User Voice may be small but they have a lot to say

Emma Parton

13/12/2013

It's a fair assumption that probation officers come into this line of work due to a genuine desire to help, support and change people’s lives. This is often due to personal life experiences that enable us to empathise with others.  My life could have turned out very differently but I somehow managed to channel my negative experiences into something positive and this led me to where I am today. I believe in change and want to support people to change. Someone once said that I was a 'rescuer' although this has been to my detriment at times. As a Probation Officer, finding the right balance of punishment and rehabilitation is difficult. The ever increasing layers of bureaucracy has seen the Probation Service focus primarily on enforcement and the traditional social work values of advise, assist, befriend have become diluted. In the five short years I've have worked for London Probation I've seen a rapidly changing service. Some of it good, some of it bad but there’s no doubt that the 'streamlining' of services; a fancy way of cutting resources is detrimental to the rehabilitation process.

Service users expect a lot from probation and whilst we genuinely want to meet expectations, the already shrinking service means we simply cannot deliver it all. This leaves me like others feeling frustrated. The biggest changes are yet to come with the Transforming Rehabilitation agenda and Chris Graylings crusade to create a disjointed, profit driven, untried and untested criminal justice system (this is only my view of course). The next 12 months I face uncertainty, worry and a moral dilemma; to CRC or not too CRC. Do I compromise my values to work for a company I do not believe in? Will it become a box ticking exercise? The truth is no one really knows.

Amongst the day to day probation politics there is User Voice. I've always been a supporter of their work and it's hard not to feel inspired by their passion and innovation. Quite simply they are a breath of fresh air in the changing world of changing Criminal Justice. I see service user involvement as fundamental to improving Criminal Justice services. It adds value, credibility, breeds creativity and is solution focused. The outcome does not only benefit the service user but also the staff. A positive probation experience encourages compliance and engagement. For the officer; less breaches, less paperwork, more job satisfaction. Service user feedback is a hot topic and I’ve been extremely impressed by the level of support from the senior management team. I credit Heather Munro’s enthusiasm for User Voice as instrumental in embedding service user involvement within London Probation.

At times the feedback is brutal, it makes people feel uncomfortable. It causes mixed emotions. Sometimes I cringe. It causes this reaction because we care about our work, our colleagues and our service users. Contrary to some people’s beliefs, Probation Officers like to do more than just breach and recall but no one wants to be told they are doing a bad job. That said it is important to mention that a lot of service users give praise to their officers and the support they receive. However there is always room for improvement and this is what the community councils seek to address. The Probation Service needs charities like User Voice to simply tell it like it is. They say what a lot of Probation staff wish they could say. I have been welcomed into the team and feel truly humbled to be a part of the rehabilitation revolution if only for a short time. The staff are lively, inspirational and committed to the User Voice mission and to each other. User voice may be small but they have a lot to say.