won in her group and myself and Naomi were in the same group. So, when they called out Naomi’s name as winner I was delighted I wouldn’t have to walk up on the stage! They felt they wanted to give out two awards instead of one so I was awarded too in the end, which was great.”

"All the women who attended were from different backgrounds, had a range of skills, knowledge, talent and potential. It was empowering to celebrate their achievements, successes and share their inspirational and courageous life journeys. It was great to see what local women were doing for, with and within our community and I feel its important to acknowledge what women are doing in our society and the impact that they are having.”

Rachel, Naomi and Alison each have their own popular Instagram accounts, where more information can be found about their respective works. They are available at: @racheljeanart92 @beechdale_alison @naomi_prints

For more information on the awards, visit https://mightywomenni.co.uk/