Training
Trauma-informed and relationship-based training informed by the Green Light Method, with a particular focus on girls and young women affected by sexual exploitation.
Hear Her Collective CIC
Girls should not have to tell us everything before we recognise that something isn’t right.
Hear Her Collective works to improve how we recognise, understand and respond to girls and young women affected by sexual exploitation.
Listen. Connect. Recognise the cues. Reduce missed opportunities.
As featured in
About Hear Her Collective
Lived experience and professional expertise, working as one.
Hear Her Collective CIC is a Community Interest Company, founded by Annie Forde to help change how girls and young women affected by sexual exploitation are understood, supported and safeguarded.
HHC puts lived experience at the heart of practice while bringing it together with professional expertise. The work is grounded in trauma-informed and relationship-based practice, early recognition of vulnerability, meaningful connection and reducing missed opportunities.
That professional expertise runs deep. As a registered social worker, Annie’s background spans victim support and domestic abuse, criminal justice and prison resettlement, youth violence prevention, education and SEND, statutory safeguarding, and equality, diversity and inclusion.
The Green Light Method
Look beyond disclosure. Notice what behaviour is trying to tell us.
The Green Light Method is central to the work of HHC and underpins Annie’s approach to training and consultancy. It is a trauma-informed, relationship-based approach that encourages professionals to look beyond disclosure and recognise the cues, behaviours and changes that may communicate vulnerability.
Cue 01Notice the cues
Cue 02Look beyond disclosure
Cue 03Understand what behaviour may be communicating
Cue 04Build meaningful relationships and trust
Cue 05Create safety and connection
Cue 06Recognise vulnerability earlier
Cue 07Reduce missed opportunities
The Green Light Method is also explored in Annie’s forthcoming Routledge book, Supporting Girls and Young Women Experiencing Sexual Exploitation: The Green Light Method.
Work With HHC
Ways to work together.
Bringing lived experience and professional expertise to organisations working to improve outcomes for girls and young women.
Consultancy
Supporting organisations to reflect on safeguarding practice, engagement, professional responses and how services recognise and respond to vulnerability.
Speaking & Events
Talks, panels, conferences and professional events bringing together lived experience and professional expertise.
Workshops
Interactive sessions for organisations, professionals and relevant settings.
Collaboration
Opportunities to work with charities, education providers, safeguarding services, local authorities, VAWG/CSE organisations, researchers and others improving outcomes for girls and young women.
Co-production
Co-production will create opportunities for girls and young women to inform resources, practice and conversations that directly affect them.
Our purpose
We need to notice sooner, listen differently and create better responses for girls and young women.
Change begins the moment we choose to hear her.
About Annie Forde
Founder, registered social worker, speaker and author.
Annie Forde is the Founder of Hear Her Collective CIC, a registered social worker, practitioner, speaker and forthcoming Routledge author. Her work brings together lived experience with professional experience across children and families, social care, education, the charity sector, criminal justice, safeguarding and equality, diversity and inclusion.
Having worked directly with children, young people, families and professionals across different services, Annie brings an understanding of both the experiences of those navigating systems and the responsibilities of the professionals working within them.
As a survivor of child sexual exploitation, and a mother herself, Annie brings deep lived experience to her professional practice. Her work focuses particularly on trauma-informed and relationship-based practice, recognising vulnerability, listening beyond disclosure and reducing missed opportunities for girls and young women.
Annie contributed to the BBC documentary Britain’s Forgotten Girls and is the author of the forthcoming Routledge book Supporting Girls and Young Women Experiencing Sexual Exploitation: The Green Light Method.
The Book
Forthcoming
Routledge · 2027
Routledge · 2027
Supporting Girls and Young Women Experiencing Sexual Exploitation: The Green Light Method
A practical, trauma-informed guide to recognising the cues, listening beyond disclosure and building the relationships that help girls and young women earlier — drawing together lived experience and professional practice.
Publication links and further details will be added here as they become available.
Media
In the media.
BBC Documentary
Britain’s Forgotten Girls
Annie contributed to the BBC documentary foregrounding the experiences of girls affected by sexual exploitation.
Watch on BBC iPlayer Still: BBC · Britain’s Forgotten Girls
Feature · The Telegraph
Annie’s story, in her own words
Annie speaks to The Telegraph about her experience of child sexual exploitation and why we must learn to recognise the signs sooner.
Read the article
Feature · The Independent
“Why won’t police take them seriously?”
The Independent’s coverage of the BBC documentary Britain’s Forgotten Girls, and the case for treating exploited girls as victims, not offenders.
Read the article
Work With HHC
Make an enquiry.
For organisations and individuals interested in training, consultancy, speaking, workshops or collaboration. Tell me a little about what you’re looking for and I’ll be in touch.