Sharon Ellis-Gillard Receives Grant 9th January 2023

Sharon is the Director and Founder of Safempowerment.  She worked in the police for over 20 years.  On retiring Sharon worked in a women’s refuge qualifying as a family intervention practictioner.  Working with the women that had been abused was a wonderful experience but she felt that if the ladies had received input on healthy relationships earlier in life, would they be in the refuge now?  This led her to starting Safempowerment with the support of 2 other retired police officers.  They started talking about heathy relationships, but it quickly became aware that more was needed to expand their input.  Sexual harassment, child exploitation including county lines and mental health are in the forefront of the media and this is a real problem in our society.  Sharon runs workshops for up to 25 students at a time covering subjects such as respect and influences, mental health, self-harm, keeping safe and how to make girls feel safer on the streets.  This has expanded further to them working 1:1, running 6 week courses with children highlighted by schools to be at heightened risk of exploitation.  The Shackleton Leadership Award will help Safempowerment to speak to many more students, preventing them from becoming future victims or perpetrators.