Blossom is a Big Lottery funded project which commenced in October 2016. The project provides targeted support for young women aged 16 – 24 years living in the Stockton area who are at significant risk of poor outcomes due to a range of vulnerabilities and complex needs. A key aspiration of the project is to prevent the exploitation of vulnerability and routes into survival sex work.

The Blossom service offers to empower and advocate for young women and support them to:

• Build emotional resilience and social capital
• Make positive life-choices and
• Realise their aspirations/fulfil their potential

The Blossom project incorporates specialist support to young women withnon-diagnosed, or diagnosed additional needs who have particular vulnerablilites and may be at risk of exploitation or grooming.

The Blossom project will use a delivery model around three core decisive actions of Reach-Engage-Empower. Working in close partnership with a number of local agencies we will work to achieve our overarching goal:

“Vulnerable young women who have accessed our service have a positive vision of womanhood, are purposefully engaged in education or training, free from addictions and exploitation and empowered to the lives they want to lead.”

We look to do this via a range of different activities:

• Outreach
• Drop-ins
• Befriending/mentoring
• 1:1 support
• Therapeutic group work
• Personal counselling
• Family mediation
• Employability and work related support
• Mental health and work related support through rolling programmes
• Health and fitness programmes
• Healthy lifestyle and life skills programmes
• Holistic support
• A strength based, empowerment approach that prioritises co-production and design with the clients we work with
• Trauma and gender informed
• Relational, non-judgmental approach
• We operate within a centre that provides a female only safe space