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.

Finding a World of Freedom

Perdita Palmer

22/11/2013

Money is freedom – so some say. But how does one define freedom?

Freedom. Think about it. It’s probably one of the most powerful concepts that determines, or in an abstract sense, surrounds politics, culture and humanity. Everyone strives for freedom but what are we actually striving for?

Some argue that education, opportunity, monetary gain in career success equals or enables freedom. But to do what? Travel? See the world? Revel in materialism? Does money provide reliable means by which to find, experience or succeed in love, self- satisfaction or pride? Money may enable one to access many aspects of life that everyone considers necessary or standard in order to conventionally or superficially ‘survive’ but whether one actually feels free or is free with any of these is a different matter. One might have more money than sense, but happiness, love, family, trust, honesty and satisfaction can never be guaranteed.

As the well known saying goes:

“When you are in the final days of your life, what will you want? Will you hug that college degree in the walnut frame? Will you ask to be carried out to the garage so you can sit in your car? Will you find comfort in reading your financial statement? No. What will matter then will be the people”.

You might be thinking: “what has this got to do with User Voice?” Well, a lot. User Voice and the people that have entered my life have taught me one of the most important and enlightening lessons of my life, so far. And I can tell you now that this lesson has changed the direction of my life in a rich and meaningful way that has left me feeling liberated, inspired, ambitious and free.

My journey has gone from conservatism, ignorance and boredom to freedom of thought, satisfaction and appreciation. Having had a very privileged upbringing, it is common of many of my peers to follow the expected timeline of life progression. So, you go from completion of secondary school, to university and into a job that reflects your desire to maintain and replicate the standard of living we are all used to. Yes, privilege, education and financial stability provides opportunity and freedom of choice but how free actually are we? It might sound strange but overwhelming opportunity is actually largely restricting. So much choice equals indecision, confusion and most profoundly dissatisfaction.

I feel as though many of my peers lack in education through experience because of the expected timeline progression. But the opportunities I have said yes to, have led me down a different path that now makes me feel detached from my familiar peers.

My journey began with the shock of someone close to me facing a long stretch in prison. This turned my life upside down and was the catalyst for my desire to become a successful defence barrister but also to enrich my life by understanding and appreciating the lives of others. My personal experience opened up a whole world of understanding but also frustration. The ignorance that fills society about many aspects of the criminal justice system and the people that pass through it infuriates me daily. I used to be one of those conservative bigots who at one stage would have supported an individual such as Chris Grayling. But tragedy happened to me, tragedy happened to my family and it’s not until it happens to you that you can then understand and appreciate other people’s stories.

This society is filled with so much superficial public discourse instilled by the powerful who more often than not have no idea what the people they are there to serve, face. In many ways, I wish I had remained in my bubble and had not experienced such a tragic situation. But in many other ways, I feel as though it has educated me in such a way that makes me cringe at the thought of how I would have lived my life. Before my journey began, I had no idea what I wanted to do but I was money motivated. I had no real passion in life apart from money. Without a specific passion to follow, I was on the brink of entering a career in headhunting/recruitment that would have filled my daily life with aggression, close mindedness and a vulgar desperation for the big pay cheque at the end of the month. How sad. And how lucky I am now to have escaped that.

It’s easy to hear about someone else’s story and have a momentary feeling of sympathy or compassion but how genuine and long lasting is it? My story, however tragic it has been has not even compared to some of the stories attached to some of the individuals I have got to know. But, because of what I have experienced so far, I can truly understand and appreciate the hardship that now inspires me.

Life isn’t about money. Of course you need money to survive but there is much more to life than materialism, the superficiality of relationships, the sick desire to appear a certain way or attempt to embody someone you are not. There are people in this world that have been at rock bottom and faced such tragedy in their life but had the individual strength to acknowledge it, face it, overcome it and carry it with them to save others. Many of these people I have met, I work alongside daily. To come from working in a corporate environment in the city, bored out of my brain, counting down the minutes until the day ends and feeling miserable, bored and so selfish to take for granted the ease and stability of my life compared to where I am now, is amazing. And it’s just the beginning. The moment I walk into my work place now, I can feel the electric passion that unites every single one of us. This is a feeling that I have been lucky enough to experience and learn about; I seek this continuation of satisfaction throughout my career and throughout my life.

