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.

Rehabilitation and Santa Claus; what's the difference?

Zoe Kennerson

19/8/2013

One is a social concept constructed on the understanding that hard work and behavioural change can reap benefit and reward, however is dismissed by many who doubt evidence of its existence…..the other is a fictional character created to encourage compliance.

So do we believe in rehabilitation?  Do we believe in change?

As an ex-offender and an ex-addict I believe! I believe that I am evidence that people can change, and that not only does rehabilitation exist, it is possible.

I began working for User Voice in October 2012 as a Programme Manager on a Peer Mentoring Project. It was during this work that I began to wonder if others shared my belief and recognised the potential in people and the power of change.

Criminal Justice Services seek not only to punish people who break the law, but to aid rehabilitation and support change. Surely for this to be achieved we need to believe it is possible?

So is rehabilitation real or just another myth like Santa Claus?

We often hear people talk about change, reform, desistance and rehabilitation. We see services strive to achieve and sell the benefits of reform. But do they really believe in it, that it truly exists?

Mum’s, Dads, Grandparents, Aunties and Uncles all tell their young children about Santa. “Be good” they say, “Santa is watching!”   They spend lots of money on presents (to hide and pretend Santa delivered) and they prepare for his arrival on Christmas Eve. Like those trying to support people to rehabilitate, a lot of effort and energy is put into Santa, all the right things are said and done, but his actual existence is still dis-believed. A whimsy for children who know no better!

So how do we make people believe? Not just say they believe, but actually believe! We show them. We show them that not only does it exist, it works!!!

Through my work at User Voice I have been lucky enough to meet lots of rehabilitated “ex-offenders” who have made changes to their lives and are committed to helping others to do the same. My role includes training and supporting peer mentors to provide a service to people in the Criminal Justice System. I see rehabilitated people on a daily basis and my observations tell me that rehabilitation is real! I am fortunate enough to be in a position that enables me to see past the statistics.

The people I work with are evidence of change, the living proof! Not only have they been successful in not re-offending, but they offer hope and inspiration to others who wish to change.

It is human nature that if you are going to try something new (always a daunting prospect when hard work is involved), you look to others who have already done it, to give you some advice and guidance. Surely it makes sense that this opportunity should be available for those looking to stop offending.  Having a peer mentor who has rehabilitated and understands the dynamics of change can be so beneficial for marginalised individuals who want to change. I work with peer mentors who on a daily basis make a conscious decision to live their lives in a different way. These people are thoughtful, insightful, reflective, self-aware, sharing and hard working.

Peer mentoring is a powerful service that contributes towards the reduction of reoffending by providing an opportunity for people to share their own experiences and support others who are in situations they have experienced.

Peer mentoring in criminal justice services is the evidence base that change and rehabilitation are possible.

Of paramount importance, peer mentoring is about belief.  I like my colleagues at User Voice and the team of peer mentors I support, all believe in rehabilitation. We believe it, because we have lived it!   And we believe that the people we work with can achieve it too….… 

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. 

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.