User Voice has been the key to the windows that are my eyes

Rebecca Page
29/07/2013

User Voice has undoubtedly been the key to the windows that are my eyes!

I spent the best part of my working career which spanned over 13 years in a highly corporate, selfish, closed minded, ugly environment, where you either eat or be eaten. During my time within this industry I believed this environment was second to none. Everyone in it, including myself was superior to all others, and money and power was the answer to everything.

After perhaps 2 years in, the processes, policies, discipline and ‘take no prisoners’ (excuse the pun) mentality which bound me, were indeed almost like chains. At the time of course, I found this to be powerful, and people that worked for me often found themselves at the sharp end of my greed and zero tolerance. All because I wanted / needed / was told that I had to be the best. This ugly trait that was nurtured by this environment which conditioned me seemed to happen without me even realising. At the top and still climbing towards Regional Management – I single-handedly caused myself to fall and to lose everything.

That was just a snap shot of my life – then.  As a woman the journey I went on which brought me to the present day was undeniably shattering, together with insurmountable shame. Behind every offence whatever it may be there is always a deep and complex story which has components of pain, shame and disappointment in equal measures. I definitely felt all of these emotions. For me I literally
accepted my punishment and correction; I had my blinkers on, and perhaps unlike others I did not analyse anything at the time. I did what was required of me. It’s only when that episode of my life was finished that I really analysed and broke down every little detail of myself, my mind and general being, which allowed me to reflect, amend and change. Doing this whilst I was in this nightmare and almost surreal environment would have made me far too vulnerable.

A year and a half on, having been working for User Voice for one year now, I have found all that positive energy and friendly strength which I once knew before my corporate journey. The passion that encompasses every single member of the team (including myself) is electric, and full of warmth and understanding.  Additionally I have been able to transfer a lot of my skills I had gratefully learnt within my previous career (which were acutely identified by my manager Paula Harriott who I find truly inspirational). I like to think I bring a welcomed different dimension to the team, by managing our vastly experienced London based Programme Managers, as well as the delivery and implementation of all our London Projects.  The platform that User Voice provides every single day to people that are ready within themselves, and that do wish to make a difference to their own lives is priceless.

I wake up every day knowing that there is a real possibility that I or any member of the team will help someone to see that re-offending is a dead end, and equally potentially highlight to one of the many services that the time and effort they put in is not a waste. Re-offending can be reduced.

Only by ensuring that service users are involved in the decision making process will enable this to happen.

I wanted to work with young people to allow them to make positive choices which will help them in life

Mifta Choudhury

22/07/2013

I joined User Voice almost 11 months ago working on the Youth Programmes. I deliver the Youth Councils and Advisory Group projects across London and also support staff on the adult community side with Peer Mentoring.

User Voice is unique because of the staff who work here and the holistic support it gives to service users.

I spent the best part of my life in prison. One of the things that I saw was that people kept coming back; I saw people who got out of prison after being inside for two or three years and down the line I would bump into them again, I would think to myself why have they come back into prison?

When we had a catch up and a chat I would ask them about why they were back in prison and they would tell me that they had no help or support outside once they had left jail, they were back on streets doing what they had to do to survive… I remember the same people saying to me, I’m not coming back to jail! In the end it was thanks to those people that I decided to get an education while I was in prison.

I decided that I wanted to work with young people to help them, to support and guide them and allow them to make positive choice’s which will help them in life.  It’s not my job to impose my values or beliefs on the young people I work with, but I use my learning experiences to inspire these young people onto a better future.

I find that the young people I work with at User Voice are innovative, resilient and passionate about making change, once you get to know them!  They see you for who you are and once you have built the relationship with them you get to see this passion and drive. We have some great conversations and other times we have a really good laugh!

The young people I've been working with are now the leaders of their Youth Council/Advisory Groups, and now being accredited as Peer Mentors. They have learned to manage and balance their life to extent where they now turn up for meetings on time and can commit themselves to helping to change local services and the community and look at life in a different way. 

I don’t think this is just down to me; it is by the young people learning, adapting and by having absolute consistency from User Voice staff who provide a holistic, caring approach to working with these young people.

The impact that criminal convictions can have on employment prospects

Bob Ashford
15/07/2013

The first week I joined User Voice I went to a staff business development day. At the start of the day everyone introduced themselves and talked about their previous offences openly. This was unlike anything I had experienced before and when it came to myself I shared my background in Youth Offending teams and the Youth Justice Board from the delivery as opposed to the service user perspective. 

I did though share the two offences I had committed 46 years ago as a 13 year old- producing a mix of astonishment and wry amusement among the people there as the offences were so minor. Did they count I wondered?

Several months later I had to resign as the Police and Crime Commissioner candidate for Avon and Somerset because of those two offences. This was when it hit me that yes those offences did matter, and 46 years later were still capable of stopping me doing something I felt passionate about.

I then remember coming into the office just days after I resigned and was cheered by everyone for being so public and campaigning against the injustice which affects everyone with a criminal convictions.

Last week I found myself sharing the platform at the Criminal Justice Conference 2013 with Jude Jubey, a young man who has been a member of Southwark Youth Advisory Group which has been facilitated by User Voice. The subject was the impact that criminal convictions can have on employment prospects. 

Jude spoke eloquently on his own experiences as a young black guy from Southwark, the problems he had and the aspirations he held. I then spoke, a middle aged, middle class white guy, on my experiences and those of the many hundreds who have contacted me with their own personal stories which have come about as result of their criminal convictions. 

