ES-ME (Essence of Me)

Strength in Self-Love, Power in Protection

ES-ME is a trauma informed programme on femininity, sexuality, and grooming for young girls and young women aged 11-17 years. It was designed to help girls and young women navigate complex topics such as femininity, sexuality, grooming (including digital grooming, and child sexual exploitation (CSE). Ir provides a safe and supportive environment where participants can explore their identities, learn about healthy intimate relationships, and understand the risks of grooming and exploitation.

The programme will be delivered by senior social care practitioners with extensive experience specialising in child protection and safeguarding. Practitioners are knowledgeable and skilled in working with vulnerable young people and their families affected by exploitation, grooming and violence. They have expertise in trauma, emotional resilience, and therapeutic intervention approaches, dedicated to supporting the wellbeing and recovery of young people at risk.

ES-ME was developed to empower young women to embrace femininity and sexuality in a way that promotes self-respect, emotional intelligence, and autonomy, while equipping them with tools to identify and resist manipulation, exploitation and abusive relationships. It will encourage participants to explore how femininity and sexuality are often conflated in harmful ways, and helps participants develop a healthy, confident understanding of both. The programme encourages young women to define their femininity and sexuality on their own terms, free from societal pressures, and stereotypes. They will explore how femininity is often sexualised and learn to reclaim their identities in ways thatalign with more healthy values and beliefs.

ES-ME will provide a trauma approach to understanding CSE, focusing on how young women are manipulated, coerced, or exploited in both relationships and seemingly innocent encounters. Particpants will learn to identify red flags and safely seek help. The programme will educate participants on the tactics used in both offline and online spaces, and how exploiters use power and control to manipulate and exploit. This component covers social media, messaging apps, and gaming platforms where young women are often targeted. It also teaches digital safety, boundaries, and the importance of protecting personal information.

ES-ME will teach young women about the characteristics of healthy relationships, emphasising mutual respect, consent, trust, and open communication. It helps them differentiate between healthy and unhealthy dynamics and recognise when boundaries are being crossed. It will help them build self esteem and body confidence that often leads to vulnerability and easy targets for groomers. It will assist young women to identify how perpetrators use gifts, attention, or affection to exploit young women. The programme will also enable young women to explore how society, media and peer pressure shape their perceptions of femininity and body image that destroys confidence and self-respect.

Key Aims & Outcomes

  1. Enhanced self-esteem and body image in young women thus reducing the risk of grooming
  2. Increase participants awareness of grooming and exploitation to keep self safe
  3. Empowerment in relationships and intimacy, and how to spot controlling, abusive, or coercive behaviours early by recognising signs of emotional manipulation
  4. Help young women’s hyper-vigilance to safety both off and online via improved education about digital literacy and online safety, including how to handle inappropriate messages, images or requests online
  5. Trauma recovery and emotional resilience that help young women understand that healthy relationships must be built on trust, respect, equality, and communication
  6. Stronger peer networks and support systems that enable identification of healthy coping mechanisms to maintain healthy holistic health without feeling ashamed or stigmatised
  7. Foster a sense of group solidarity where experiences are shared to mitigate the risk of loneliness and isolation
  8. Additional services from the facilitators to work in partnership with young women, their families, educational establishments, and other leaders to re-engage young people in education and/or attendance at safe places
  9. To use the programme as a framework for access to S.T.E.P.S, a parental programme focusing on early identification, understanding and mitigating early, risky behaviours, and bridge the disconnect between children’s knowledge and experiences, and parental access to key information to aid safety planning

Get In Touch

For more information or any questions about ES-ME (Essence of Me), please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us. We endeavour to respond within two working days.