NEWS
from Wales Community Rehabilitation Company
Summer 2015
Probation services which reduce reoffending and make the people of Wales safer
Leading the way A string of national awards mark our first year’s success
Wendy Hyett of Wales Community Rehabilitation Company has been named Probation Champion of the Year for her “groundbreaking” work in helping women turn their lives around from crime. The highest honour given by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) to staff and volunteers working in the probation service recognises excellence in probation work. It is just one of five major awards we have won in recent weeks and we have been shortlisted for another nine. London School of Economics law graduate Wendy is Project Manager of the IOM Cymru Women’s Pathfinder, an all-female scheme set up in Cardiff to work with women in the Criminal Justice System. One of the project's key successes is the Diversion Scheme, which has diverted more than 150 women away from caution or criminal prosecution for low risk offences and into voluntary community support to help them with the issues at the root cause of their offending behaviour. The project has been so successful it is now being expanded across Wales. Michael Spurr, CEO of NOMS chose Wendy for her inspirational work with partners in Wales to tackle women’s offending. He said: "Her work has been really
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groundbreaking, providing a model for Wendy Hyett receives her award others. It has demonstrated the impact for Probation probation can have on other agencies Champion from to make positive change possible in Andrew Selous, those we work with.” Minister for Prisons, Wendy was one of four finalists from Probation and Wales CRC represented in the national Rehabilitation. awards, which were presented in a ceremony at Crewe Hall, Cheshire. Wendy, who was also the category winner for Diversity and Equality, said: ‘I’m absolutely shocked and overwhelmed and I’m so thrilled for the project and everyone who is part of it – it is real multiagency partnership, the best way forward for this kind of work.” Swansea Probation Officer Suzanne Edwards won the Offender Management award for championing complex cases. Her work included the case of an offender who was paralysed in an assault and needed special care in low and medium risk offenders a spinal Click here are managed by Wales CRC to watch injury the video May 2015 unit.
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A story behind every statistic We have crowned our first year as Wales Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) by winning a clutch of prestigious probation awards, as you will see in these pages. We are delighted with the recognition, but the most important thing about winning is that it demonstrates that our innovative approach and excellent relationships with partners is improving the quality of what we deliver. This brings benefits to our service users as we continually strive for excellence and seek to develop the most effective methods to reduce reoffending. Seeing an individual turning their life around means a safer community and fewer victims. It is now six months since share sale and we are working closely with CRC owners Working Links to build a transformational approach to supporting individuals who have complex needs across both our Justice and employability work. This is being led by our new Managing Director for UK Justice Paul Hindson who is also responsible for our two sister CRCs in Dorset, Devon and Cornwall and Bristol, Gloucester, Somerset and Wiltshire and is leading UK projects for Working Links as a whole. He is incredibly knowledgeable about both criminal justice and wider social justice issues, having previously been a Director at Leicestershire and Rutland Probation Trust and Head of Offender Management and
Assessment with National Offender Management Service (NOMS). His previous role before joining Working Links was at Interserve where he was Director of Community Solutions. He is keen to develop services that are more community-based and integrated which is very much in line with our approach to Integrated Offender Management. He has been struck by the enthusiasm in Wales, the excellent relationships across criminal and social justice and our eagerness to work together to continually improve what we are doing and to try new approaches. We have been very focussed in these early months on getting the interface right between ourselves and the National Probation Service, to harness the support of NOMS Wales in making sure we have an integrated approach to delivery across prisons and probation as we embed our new services. We are also proud to have made a positive start on performance metrics but want to demonstrate how the work of probation contributes to the good of the community and a reduction in reoffending – there’s a story behind every statistic and you can read some of them in the following pages. Director of Wales CRC Liz Rijnenberg and Paul Hindson, Managing Director for UK Justice.
Liz Rijnenberg Director Wales Community Rehabilitation Company
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Suzanne Edwards receives her award for Offender Manager of the Year from Andrew Selous.
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Judges said her work was “outstanding” and really makes a difference. Suzanne is the benchmark to be measured by,” they said. Sian Waters, a Probation Services Officer in Llanelli, was a finalist in the Innovation category for her motivational work with offenders including the development of the Ail Gyfle/ Second Chance social enterprise where offenders can be trained while making craft items to sell in a charity shop (see pages 4 & 5). In the Working in Partnership category, Gwent Probation Officer Lindsey Pudge was a finalist for her work with Barnardo's Cymru's
Community Support for Offenders (CSOF) pilot project, which safeguards children and supports parents in prison. Liz Rijnenberg, Director of Wales CRC, said: “I am so proud of all four of our finalists. They show outstanding commitment and dedication to furthering best practice in probation and are all winners.” Paul Hindson, Working Links’ Managing Director for UK Justice, said: “Wales CRC’s success at the Probation Awards 2015 highlights the dedication and commitment of our staff in Wales.”