Bigots exclude people who have been through the criminal justice system. People even look at me differently and want to dissociate themselves with me because I’m attached to someone in prison. But these individuals, I pity.

My life has taken a completely different direction than was expected, working with individuals who originally felt unfamiliar to me, but I’m proud.

I’m proud to be surrounded by people who are educated, ambitious and enriched with a pure understanding of life. There is no individual better than an ex – prisoner to be able to know and understand the true meaning of freedom. The thought of the raw sense of freedom upon release, a feeling that I have not personally experienced, is so powerful and challenges what most people’s definition of freedom is.

Call me pensive but the last two years of my life have awakened me and have made me a better person. The people I work with every day make me a better person. To have experienced such a transformation is heartwarming. A job shouldn’t be undertaken just for monetary gain. A direction in life shouldn’t be pursued just because it is expected of you or because it’s convenient.

I broke my socially expected rules and feel as though I have found freedom to now live my life.

This is my blog...

Joanna Stabler
27/08/2013

To be forgiven.  Without judgement or blame.  To forgive myself.  Space to be honest with weaknesses.  Accept and be accepted by others without pretence. To be given another chance.   To see the best in everyone.  To be a friend you want to be, without ‘something’ holding you back. Accomplish balance.  Overcome embarrassment.  Listen as well as to be listened to.  Be open to the outcome.

This is me, or who I want to be

I try, I fail, and I learn & give it another go

This is me, this is User Voice?
This is why I believe

I’m not an expert, and will never pretend to be, but I do have belief.

That’s my passion, this is my blog!!!

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.

Change can and will take place if we all work together hard enough for it.

Garry Waller
25/06/2013

I think first and foremost it is essential for me to highlight that User Voice has been fundamentally instrumental in the growth and skills that I have acquired over the past 2 years.

On saying that, the reason I joined User Voice was that I thought- looking at the model they used- it is simplistic and very holistic. Subsequently, it looked like the rewards that were potentially on offer for service providers and service users were, from my experience, totally unimaginable.

With my background, having spent the best part of 15 years engulfed in the criminal justice system, I was quite sceptical. Based on my own experiences I was doubtful of just how much of an impact the service users that we engage with could actually have on organisations such as London Probation, whose policies have been built around red tape and bureaucracy.

How wrong could I have been; the changes that have taken place and continue to take place on a daily basis are fruitful and appetizing.

More importantly, for me the energy that has been stirred up within the service user community has been the most satisfying to watch; equipping themselves with the adequate skills to become active citizens.

I have worked with well over a hundred service users; lots of them have successfully completed their orders for the first time, lots more have moved on to gainful employment and lots continue to work voluntarily on councils as members that represent some of the most marginalized groups of people in the country. Now that is what it is about for me.

Change can and will take place if we all work together hard enough for it.

"Truth is on the side of the oppressed" - Malcolm X.

User Voice: The voice to help you help yourself

Eddie Karwhoo
17/06/2013

User Voice have been an inspiration to service users around the UK by giving people a voice and saying to them that we have been there before, we understand your problems, we will give you the voice to help you help yourself.

It happened to me and I have met over hundreds of people that are in the same position as me.

I started with User Voice in Maidstone prison in 2010. Since then I have been a volunteer both in Kent and London.

Where User Voice play a big role is helping service users to change their perception about probation. They make you feel that you have a working relationship to improve your life - it gives you confidence that if others can make it then you can. 

It gives you the opportunity to express yourself in a positive way.

In all, User Voice is a big family that holds hand together and when anybody is drowning they extend their hands to take you out.

Testimonial to User Voice

Venrika Kelly
05/06/2013

User Voice is one of THE most awesome, reliable and helpful charities I have seen set up over the years that are for service users like myself. There is nothing like it; the level of work and determination that goes into setting up focus groups, delivering surgeries across all the LDU's and making sure that all parties are involved, and voices are heard in a safe, fair and non-prejudicial environment is immeasurable.

Trust me when I say that as charities go, User Voice is second to none and will play a key part in making our community safer and bridging the gap between our judicial system and the people that use them, for many more years to come. I am honoured and feel very privileged to be a part of something like this and will be forever grateful for the opportunities I have received  since volunteering.

