From tragedy to hope: How Serenity Welfare is helping young people

Aklan, CEO and Founder of Serenity Welfare, talks to Sarah Dale about what inspired her to switch careers and start her own company and how she inspires her team to realise her vision of making

Emily Aklan’s passion, tenacity and drive to do the right thing have seen her rise to leadership roles from a young age, take on her ex-brother-in-law in court, launch and grow a successful company and successfully campaign for children and young people’s rights.

“I’m pretty headstrong so when I believe in something, I will fight tooth and nail for it,” says Emily, CEO and Founder of Serenity Welfare, which has recently joined Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce as a Patron.

“I was a young woman working in the 1990s in construction. I worked my way up to Project Director in the UK at the age of 32 and worked internationally. I would be in Board meetings with older men set in their ways trying to put my point across. It was challenging but, in the end, I secured more sites to manage, given more responsibility and grew more successful.”

The project she is most proud of in her construction career was working on a Government initiative in West Africa near the Sahara Desert to knock down mud shacks and replace with social housing.

After three years and towards the end of the project, Emily became very ill with malaria and returned home. Her beloved sister, Faye, died from a heart attack aged just 35 in March 2011, shortly after her return. Emily’s nieces were only seven and 10 when their mother passed away. Her ex-brother-in-law took the girls to Cyprus which Emily and her mother fought against, and they were returned six months later, but it took four years for them to win full custody of the sisters, who grew up with Emily’s daughter.

“It was horrendous, but she is always with me,” says Emily, who has a treasured photo of Faye on her desk.

Serenity Welfare was conceived from a conversation with a friend who said Emily would be perfect to run a good provision of care for vulnerable children and young people.

“She told me that children as young as 12 years old were being put in handcuffs in secure transportation,” says Emily.

“I told her I didn’t know anything about social care and she pointed out my experience with my sister’s case – and then something clicked in my head. I started looking into the industry.”

She launched the company in 2016 and convinced Mercedes in Hertford to lease her a vehicle to realise her vision of having prestigious cars to securely transport children looked after from A to B. Now Serenity Welfare has a fleet of 27 vehicles, including Mercedes and Range Rovers.

“They are beautiful cars and we have an almost 100 per cent success rate in getting young people into cars,” she explains.

“It’s not just about the cars, it’s our nurturing approach which is at the centre of everything we do.

“The company is born out of tragedy. If Faye hadn’t died, there would be no Serenity Welfare. We have helped hundreds and hundreds of children with transport and in crisis.

“It’s so wonderful to see how these young people come to us and how they end up being completely different people.”

Serenity Welfare, based in a 17th-century manor house in Broxbourne that used to be a children’s home, offers comprehensive and bespoke support packages for children and young people, from birth to 19, in the care of local authorities. Their services include secure transport, an appropriate adult service,

24-hour crisis support, a small residential children’s home, legal services and wellbeing services, including boxing, music, drama therapy and art therapy interventions. The company supports children and young people across the UK and plans to open a northern base further down the line.

They have opened a wellbeing centre at their Broxbourne headquarters which boasts a heated outdoor pool and yoga facilities.

Emily was introduced to the Chamber through a member who provides Serenity Welfare’s uniforms.

“We joined the Chamber and became Patrons as these children and young people need all of our support,” says Emily, who won the Social Enterprise Businesswoman award at the Great British Businesswoman Awards in 2021 and 2022.

“We launched our Hope Instead of Handcuffs campaign four years ago to stop the barbaric practice of putting children in care, handcuffs to transport them. I don’t believe any private provider should be handcuffing children and I will continue to lobby this until legislation has been changed in England, to follow the guidance introduced in Wales, and legislation changes in Scotland.

“Children in care need more care than children who have families and support; they need us to campaign for them and give them a voice. We use a caring and nurturing approach and verbal de-escalation and talk to them like a human being. There is no secret ingredient. Treat people how you would like to be treated – it works every time. And, of course, the vehicles help as they are prestigious cars and chauffeur-driven with complimentary goodie bags containing snacks, drinks and a stress ball.

“We’re also meeting members who could provide work experience for young people to raise their aspirations.”

Emily, who has written a book about her journey to launch Serenity Welfare called The Road to Serenity, adds that she may be the one “navigating the ship” but the success and growth of the company is down to the whole team following her ethos and passion for nurturing children and young people.

If you are interested in a role at Serenity Welfare, please email: hello@serenitywelfare.org.uk

The Road to Serenity by Emily Aklan is available on Amazon. Proceeds from the book go to charity.