The contrast couldn't have been greater between the two of us, and yet in many ways the thing that joined us together, and the many others who weren't in that room, is the way society sees the offence and not the individual behind that offence. 

That is the real tragedy and why together with User Voice we are challenging and changing perceptions and practice. That’s why it means so much to me to be a part of the team.

I feel the warmth of peer support; these people know my journey and I know theirs.

Paula Harriott
8/07/2013

Between 2004 and 2008 I was a prisoner, serving the majority of my sentence at HMP Drake Hall in Staffordshire, a semi open prison holding around 400 women. I arrived there desolate and angry; missing my five children, and facing long, sad, frustrating, agonising days and nights as I came to terms with the eight year sentence.  Prison for women is like going back to junior school….yes miss, no miss, can I go to the toilet miss….it doesn't do much for your self esteem or self confidence for sure as you soak up the atmosphere of control and correction.

Last month I returned to HMP Drake Hall, not on recall, but working as Head of Programmes for User Voice. I walked around the prison, revisiting memories and my main focus was on a small blue hut in the centre of the prison, called the Signpost. In many ways my journey to User Voice started there in that little blue hut with no heating in the winter (freezing). But what it signified to me and to all my peers was a refuge from the authority of the prison. The Signpost was the first peer support project at Drake Hall. Two prisoners (one of them me) escaped the drudgery of cleaning and kitchens to sit in that hut, unsupervised by staff, and support other women to access education courses, fill in complaints, read their mail, get information about how best to survive in prison and generally just be a welcoming space for those that needed a bit of humanity in the midst of the institutional coldness that is prison. In the Signpost we made tea, talked like free people and generally gave each other support to get through the drama and tension that is prison. 

In two years the number of women undertaking distance learning courses rose to over 60, a first at that prison, and the number of complaints also rose dramatically. At that time complaining was the only option by which to exercise voice; there was no prison council. The Governor soon recognised that the Signpost was a hub of information regarding what was going on in the prison and would often pop in for a cup of tea and a chat about issues, seeking to understand the mood of the prison and using myself and the other peer supporters as a barometer to test out new ideas, proposed changes and generally find out how his staff were doing. He was willing to listen to both good and bad. (I have visited that Governor too, now managing a large male prison, in my capacity as Head of Programmes at User Voice.) Without knowing it I was developing and practising the skills needed in the co-production methodology that underpins the work of User Voice.

So in the Signpost I learnt the value of peer support and how it can benefit prisoners. How it can contribute to a better experience of prison, how it can offer support to those who have only ever been exposed to pain and brutality outside; mirrored in the prison regime, life feels no different to the norm. The informal talking and motivation to look forward, the modelling of compassionate non-judgmentalism to all those who came through the door of the Signpost was a stark contrast to the cultural norm of the institution. It was peer support that got me through my prison sentence, that helped me to understand myself better and challenged me the deepest, because I was not paralysed by fear when communicating; I was keenly aware of the power the prison staff had over my life and did not ever trust the hand they offered along the way. They offered control and surveillance, not motivation nor hope in change.

I came to User Voice, still in pain and anguish caused by that prison sentence, but here at User Voice I have once again found the refuge of the Signpost; a space to be me, to own my failings, to acknowledge my strengths and celebrate my successes. Working in an organisation, staffed by 80% ex-offenders, I feel the warmth of peer support; these people know my journey and I know theirs, not from a book but from personal experience. It’s a pain that binds and in the unity we have strength, build resilience and find freedom. 

Toe by toe has grown, and it has created employment.

Mark Nash
1/07/2013

I’m an ex-offender and I've done a 6 and a 12 year sentence back to back. I came out in 2011 and have been working for User Voice for two and a half years now. I didn't think I would be doing this sort of job or even working in this sort of environment before I came out of jail, but I applied myself and did a degree in counselling and two diplomas in gang mentoring.

I've gone from setting up community programmes in probation, to setting up prison programmes and teaching them how to write proposals in the prisons. I’m working in mental health now as well and doing peer mentoring for mental health patients- it’s ridiculous to see how many projects I’m working on. I think I've done so well, from what I used to be to what I am now, I've completely turned a page. As for the work I’m doing, it’s so interesting. I work in Haringey Community Council and out of it came the toe by toe concept. I used to do the toe by toe concept in jail where you could teach someone to read and write. You use it as a tool to improve reading and writing skills, so service users can grow in self-esteem get them up to a standard where they feel comfortable to do literacy level one.  A lot of people are older- 30s-40s- they've not learnt to read and write all their life. When they’re in jail they are forced to do things for themselves.

It was a service user’s idea saying we should do it in the community and I went with it, going with what I know, and helped put it together. I helped structure it and got the training done for the service users in the community, and helped them facilitate it in the probation office. Its grown now so that User Voice and probation have hired a programme manager to put it together- you can do toe by toe inside, and when you come outside, you can do peer mentoring. If anyone comes in and wants toe by toe training, I would use my service users who are trained in toe by toe to do the training, so it’s really teach one help one. When they've done that I put them onto someone else in probation to help them write a CV.

It helps service users because they evolve along the way and help themselves. Toe by toe has grown, and it's created employment- it’s an ex-offender who has got employed as a programme manager- and I don’t know a lot of companies hiring ex-offenders, so I think it’s a good thing. I never thought I would be doing a job like this now- I didn't think I would be the person providing this material and using my brain to put it all together.