User Voice you ROCK!

Words have power. Choose them wisely.

Anne-Marie Douglas

20/05/2013

I find the term ‘Participation’ relating to young people’s involvement in service provision patronising by its very definition. It aspires to the notion that children and young people are allowed to participate or offer their views on services that adults run, some of the time, and when it suits the adults who make the decisions about services designed to meet their needs.

I could talk about theories and degrees of participation, and of course tokenism, but it is all meaningless if service users don’t understand it; language used to demonstrate service user involvement is exclusively the language of professionals and so incorporates the power imbalance inherent within. If you ask a 16 year old attending a Youth Offending Service they may or may not know what ‘Participation’ means, especially to Professionals, but they will know the reasons why they (and their families) will or won’t engage with services. They will also likely have some thought provoking and insightful ideas into ways to increase engagement, and in our experience, will often want to help others who face similar circumstances. However, they will probably have to trust you to tell you what they know and therein lies the challenge.

We know from our own experience that trusting support agencies isn’t easy for some young people and families. I could tell you stories of staff, young people and families involved with projects at User Voice that you’d never forget, but they have been forgotten and failed by the many, many agencies that have been in their lives, not being listened to, not having a voice, feeling betrayed and not having consistent, trusted support at the times they most needed to help them to navigate and access these services. Professional service providers often call some groups of young people and families, ‘hard to reach’ and ‘disaffected’ (there seems to be a need to define the complexity of their situations from an external perspective). I can tell you that this is the very group we find ‘easy to reach’, and it is the professional service providers who can be ‘hard to reach’!

It is not enough to be ‘experts by experience’ though; we know, (because service users tell us) that we have to create the conditions that support young peoplein their journeys to self-discovery, (rather than simply counting reductions in re-offending as a measure of success) and to support them to access professional help. We do this by developing trusted, secure and consistent relationships, individual care and offering a choice based ‘open door’ approach that allows individuals to opt in and out as they wish, when they wish and to engage for as long as they need.

We could talk theoretically about attachment, inherent person centred approaches incorporating congruence, empathy and positive regard that support how we engage young people in the criminal justice system. But let’s keep it real (this is a User Voice blog after all!), this isn’t rocket science; many people instinctively know about this because it is the way we should look after and nurture our children; they need to know you care. So I ask, and will keep on asking, “Why is it still not happening in services designed to meet the needs of our most damaged and vulnerable children and young people”?

Involving service users meaningfully is a movement toward integrating service users into co-producing services, in partnership with professionals, designed to meet their individual needs. When we extend this into reaching and giving voice to our most vulnerable children and young people in society it will be a revolution in their service provision.

For me the Council work we do in prisons is all about legitimacy

Jason Warr

11/05/2013

In the Woolf Report (1991), perhaps the most forward thinking report into prison
conducted by any member of the Establishment, Lord Woolf noted that

… a recurring theme in the evidence from prisoners who … were involved in the [Strangeways] riots was that their actions were a response to the manner in which they were treated by the prison system. Although they did not always use these terms, they felt a lack of justice.

In practical terms this meant that the prisoner participants of that, and other disturbances, were involved because they perceived their environment, and the authority inherent within it, as illegitimate. 

Legitimacy in prisons is something of a thorny and complicated issue (see Sparks et al 1996) and of course in this situation we are discussing the perspectives of two related but variant populations; which makes for an even more complicated picture. However, in essence people confer legitimacy to organisations or systems if and only if there is a shared commitment to the cultural, normative or structural values that underpin those organisations/systems.

Within the carceral state of England and Wales, the legitimacy of communities has most commonly relied upon a conjunction of the democratic nature of the community and the joint enterprise of therapy, which exists in the various TC models and units that are scattered throughout the prison service. However, for the majority of prisoners, who exist outside of these communities, legitimacy can be in short supply.

The problem then arises that if legitimacy is in short supply how do we keep prisons this side of the brink of disorder and riot? Having had experience of ‘a disturbance’ in prison believe me you do not want a prison to descend into the brutal maelstrom of disorder. It does no one any favours, not the participants, not staff and not the wider population or indeed the public. So what can be done to ensure this does not happen?

