“Before I came to Strength & Stem I didn’t want to go outside, but when I went there, I felt amazing. Working with flowers makes me feel calm and helps me to overcome my sadness”
- Strength & Stem Graduate
Strength & Stem is a charity and social enterprise that uses floristry to empower female modern slavery survivors.
Vision
We want to see female survivors of modern slavery and human trafficking restored from their trauma, empowered for the future, and able to sustain a good quality of life.
Mission
We aim to achieve our vision by offering tailored skills training (including vocational floristry training), work experience, mentorship, and a supportive community.
Programmes
Our holistic programmes are designed to help prepare survivors for employment and increase their sense of wellbeing and community. If you are personally interested in our programmes, or you are a Support Worker/Charity and would like to refer a woman in your service, please fill out this form.
Social Enterprise
Our social enterprise florist exists to provide further training and employment to programme alumni, in addition to sustainable income for our charitable work. When you buy flowers from us, you’re helping to fight slavery with floristry.
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1. Vocational Floristry Training
At the beginning of our programme, survivors undertake six weeks of vocational floristry training. This equips them will core skills and important industry knowledge necessary for a career in floristry.
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2. Prevocational Skills Training
To support overall wellbeing as well as employability, survivors complete additional training sessions aimed at developing important hard and soft skills. Topics covered include: navigating life and work in the UK, CV writing, interview preparation and financial budgetting, in addition to self-compassion, stress management, resilience and adaptability.
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3. Mentorship
Every programme participant is given the opportunity to work with volunteer mentor for a period of six months. This aspect of the programme is designed to help survivors work towards their employment goals in a safe and supportive environment.
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4. Work Experience
Whilst undertaking their mentorship, each survivor has the opportunity to complete six weeks of work experience with a well-known and well-established florist in London.
The need for our work
There are 136,000 victims of modern slavery in the UK today. 81% of those in London are women.
Those who manage to escape exploitation face numerous barriers to recovery and independence.
Before starting our programmes survivors tell us that they feel isolated and afraid, and that they want to work and contribute to society but they lack the skills, confidence, and safe opportunities to do so.
Our unique programmes have been developed in direct response, to support survivors to overcome these barriers and so that they can recover from their trauma and become empowered for the future.
Why flowers?
We believe that floristry can be used as a tool for meaningful employment, as well as therapeutic enjoyment.
Studies examining the therapeutic effects of flowers show that flowers have positive effects on mood and memory.
The floristry industry is also uniquely diverse and flexible in the type of opportunities it presents for work. This suits many survivors for whom managing their time and energy appropriately is extremely important.
For us, flowers are a symbol of restoration, creativity, and hope.
Team
Strength & Stem is led on a day-to-day basis by a fantastic staff team.
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Jenna Evans
PROGRAMME DIRECTOR
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Lisa Hollis
PROGRESS FACILITATOR
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Rebecca Saunders
PROGRAMME COORDINATOR
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Tessa Trace
GRANTS MANAGER
Trustees
Strength & Stem operates with a board of trustees who provide crucial oversight, effective governance and stewardship of the charity’s resources. They hold a deep enthusiasm for Strength & Stem’s work and are devoted to leveraging their varied skills and expertise to advance our mission.
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Claire MacIver
TREASURER AND TRUSTEE
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Elizabeth Channon
TRUSTEE
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Jess Visser
FOUNDER AND CHAIR OF TRUSTEES
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Joanna Moberly
COMMPANY SECRETARY AND TRUSTEE
Survivor Advisory Board
The Advisory Board consists of five women who have lived experience of human trafficking and modern slavery, all of whom are Strength & Stem programme graduates. The Advisory Board is facilitated by three volunteers who bring expertise of working alongside lived experience groups. The Advisory Board meets regularly throughout the year to provide direction, feedback and advice. Their role is crucial to ensuring that survivors continue to be at the center of everything that we do.
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Eleanor Bygrave
ADVISORY BOARD FACILITATOR
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Lucy Mitchell-Claire
ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR
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Neo Allwood
ADVISORY BOARD COMPANY SECRETARY
Non-Executive Board
Strength & Stem operates as both a business and a charity. The business (Strength & Stem Flowers) was launched in 2022 to complement the work of its sister charity (Strength & Stem Ltd) which was established in 2019. The business’ aim is to become financially sustainable so that it can provide employment to charity programme graduates and reliable income to the charity. The two entities work closely together to fulfil Strength & Stem’s mission to see modern slavery survivors restored from their trauma, empowered for the future, and able to sustain a good quality of life. Strength & Stem Flowers’ Non-Executive Directors provide independent oversight, guidance, and strategic direction to the company's management.
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Charlotte Penn
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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Ella Read
NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
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Jess Visser
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR
“Where flowers bloom, so does hope”
— Lady Bird Johnson
*References
[1] Global Slavery Index (2018). p. 94 https://www.globalslaveryindex.org/resources/downloads/
[2] Hestia (2017) Underground lives: The reality of modern slavery in London. p.8
[3] Haviland-Jones, J., Rosario, H.H., Wilson, P., and McGuire, T.R. (2005). An Environmental Approach to Positive Emotion: Flowers. Evolutionary Psychology., 3, p.104