We hope you find this newsletter useful. If you would like to contact us with any comments please email wls.communications@wales.probation.gsi.gov.uk
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Our
award-winning work
When it comes to awards Wales CRC has proved that our staff are not just among the best in the probation and criminal justice field, they are also leading the way in business leadership and environmental protection. We have celebrated a number of top awards in recent weeks:
Leading Wales Awards Wendy Hyett (also featured on page 1) won the Leadership for the Future Award at the all-Wales awards which recognise and celebrate leadership in Welsh society. Ella Rabaiotti, Head of Dyfed Powys Local Delivery Unit based in Llanelli, was named Runner-up in the Next Generation Leader category for the way she leads 60 probation staff and 1,000 offenders in the Dyfed Powys area and encourages staff development and offenders to change for the better.
NOMS Wildlife Awards Winner of the Community and Outreach category and Highly Commended in the overall category was Nicholaston House, a Christian retreat centre overlooking the spectacular Gower coastline. There the grounds have been transformed by Community
Payback teams to provide habitats for numerous species of wildlife. Teams of offenders have carried out groundwork and worked in partnership with Wales CRC’s Port Talbot workshop. Under the guidance of supervisor Noel Williams offenders have built a magnificent dovecote, owl box, bug hotels made from drilled out bamboo, flower planters, bird tables, hedgehog homes and more. Offenders have also been responsible for building an arbour, patio, recycling area and prayer walk. Held by the National Offender Management Service, the awards are open to probation and prison services working in partnership to protect and improve wildlife habitats. Highly Commended in the Outreach project category was Parc Cwm Darran, a 1,000 acre Green Flag Award-winning country park in the Rhymney Valley where supervisor Maria Harrington and her teams have been carrying out an average of 4,200 unpaid work hours every year for the last 17 years.
Offenders have fitted bird and bat boxes, created habitats for crested newts and grass snakes, built otter holts along the banks of the River Rhymney and created homes for weasels and other small mammals.
Howard League The Howard League for Penal Reform Community Programme Awards recognise people making a real difference in the criminal justice field. Megan Jenkins, who works as stakeholder advisor and service user co-ordinator in our Llanelli office, was shortlisted for Criminal Justice Champion for her inspirational work in speaking to influential groups about the positive results of probation and acting as a link between offenders and decision makers. Natalie Poole, a probation officer in Cardiff, was also
Awards
shortlisted for Criminal Justice Champion for her outstanding work in the Women’s Pathfinder project. The Pathfinder Project, managed by our own Probation Champion Wendy Hyett, was also shortlisted in the Policing and Adults category.
No Offence Katy Benson, a service user who has turned her life around with the support of her probation officer and the IOM Cymru Women’s Pathfinder project, is shortlisted in the mentoring role in the No Offence Justice and Redemption Awards. Katy now works for Recovery Cymru, the charity which helped her, and is helping others. The awards will be presented at Manchester Cathedral on 9th October.
Award finalists Meg Jenkins, Katy Benson and Natalie Poole. Top right Noel WIlliams receives the NOMS Wwildlife Award from Director of Probation, Colin Allars. Bottom right, Wendy Hyett and Ella Rabaiotti with their Leading Wales Awards.
