Clinks Light Lunch | Issue 362 | 3rd October 2014

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In this week's edition....

CLINKS BLOG: visiting a through the gate service

Ben Watson, Clinks’ Communications Assistant, recently attended the launch of a new abstinence and recovery centre (ARC) located near HMP Manchester. The ARC project has been commissioned and supported by HMP Manchester and Greater Manchester West NHS Foundation Trust, and is a partnership between these and Clinks members Partners of Prisoners and Family Support Group (POPS), and Emerging Futures, Riverside Housing, and Acorn Recovery Services. ‘Gate buddies’ will meet prison leavers at the gate, taking them to The ARC, where mentoring, coaching, group training, therapy and one to one counselling services will be provided. Ben has written a blog about the event, which you can read here

CLINKS REQUEST: last chance to tell us your story

Our State of the Sector survey is still open but will be closing very soon so make sure you do not miss this opportunity to tell your story and let us know how your organisation is faring. The information you submit is very valuable as it provides us with evidence of what is happening to the voluntary sector and the service users you support; this evidence strengthens our case when we lobby decision makers on your behalf. To fill the survey out, you will need to hand information about your organisation’s finances, staffing, number of beneficiaries and strategy. Please help us build up our evidence base, fill out the survey here

CLINKS MEMBER'S NEWS: using horses to combat violence in prison

Working with disengaged and disruptive high-risk violent offenders at HMP/YOI Portland, Clinks member TheHorseCourse is showing impressive results in reducing reoffending; a 27% point drop on predicted reoffending rates at 12 months post-release. The programme, working with specially trained horses, takes only one week, with one prisoner saying: "Horses read your emotions, you've got to be patient. Fights happen just like that (clicks), but the horses teach you to just not escalate things so much, so quickly. I've proper learnt, if you're around people just give them the chance. I would tell other prisoners to do this course, it's well worth it." Find out more about TheHorseCourse and download their evidence review here

CLINKS MEMBER'S NEWS: new numeracy scheme in HMP Leyhill

Fair Shares is using an innovative new approach to support prisoners' numeracy - maths mentoring. Shelley Humpage, Time Broker for Fair Shares explains: "The need to help prisoners with their numeracy skills was identified through the time banking project. So, we set up a peer-led mentoring scheme, bringing together prisoners with good numeracy and communication skills with those who needed support. One learner said he would feel much more confident organising benefit payments and budgeting for his family once he returns home. Two learners have children at school and mentioned they will be able to help with their homework on release." Find out more about Fair Shares here

CLINKS MEMBER'S NEWS: APF merges with Family Lives

Action for Prisoners' Families (APF) has merged this week with Family Lives. Deborah Cowley, Director of APF, said: "Both organisations are excited about the possibilities which the merger brings. We believe that our combined strengths will enable us to ensure that prisoners’ and offenders’ families best interests are represented and promoted. APF will be renamed Action for Prisoners' and Offenders' Families (APOF) to reflect the current and continuing scope of the work. Lesley Dixon, Sam Hart and Luke Evans will continue their work in practice support, workforce development and information services. I will bow out and Family Lives' CEO Jeremy Todd and the head of the APOF programme, Rachel Tonkin, will lead the work forward." Find out more here

CLINKS MEMBER'S NEWS: victims' rights

IARS Director, Dr. Theo Gavrielides, wrote an article about victims' rights for The Justice Gap last week. The artcile starts: "Sunday, a usually quiet day for politics was woken by Chris Grayling’s announcement for a ‘bold new vision for the treatment of victims’. Is this ‘new wine in old wineskin’? How genuine are these intentions and how prepared are we as a country for a more victim-focused criminal justice system? What are the real reasons behind the announcement and why in the midst of the Scottish referendum?" Read the full article here

CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM: Justice Secretaries address their respective parties

Sadiq Khan, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, gave a speech to Labour's annual conference in Manchester recently, followed by Justice Secretary Chris Grayling this week at the Conservative Party's annual conference in Birmingham. Read Khan's speech here and Grayling's speech here

COMMISSIONING: homelessness services in Bedford

Bedford Borough Council is seeking to enter into a contract with a suitably qualified organisation for the provision of housing related support services for homeless people. The service will be expected to provide support to single homeless people who have housing related support needs. The contract value is between £500,000 and £1 million, and the deadline for expressing an interest is 21st October. Find out more and apply here

FUNDING: small grants for Welsh community organisations

Grants of up to £2,500 are available for not-for-profit organisations in Wales that have a remit to serve their local community or town. Funding is available for projects that cover Sport; The Arts; The Environment; or The Community. The deadline for applications is 21st November. Find out more and apply here

FUNDING: help communities manage their money

Teams of between three to ten 16 to 24-year old learners in further education, work-based learning, adult community learning or a training organisation in the UK are eligible to apply for grants of £500 for projects focussed on helping the community manage its money more effectively. Projects could include: helping people understand essential and non-essential spending; helping the community think about work opportunities, saving, selling, investing, and understanding National Insurance, pensions and entitlements; or helping the community know where to access appropriate money support and advice. The deadline for applications is 21st November. Find out more and apply here

FUNDING: for small charities

The Woodward Charitable Trust awards grant funding to small-scale, locally-based charitable initiatives in the UK in the following areas: children and young people; minority groups including refugees, gypsies and travellers; prisoners and ex-offenders; disability; homelessness; arts outreach; and environmental projects. Charities must have less than £300,000 turnover. The next deadline for applications is 30th November. Find out more and apply here

CLINKS MEMBER'S EVENT: using the arts to influence partners and funders

As part of Homeless Link’s 'Get Creative: arts for all' project, they are hosting a webinar [10th October, 11am, free] on how support services can use their work with the arts to influence external partners and funders. During the webinar they will be discussing a variety of topics with Richard Ward from the Pre-employment and Basic Skills Unit at the Department of Business Innovation and Skills, including: what are external partners and funders looking for?; how should services demonstrate the value of their work?; and the wider benefits of engaging with artistic and cultural institutions to offer high quality creative projects. Book your place here

CLINKS MEMBER'S EVENT: Does knowing a person’s story make it harder to hate them?

