what we do
meet the women we work with
Sherelle
Now 18, Sherelle was bullied and for a while stopped talking to anyone, now she’s working her way towards a fascinating future.
'I moved schools when I was 13. An older girl said she was going to stab me and set my hair alight and stuff like that. Even though I’d told the teachers it got worse, so finally mum pulled me out of that school. But it left me feeling really small and silly. The school said that the bully was ‘troubled’ but they seemed to be more concerned about her than how I was feeling. So I stopped talking to people. There seemed to be no point. I felt like no one listened. Starting a new school was really daunting too. I hardly knew anyone.
'But gradually Platform 51 helped me get my confidence back. It took a while; they encouraged me to try lots of different things out of my comfort zone, and I met new people, nice people. So I keep coming. It’s made a big difference in my life.
Over the years I’ve done loads of courses and programmes at Platform 51 and now I’m helping to run them. Most of them are about self-image and becoming independent. One was called Miss Independent and it dealt with the transition between schools and college. I’m training to be a peer mentor so I can help the younger girls. Another course was called Me, myself and I and it was about how you see yourself, how the media sees people and how to make yourself feel better through exercise and diet. There is a pressure on young women to look a certain way, a way that most of us can’t ever achieve even if we wanted to. We looked at the dimensions of Barbie, and how it was not real, actually impossible to be like that.
'At college now I’m doing applied science; I’d like to go to university to study forensic science. I was interested in becoming a pathologist, or perhaps scenes of crime officer, but now I’m more interested in the psychology side of it, criminology, why people do what they do… noticing the little things and putting it all together to solve the problem. I watch crime drama on TV, but I sit there shouting at the TV ‘but you’re doing it wrong! You should have your hair tied back!"
Find out how your support can help young women like Sherelle here.
fact
40% of sexually-active 13- and 14-year-olds in the UK were 'drunk or stoned' at first intercourse
how your money helps
Give £100 and help pay for a course to teach women with learning disabilities about life choices and the right to say no
contact Platform 51 Nottingham
Nottingham Women's Centre
Chaucer Street
Nottingham
NG1 5LP
email: nottingham@platform51.org
Phone: 0115 958 7409
Louise says
"I am proud to work for Platform 51. Hearing how young women have overcome difficult times against all odds is inspiring. I enjoy the opportunity to tell these success stories to the business community and inspire support for our work."
we think
...girls and young women need practical and sensible sex education if they are to make realistic, informed and considered choices when they do become sexually active
