In her day job, Hilary is an executive and team coach and leadership development consultant who works with senior executives and their teams. By night, she is a facilitator for The Clewer Initiative’s Hidden Voices course!
Hilary explains: “At a church event in 2017, I met Caroline Virgo, the director of The Clewer Initiative. We began talking about modern slavery and the vision behind The Clewer Initiative. It was early days in the organisation’s development, but I was keen to see if they could make use of my gifts and skills. Caroline suggested I help facilitate the Hidden Voices training programme. I had been looking for an opportunity to volunteer and give back to society and this seemed like the perfect match. The ethos of The Clewer Initiative also seemed to fit really well with my beliefs – it is all about helping people be noticed, have a voice and be treated fairly.”
Hilary helped The Clewer Initiative deliver its first Hidden Voices course in Bridgwater and made important contributions to its structure and contents which we still use today. Since then, she has co-led a number of Hidden Voices courses as well as helping to facilitate network meetings and strategy meetings.
Hilary adds: “What struck me most when I led my first Hidden Voices course was how interested everybody was. It was not at all theoretical. They knew victims of modern slavery in their communities and families, and they were deeply troubled and desperate to do something. The wonderful thing about Hidden Voices is that it brings people together from different churches to do something practical in their community.
“I would dearly love to run an inter-faith Hidden Voices course. We were on the brink of organising something in East London when COVID hit. I am passionate about the idea of different faiths working together for a common mission in a community. Hopefully, this is something we will be able to get off the ground in 2021/2022.
“Although I am very busy running my company, I am able to fit my Clewer volunteering in the evenings. I enjoy using my skills to draw others out, help them consider what might be happening in their areas and galvanising them to see what they can do locally to raise awareness and take action.”