'Does knowing a person’s story make it harder to hate them?' is the eighth conversation in The Forgiveness Project's series of ten ‘Conversations on Forgiveness' [13th October, London, £11]. Nearly thirty years to the day that Jo Berry’s father was killed in the IRA bombing of the Grand Hotel Brighton, Jo will be joined by Pat Magee, the former IRA activist responsible for Sir Anthony Berry’s death, who she met in 2000 following his release from prison. They have since met over 100 times in a bid to create a more peaceful society. Leading the conversation will be Roman Krznaric, a philosopher, author and founding faculty member of The School of Life in London. Book your ticket here

CLINKS MEMBER'S EVENT: a victim-led CJS

IARS' 3rd International Annual Conference 2014: A Victim-led Criminal Justice System? [19th & 20th November, London, from £139 per day] aims to bring together national and international researchers, policy makers, academics, restorative justice and criminal justice professionals as well as victims and offenders to debate issues surrounding the Victims' Directive, victims' rights, a victim-led Criminal Justice System and restorative justice. For more information, and to book, click here

CLINKS MEMBER'S TRAINING: support your members to apply for EU funding

GMCVO are running three half-day events [17th October, 18th November, 16th December, Manchester, free] specifically for people from local infrastructure providers, with the purpose of enabling you to offer briefing sessions and/or information and advice to your own members on local European funding opportunities. GMCVO will also advise you as support providers about where there may be opportunities for your own organisations. For October click here, November click here, or December click here

NON-MEMBERS' EVENTS & TRAINING

  • 'Reframing Criminal Justice: Mapping the Gaps' | 11th November, London, free | Details

RESOURCE: expert desistance project

An ESRC-funded project building upon pioneering research into how offenders move away from crime is transforming the practice of offender rehabilitation in the UK and beyond. The team behind the Desistance Knowledge Exchange (DesKE) - Shadd Maruna, Stephen Farrall and Fergus McNeill - are widely acknowledged to be leading researchers on 'desistance from crime', how criminals can leave crime behind. Yet, Professor Shadd Maruna insists that the real experts in how individuals stop reoffending are ex-offenders themselves. Watch a short, five-minute video on the project here

RESOURCE: for world mental health day

Next Friday, 10th October, is World Mental Health Day. Whether you want to read up on a specific mental health topic, or you're running an event at work or university, Mind's booklets provide up to date and detailed mental health information. Check out their catalogue here

OPPORTUNITY: give a voice to people with mental health problems in prisons

The Public Involvement Programme and the National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health are looking for applications from service users and carers to be part of the group that will develop a clinical guideline for the care of people with mental health problems in prisons. Members of this group will play a key role in making sure that the views of people in the Criminal Justice System and their carers, and their experiences and interests, inform the development of the guideline and recommendations to the NHS. Health professionals will be well represented on the group, so ideally they are looking for someone without a health professional background. Find out more and apply here

OPPORTUNITY: help shape the commissioning of victims' services

The Academy for Justice Commissioning are constantly looking at ways of helping commissioners develop their capabilities and are setting up a small cross sector learning group to explore Commissioning Victims' Services. This group will be a self-directed, supported learning group, selected from a mix of Academy members, and will convene in December or January and meet bi-monthly in London for a term of 10-12 months. If you would like to be a part of this project please email academy@noms.gsi.gov.uk to express your interest. Please give your name, job title, organisation and a brief explanation of why you are interested in joining the group. Please note all expressions of interest must be received by Friday, 17th October and that places are limited and members will be chosen to ensure a good cross sector mix.

CAMPAIGN: public sector staff strikes

The Government is facing a series of strikes by public sector workers after an announcement that civil servants are to stage a national walkout next month. Members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will take industrial action on 15th October in a long-running row over jobs, pay and conditions. Council workers will strike the previous day, while a day of action in the NHS is expected on 13th October in separate disputes over pay. The three days of disruption will be followed by a national protest in London organised by the TUC on 18th October under the slogan, Britain Needs A Pay Rise. Find out more or get involved here

CLINKS MEMBERS' VACANCIES

Vacancies this week include: a Director of Social Innovation at Lankelly Chase [London], a Support Worker (Domestic Abuse Service) with Foundation [Scarborough] and a Time Out Homeless Prevention Worker with Foundation [Harrogate], an Office Support Receptionist with Changing Lives [Gateshead], and an Administrator and a Recovery Worker with CRI [Brighton]. For further information about these vacancies, and many more, click here

TIPS OF THE WEEK

  • Tip of the week I: Return coach travel from London Victoria to Paris or Amsterdam is just £18 in November! Details
  • Tip of the week II: For £29 two people can get a glass of prosecco, starter, main course and dessert from the à la carte menu at Grade 2 listed Grove House in Harrogate. Details
  • Tip of the week III: Get return flights from Leeds Bradford to Dublin for £18. Fly between 3rd November and 28th March including weekends. Details

EXTRA INFORMATION

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Contact Us www.clinks.org | info@clinks.org | 020 7383 0966

 

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Joe Gardham and Ben Watson

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