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….… 

An insight into two weeks work experience at User Voice

Jude Jubey
12/8/2013

Speaking at the Criminal Justice Convention 2013

Week 1, Monday

I was in a meeting with Bob Ashford, who is running an organisation called Wipe the Slate Clean. They are trying to get people that have committed a crime years ago that was seen to be a minor offence to have it removed from their history. This I felt was very interesting because it’s one thing that is very close to my heart, because I hope one day I could have my own slate wiped clean.

Later that day I was in a preparation meeting about going to see the MP Jeremy Wright on the rehabilitation of prisoners. This was very interesting because the new plans mean that a lot of things are changing, and I felt that it if the government did it the wrong way things could get much worse.  That meeting went on for a long time, I got to meet council members from all over the country and we all realised that most of the time people are facing the same kind of issues just in different places.

Week 1, Tuesday

We went to the Ministry of Justice and we all made our points to the MP. I felt happy that everyone got a word in, and I hope that he took what we said into consideration, only time will really tell.

Then we went to a meeting at London Probation to talk about what happened and how we felt it went. This was very interesting because I was able to see how everything works and develop a better understanding.

Week 1, Wednesday

I was at a meeting with the head of London Probation, Mark Johnson and Daniel Hutt. They talked about the benefits that User Voice has been able to bring to the trust through elected council members within Probation. 

Then we went to a Cando Coffee meeting with What If, we were looking at the branding and what kind of message Cando want to give out to their customers. Being a social enterprise they have to be very careful because some people don’t know what it is and will think it’s just another charity.

Then we had another meeting right afterwards with one of the board members looking at the structure of User Voice and how the board works, and this gave me a much deeper understanding of how big User Voice really is and how big it’s grown in such a sort time. This for a charity I think is an amazing thing because it just shows how different they are to many of the other organisations that work within the criminal justice system.

Week 2, Monday

I was at the office helping to map out Southwark to make sure that we understand what things are being offered to young people. I enjoyed it because I was able to learn so much about the different organisations within my area.

Week 2, Wednesday

We went to meet the young people at Tower Hamlets Youth Offending Service and we took them for some lunch, and I had a talk with one of the young people about what she wants to do. I showed her that there are apprenticeships that she could get involved in and I called one of my contacts that work in Channel 4 Apprenticeships and she gave me the link to what was left on offer and I passed the information on.  This I hoped would help her to do something really good with her time. There is something about helping people that I enjoy and I really think is vital in life because when you give you feel so much better.

Week 2, Thursday

I was with Mifta and Shauna at Southwark feeding back to the Youth Advisory Group on what I had been getting up to on my work experience and showing them that it really is an amazing door that User Voice opens to you and it’s always about you being able to show people that you are a capable person.

The week was an amazing insight to how User Voice works and how much change they are making to the criminal justice system, and this I think is an amazing thing because it really does need a change and only offenders can stop re-offending. It also showed me that I had the skills to influence people in a positive way to see how by helping us you will be helping so many more people.

I want to thank everyone for giving me the chance to do my work experience at such an amazing place, it really opened my mind and gave me so much energy and drive being around such wonderful and inspirational people. 

Why learning is fundamental to rehabilitation

Stephen Akpabio (LL.M)
6/8/2013

In June 2002, I was convicted of a drug related offence. Although this was my first conviction, it was serious enough to warrant a long custodial sentence.

My first impression of incarceration was that it was quite simply, a complete waste of time. The exception was if you were able to do something meaningful with that time. There was limited choice available as one would expect but education was available. Knowing I faced at least eight years inside, it seemed worthwhile for me to concentrate my efforts on self-development. After all, being in prison was ample evidence of my failure as a criminal. My focus became self-education and self-development.

I completed my first course in 2003, my first degree in 2008, my first Master’s degree in 2009 and my second in 2010. I recall often being asked by both prison staff and my peers what I planned to do after my studies given that a criminal conviction is a bar to most types of employment. Admittedly, at the time I did not know. What I did know was that the process of learning in and of itself provides benefits which include improving self-esteem and self-confidence, opportunities to network and meet new people, participation in a positive and rewarding activity, and perhaps, employment! 

Quite apart from the qualifications, it is the process of learning that is important. Learning is part and parcel of our daily lives and we learn new things every day. The ability to read is something most people learn at a young age. However, some service users lack the ability to read, often through no fault of their own.

Nevertheless, the consequences of lacking the ability to read can be debilitating and can impact negatively on people’s lives. That is why I am delighted to be involved with a national charity, User Voice, as a Programme Manager. User Voice is a charity that is led in the main by ex-service users (80% of frontline staff) and we are working in partnership with London Probation Trust to deliver a Reading Peer Mentoring Programme, Toe-by-Toe, in the community. We aim to help those who lack the ability to read learn how to read with the aid of a specially developed Reading Plan and the support of their peers. The Reading Plan has been developed over a 25 year period and is currently being delivered in 97% of prisons in the UK. Its success in prisons is one reason why we plan to deliver the Reading Plan (Toe by Toe) in communities across London.

This fantastic project has benefits all round. For the participants, they learn to: read - with all the benefits that brings, while society stands to benefit from reduced reoffending, active citizens positively engaging with their communities, contributions to the local economy due to improved employment prospects for participants, etc. For both ex-service users and society, it is truly a win-win situation.

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.

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.

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.