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Partnership Working
A Second Chan
Llanelli workshop gives offenders new opportunities A former offender, who turned his life around with the help of probation services, is now giving other offenders a “second chance” by teaching them skills for future employment as part of an innovative charity recycling project. Dai Rees’ experience of the probation service was 12 years ago, when he was put on a drug rehabilitation requirement. Now he works as part of Wales Community Rehabilitation Company’s new pilot project Ail Gyfle, which is Welsh for Second Chance. A partnership between Wales CRC’s Dyfed Powys Local Delivery Unit and the Antioch Centre, based on Copperworks Road, Llanelli, Ail Gyfle gives offenders an opportunity to learn new skills for employment at a workshop on the outskirts of Llanelli. They are given training in carpentry and woodworking by recycling old wooden pallets, furniture and unused cable reels into a variety of innovative home and
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garden products such as garden chairs, tables, benches, planters and wishing wells. Dai is employed by the Antioch Centre to run the workshop for offenders, who are sentenced by the courts to carry out unpaid work through Community Payback. Dai explained: “When I was on probation, it did me a lot of good. They gave me help to sort out my problems and made me into a better person. “Because I have been through probation, I can relate to the service users. I understand that some of the people who come here have had drug problems in the past. I’ve gone down that road and cleaned up my act and I can communicate with them. When you work closely with someone their problems come out and if I can help in any way or direct them to other people who can I will. I find it’s really rewarding.” In Dai’s workshop male offenders are put on group and individual
placements where they learn health and safety, manual handling and basic carpentry skills. The project also has a craft room, where every Wednesday a group of women on Community Orders upcycle furniture and other household items to create a range of “shabby chic” gifts and items for the home. The women are learning skills in hospitality and recycling. The OCN qualifications the offenders earn are endorsed by YMCA College Wales and recognised by employers. Nigel Hickey, Community Payback Officer, said: “We hope that by gaining these qualifications offenders are gaining skills for future employment.” "We are giving the wood and the people a second chance," he said. Since the social enterprise pilot project started in September 2014 more than 300 pallets and old wooden cable reels, sourced from local businesses, and unwanted
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How did it all start?
nce Workshop anager Dai Rees and Community Payback Officer Nigel Hickey in the Ail Gyfle workshop,
furniture have been recycled. The items are sold by the Antioch Centre to sustain the workshop and support its work helping families in times of need and financial pressure through its food, furniture and clothes banks, lunch clubs and play schemes. In addition to Community Payback, other groups of offenders and volunteers are benefiting from building their skills at the project. For example, those subject to the local Integrated Offender Management scheme, which works with persistent offenders have started attending, thanks to the support of Carmarthenshire Community Safety Partnership.
Clich here to watch the video
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Llanelli Probation Services Officer Sian Waters is the driving force behind the Ail Gyfle project. She first came up with the idea last year after seeing the amount of wood that was thrown out in the area. Initially she approached the Antioch Centre and a partnership was formed. She contacted the Community Payback teams, and they set to work collecting old wooden pallets and equipment to make work benches and equip the workshop and craft rooms. Sian now runs the craft room, where women learn to paint and decorate furniture which is made in the workshop. She is always coming up with new ideas for craft skills to teach the women, whether painting coat hangers, recycling old drink cans into gift tags or making candles.
“Shabby chic is very popular, so the women learn skills to give them more confidence and make them think outside the box. It’s about team building and raising their selfesteem. “A lot of the women find the crafts therapeutic and will take the techniques they have learnt home with them and use them when they feel stressed. Most of the women are on benefits, some have even taken their new skills home to make things for their families.” In June Sian was recognised for her innovation in the finals of the National Probation Awards 2015, which recognises excellence within the UK’s probation services. She said, “I have great pride when I see our service users changing their lives for the better.”
Deborah Chapman of the Antioch Project with Probation Services Officer Sian Waters.
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When I was on probation, it did me a lot of good. They gave me help to sort out my problems and made me into a better person. Dai Rees, Workshop Manager
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A lesson in managing
Special Programmes
aggression
Learning to walk away from a potentially explosive situation can be a challenge, particularly if you’re young, male and have a few drinks inside you. Probation officer Donna Bullock and Louise Gibbon, a probation services officer, have the job of trying to teach offenders how to recognise the warning signs and stop themselves from reacting in an aggressive or violent manner. Until now they have delivered Managing Aggression courses for offenders convicted of violent offences on a one-to-one basis, but a recent experiment with a small group of offenders in Newport proved to have unexpected benefits. Donna said: “The group dynamic had much more of an impact. It encouraged them to challenge each others’ behaviour and share experiences. “One of the group was arrested on a night out while watching the rugby in Cardiff. He was still on the course at the time and the challenging from the group members when he had to come in and tell them what had happened was far more powerful than what we could do. “When we had to cancel the session one week the men
seemed genuinely disappointed. The four who completed the course have all taken something away from it, they have learnt how to recognise high risk situations and ways of dealing with them.” One of those who has benefitted is Alan *. He said: “I didn’t know what to expect but the course certainly helped me. After a while everything made sense, I could recognise when I was having aggressive thoughts and control them. Now I wait 10 seconds and the feelings go. “Before the course I didn’t have the skills I needed to deal with situations. I didn’t want to get into trouble but couldn’t help myself. Now I’ve learnt that things don’t ‘just happen’ and there are ways of stopping them.” Joe* said: “I found it difficult coming into a group but after a couple of weeks I found it easier, it helped me to hear the views of other people. It’s made a difference to my life and when something happens now I’ll just go out for a walk and calm myself down.”
