The girls who suffer in silence in focus for Heart Stockholm
Heart Stockholm is preparing to focus even more on helping single mothers and young girls living in the shadow world of crime in 2025.
- There is a lot of focus on boys living in crime as they are often featured in media reports on shootings and gang violence, but the families and young girls are often hit very hard without getting the same attention. Young mothers also have children who are at risk of being drawn into this criminal world," explains Flavia Perez, who knows what she is talking about.
In the book "In the shadow of the cartel", she describes her own upbringing in the Jordbro million program. She describes how, as a young girl and woman, she was affected when serious crime was in her immediate vicinity.
The men around Flavia made headlines with their criminality while Flavia suffered in silence, receiving death threats and ending up in the hands of professional killers. Flavia wants to give hope to these girls and young women who are suffering, based on her own experiences and the path she later found to redemption.
- In the future, the aim is to offer day care and outpatient care to municipalities, as well as help girls and young women with grief processing, counseling and mentoring. "We want to be with them all the way and help them work on their dysfunctional behaviors," she explains.
- We want to pass on what we have received ourselves," she adds.
Can you describe some important keys that helped you leave this shadow world?
- For me, it was important to have safe and loving role models that I could look up to. Being seen, affirmed and embraced was crucial. It may sound cliché, but unconditional love is the most important thing.
- We need more gold-diggers, those who dig gold in people and who don't look at the dirt but look behind all behaviors to find the beautiful and the valuable.
- If we can help a single woman and provide the support she needs to become a strong woman, then she will also choose the right partner and give the right direction to her children.
What are the main challenges for young girls in criminal environments?
- The biggest challenge is often financial. Many girls remain in dysfunctional relationships for financial reasons. The second challenge is that self-image and self-confidence are often shattered.
- That's why there are no quick fixes, it has to take time," explains Flavia Perez, who points out that the Heart Center already offers lectures on parenting, grief processing, mental health and codependency, both at the center in southern Stockholm and via personal visits around Sweden.
Text: Ruben Agnarsson
Photo: Private
Read more about Heart Stockholm's work: