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 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. 

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.

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.

I use my experiences to connect with people and it shows others we can change and be an example

Max Tucker

03/05/2013

My name is Max,

I’ve been volunteering at user voice for nearly 8 months now and I have found that it's been a really valuable experience in my life. I have really enjoyed working on the London probation project.

I love working with the service users in probation of course it can be challenging but that’s par for the course- as a service user & ex offender and recovering addict myself  I can use my experiences to connect with people and it shows others we can change and be an example.

I love to see people try to help themselves, and when we are all working together alongside probation I get great fulfillment when the service users are enjoying what they are taking part in and seeing people that think they have nothing to offer or nothing to say smile and tell me that they really enjoyed that!!!  “MAKES ME HAPPY”

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.