* names have been changed
The techniques for keeping calm Offenders are encouraged to explore many different techniques to help them recognise triggers that make them angry and learn how to control that anger. They keep a negative feelings diary and are taught about positive self talk, the skill of thought stopping and how to use time out of a situation to calm down. They consider the effect childhood experiences have had on them and
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look at their current life and how everything from relationships to finance and housing can be affected by a failure to control their anger. The costs and benefits of using aggression are considered and weighed up against staying in control.
Programme leader Donna Bullock
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Partnership Working
First Minister Carwyn Jones tours the new MASH hub for Cwm Taf. Below, Pontypridd PSO Judith Williams and Emma Richards, Head of South Wales 2 Local Delivery Unit with Zoe Hygate and Eirian Evans of the National Probation Service
7700 The number of unpaid work hours spent on environmental projects in one month (april 2015)
First Minister launches new unit to safeguard children, young people and vulnerable adults in the Valleys Wales’ first specialist unit to improve or schools. The hub is the result of a vision the protection of vulnerable adults, children and young people from risk Cwm Taf Adult and Children’s Safeguarding Boards had in has been launched in the South 2013 to improve safeguarding Wales Valleys. across the region through better Based at Pontypridd Police collaboration. Two years on those Station the new Cwm Taf Multi interventions are being managed by Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH) a team of 50 diverse professionals is one of only a handful in the UK. who work shoulder to shoulder It brings together all the agencies in a collaborative, open-plan responsible for safeguarding environment, where they can share vulnerable adults and children across the Rhondda Cynon Taf and information on each case. First Minister Carwyn Jones Merthyr Tydfil County Boroughs visited Pontypridd Police Station to provide a seamless public and unveiled a plaque to officially protection service. per cent ofthe new facility. open A team of experienced probation As one of the partner agencies, and police officers, nurses and the people Wales Community Rehabilitation social workers, working togetherwe in work Company has two Probation a cohesive, open-plan office, will with have a Services Officers based at the be the first point of contact. Theydisability will take thousands of safeguarding integrated MASH office alongside referrals directly from their front-line their National Probation Service colleagues and other partnership colleagues who may be reporting agencies South Wales Police, back from emergency calls or working at places such as hospitals Merthyr Tydfil County Borough
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Council, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council and Cwm Taf University Health Board. Emma Richards, Head of Wales CRC’s South Wales 2 Local Delivery Unit responsible for the Valleys, was involved in the creation of the new Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub. She said: “It’s a great opportunity to work in partnership to protect victims of domestic violence, children and vulnerable adults.”
£259,562 the value of community work carried out by the offenders we manage in one month
(May 2015, based on minimum wage)
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Spotlight News from around Wales
DYFED POWYS Picture caption: Ella Rabaiotti, Head of our Dyfed Powys local delivery unit, reading to children at the Royal Welsh Show on a storytelling chair made by offenders
MASH
Storytelling and Community Payback prove a hit at the Royal Welsh Show Ralfy the bunny book thief proved a big hit with young visitors to the Royal Welsh Show where Wales CRC staff had chance to meet the public and explain the benefits of Community Payback work. Dyfed Powys Police kindly allowed us to share their stand, making room for an impressive, oversized storytelling chair made at our Lewis Street Workshop in Cardiff. The chair, which took two offenders 150 hours to make from reclaimed wood, proved the perfect prop for storytelling sessions featuring the adventures of Ralfy and Supertato. Wales CRC staff shared storytelling duties throughout the week and explained to parents how the chair had been made by offenders for the Children’s Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, where it will have a permanent home. Community Payback staff handed out information leaflets and encouraged members of the public to nominate future projects during the four day event. Thousands of visitors were attracted to the police stand, not just by the storytelling but police dogs, an old fashioned squad car, a replica of a blue police call box and chance for children to have their fingerprints taken. Among the visitors were First Minister Carwyn Jones and Christopher Salmon, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Dyfed Powys. Community Payback Development Manager Graham Thomas said: "The show was a great opportunity for us to explain to people from all over Wales the valuable and demanding unpaid work offenders carry out in their communities and just how varied that work can be. “We also welcomed nominations from the public for future projects, so that they identify what work is important to them and they can see offenders making reparation for their offences. We hope that even more communities will be able to benefit from Community Payback in future." 8
