Offender Mentoring

Constructive solutions in mentoring with offenders

Introduction

Welcome to the website of OffenderMentoring.org.uk This site is dedicated to furthering and encouraging the use of mentors with young and adult offenders as a means of helping to reduce offending. The site is managed by a group of workers in the field of Criminal and Community Justice, and the Voluntary sector, all of whom are strong advocates of mentoring.

Why mentoring with offenders? Because it works! Studies in the UK (Youth Justice Board, Crime Concern) and the USA (I.T.I. Inc) have shown the positive impact that getting a mentor involved with an offender can have, in terms of reduction of offending, lowering of risk, and improving pro-social attitudes and behaviour.

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Who are we?

The group of people behind OffenderMentoring work in a variety of settings. What unites us is a belief that mentoring with offenders works.

WE ARE:

Mike Denton, Mike currently works as a Senior Probation Officer in a Young Offender Institution, and is a long-term advocate of mentoring. He started his association with the Probation Service as a volunteer, working with the residents of a Probation and Bail Hostel. After qualification as a Probation Officer, he began and has sustained an interest in volunteering and mentoring. Mike is a member of the International Board of Advisers of V.I.P., an American organisation devoted to recruiting, training and supporting mentors working with at-risk young people.

Charlie Watson, is an independent trainer and staff development consultant. Charlie became interested in volunteering and mentoring when working as staff development manager for a Probation area. The idea of organising a conference to promote this then relatively new area of work became reality with the first “Mentoring 2000” event, which took shape at a national Probation Staff Development Managers’ conference. Charlie has delivered staff development events to numerous Probation areas, and to local authorities and other large organisations.

Carolynne Maddock, Carolynne is Volunteer and Mentor Coordinator with the National Probation Service, Cheshire Area. She worked as a volunteer coordinator with a major national charity before joining the Probation Service. She has been successful in developing the mentoring scheme to the point where some of her mentors are now working successfully with high risk offenders.

Gary Kernaghan, Development Director for SOVA, the acknowledged market leader in recruiting and training volunteer mentors within the criminal justice sector. SOVA became a registered charity in 1975, and a registered company limited by guarantee in 1999. It works to strengthen communities by promoting social inclusion and reducing crime through a range of projects and services throughout England and Wales. Gary brings to the conference planning group his wide experience of managing projects and bidding for funding.

Irene Doyle, the Conference Administrator for the 2006 event, is currently employed by a Regional Training Consortium of the National Probation Service. Among other things, the Consortium is responsible for managing the large-scale annual recruitment of Trainee Probation Officers. Irene’s administrative skills contribute enormously to the smooth running of the conference.

Together we form the Planning Group for conferences on the topic of mentoring with offenders. Having already presented three earlier events, we are currently engaged in organising our fourth, due to take place on 4 April 2006. Its topic is ‘Mentoring with Higher Risk Offenders’. More on the conferences later.

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What do we do?

The main business of OffenderMentoring has three strands;

• CONFERENCES
We organise conferences, the main theme of which is Mentoring with Young and Adult Offenders.
So far, we have arranged three international events, in 2000 (Manchester), 2001 (Sheffield), and 2003 (Salford). Each has had a specific focus, and delegate feedback and evaluation tells us that all of these have been very successful. Our philosophy is to provide value-for-money conference events that are affordable, practice-based, and relevant to delegates. We are in the process of organising a fourth event, timed for April 2006 [link to 2006 conference page]

• CONSULTANCY
We offer consultancy on the subject of mentoring with offenders.
Sometimes we all get stuck for answers; OffenderMentoring will try to provide them. The expertise across the OffenderMentoring group is considerable, and is based on many years accumulated experience of volunteering and mentoring, both as volunteers ourselves and as managers of mentoring and volunteering projects. Our experience and skills are available to anyone seeking solutions to queries or problems in this specialised field, or to those who are simply looking for advice or the opportunity to discuss a particular issue.

• TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
We provide training and development in the broad arena of mentoring.
This can be for those running or managing mentoring and volunteering schemes or projects, or for mentors and volunteers themselves. We can also provide training and development in the areas of pro-social modelling, motivational interviewing, and communication skills. We can tailor our training and development to meet a specific need, based on discussion and agreement with our clients.

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How to access our services

Talk to us! You can contact either of the following people by phone or e mail:

Mike Denton
Tel 07970 544438
e-mail info@offendermentoring.org.uk

Charlie Watson
Tel 07739 468351
e-mail info@offendermentoring.org.uk

Give us a call! We will talk to you about your particular query, and will try to identify a potential solution, which may involve a meeting. If necessary, we will agree an action or training plan with you, and details of costings.