One such mechanism is involving prisoners in the regime in which they must exist, involving them in shaping the manner of their incarceration. This is not, as some of the more right wing press may attest, pandering to the whims of prisoners but is instead the opening of a dialogue between what can often be two entrenched and openly hostile populations –prisoners and the prison.

Ever since the Woolf report there has been a recognition of the importance of this process but many of the experiments have failed. The User Voice model has not failed. It has not failed because our engagement both instils from the outset, and maintains throughout, objectivity and open democracy – which can in turn lead to a process of communitisation (the adoption of the community values and structure) and thus legitimacy.  How does it do this?

Simples! Council’s fail when there is no investment (and thus no action) from the Number 1 Governor, if the prisoners who end up on it are staff favourites or patsies and have no respect throughout the population and if the Senior Management Team become alienated through the Council’s negativity. We solve these issues. How? Well, that would be telling … trade secrets and all that (I could tell you but then I would have to …)!

Let us just say that investment is ensured by contracting us in, we engage with the whole population whether they be those with GOAD issues (those like us!) or not and we are solution driven and focused. See, simples (maybe).

So for me its all about legitimacy. Without it Gaols fall, with it … well its not a panacea but it enables a process of dialogue, collaboration, co-production, civility, pro-socialisation, increased social capital and ultimately improved relationships and then … peace! 

That’s why I’m there, that’s why I do what I do.

Co-production : what does it mean in the criminal justice system?

Daniel Hutt

26/04/2013

User Voice sits on the National Co-production Critical Friends Group (more here), a group of national policymakers, academics and researchers which acts as a source of thinking, challenge, collaboration and networking in the area of co-production.
info 

Co-production is becoming more accepted as a way of service providers and service users working together in the public sector. But what does it actually mean? There are lots of definitions around, so as a Group we tried to come up with something that encompassed them all:

"Co-production is a relationship where professionals and citizens share power to plan and deliver support together, recognising that both sides have vital contributions to make in order to improve quality of life for people and communities."

We hope that this definition is a clear description of the concept for those who are new to the term. And key to it was that if you are thinking of taking on co-production yourself, we would recommend creating a local definition.

Co-production exists in various forms, to varying degrees in a range of settings from health and social care to housing. But what about the criminal justice system?

User Voice was founded in 2009 because co-production in this area was almost non-existent. Some might argue there is a moral argument that differentiates criminal justice from other areas. People have committed a crime and therefore relinquished the right to be involved in decision making processes.

But if we want to reduce re-offending – and surely everyone does – then it makes business sense to include people who know most about how to do this. If T-Mobile executives designed a new mobile phone in an office without working with its customers and expected it to be a success then they would be laughed out of the boardroom.

Yet this is exactly the approach taken in criminal justice.

What does co-production in this context actually mean? How can it work?

Prisons and probation are often places where things are done to, rather than done with, service users – prisoners and offenders. But there are examples, which we have promoted and developed, of service users being involved in the co-design and co-delivery of services.

There are examples of co-delivery especially around peer mentoring in its various forms. And there are a number of forums and committees for people to get involved in co-design, such as wing committees and race relations representatives in prisons. But these have limited degrees of power, a crucial element of co-production as stated in the definition above.

So what we have tried to do is facilitate a safe and credible model of co-production that works in the criminal justice system. We haven’t reinvented the wheel, but we’ve made it fit. We use a ‘council’ model, with elected representatives meeting with senior managers to put forward proposals for change within prisons, probation or other related services and acting as a sounding board for new ideas or changes to existing provision. It doesn’t sound ground breaking, but when you see it in action (you can see videos here) the results are incredible given the traditional power dynamics of the system.

We are not advocating that people don’t deserve to be in prison or on probation for a crime that they have committed. They do. And we are not saying that the ‘lunatics should run the asylum’ – a charge so often levelled against us. What we are saying is that as a society, if we truly want our criminal justice system to help people reform so that when they come out of prison, they are less likely to commit another crime, then we need to include them in finding the answer.

Failing to include people only leads to further exclusion and desperation, igniting rather than easing anti-social behaviour, violence and criminality. Only by involving these people in the decision making process, can we give them what they need to make it back into mainstream society.