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Protecting from arson SOUTH WALES Offenders in the Rhondda are helping to keep homes and residents safe from arson attacks by creating breaks to stop wild grass fires spreading. The teams, carrying out unpaid work with the Wales Community Rehabilitation Company as part of their community sentences, are felling trees, clearing brambles, bracken and fly-tipped rubbish from mountain land to create a natural break to stop fire spreading to homes in Buckley Road and Harcombe Road, Trealaw. Deliberate grass fires in the Rhondda are a major problem for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service. According to recent figures arsonists have been accused of starting more than 623 grass fires in South Wales in less than 20 days, the most being in Rhondda Cynon Taf where 258 fires were started. Teams of offenders from Wales Community Rehabilitation Company, led by supervisors Steve Cox, Doug James and Rob Baker, have already spent
NORTH WALES Our North Wales Community Payback team gave an impressive performance helping to prepare the stage for the international stars at this year’s Llangollen International Musical Eisteddod. Supervisors Mohammed Rafique, Stuart Edwards and their teams were on site in the two weeks leading up to the Eisteddfod’s opening ceremony getting 4,000 plastic chairs cleaned and put in place in the pavilion and thousands more set out
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Valley homes n attacks Community Payback
10 weeks clearing an area measuring 15m wide and 650m long. Their work follows last month’s Fire Break Awareness Day, which was organised by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service and brought together partners and volunteers to raise public awareness and create barriers to protect vulnerable areas of the valleys including Penrhys Golf Club. Community Payback supervisor Steve Cox said: “It’s a massive job and is really hard
work, but it will help to protect the community. Once we have created the breaks, we will be revisiting and keeping the bracken down to ensure the fire break remains.” Offenders on Community Payback work with South Wales Fire Service making fire breaks to protect homes “The work also gives the men the opportunity to gain an Open College Network qualification in using tools. Mark Williams, Station Manager at SWFRC Crime Unit, said: “The teams from Wales CRC have been a great help stopping mountain fires encroaching on the houses in Trealaw. Without their help we would not have the manpower to carry out this valuable work in protecting the community.”
around the other stages ready for the opening on 7th July. They returned on 12th July to clean chairs, vacuum the stage and collect rubbish from the pavilion ready for the closing concert starring UB40. It is the third year our teams have helped the organisers make sure the pavilion stage and seating area was clean and ready to host
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GWENT
Offenders help to bring Scout hut back to life A Scout group in Caerleon has been given a new lease of life thanks to the work of offenders. The 1st Caerleon Scout Group were having difficulty attracting new members as their hut on Cold Bath Road, Caerleon was run-down and the grounds were overgrown. But thanks to the efforts of offenders sentenced to carry out Community Payback for their crimes, the hut has been restored as a community focal point and membership has increased from 30 to 40 in just one week. Under the supervision of Craig Phillips, the team of seven offenders spent three days on site clearing the grounds, painting the outside of the hut, scrubbing fascia boards and laying tonnes of stone to restore the path into the hut. Secretary Helen Bishop said: “The work the CP team has done has had such a positive impact on the hut. Members of the public have begun to notice that we are alive and kicking and that we do care about the building.”
the Eisteddfod’s programme of world-class musicians. This year’s star performances included Burt Bacharach, Rufus Wainwright, Choir of the World competition and UB40, who brought the Eisteddfod to a footstomping close. After the Eisteddfod finished, Raf and his team returned to stack the chairs and do a final litter pick to
return the site to its normal state. Eisteddfod organiser Ros Davies said: “Without the hard work of the Community Payback teams the preparations of the seating in the arena would not have been possible. “We celebrate our 70th Eisteddfod next year and hope Community Payback will again help us make it happen.”
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Partnership Working
Tidy!
From top to bottom: Offenders collect litter from Cefn Sidan Beach, Carmarthenshire, community clean up on Merthyr Common, offenders cut back hedges in Newtown.
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It has collected more than 9,000 tonnes of rubbish from communities across Wales, created thousands of new wildlife habitats and opened up the great outdoors for tens of thousands of people. And our Community Payback teams have been proud to work in partnership under Keep Wales Tidy’s flagship Tidy Towns initiative launched to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour by encouraging and supporting people to take responsibility for their local communities. In the past seven years our teams of offenders who are sentenced to carry out unpaid work under supervision in the community have collected hundreds of bags of litter from some of Wales’ most beautiful beaches and tourist attractions. They have opened up paths for local schoolchildren, parents and ramblers, cleared rivers for otters and other wildlife and protected local people from the danger of discarded syringes on their doorsteps. In North Wales, CP teams clean up areas which are a hazard to public safety. When the community council in Penycae was worried that walkers might get hurt because public footpaths were so overgrown with thorns and brambles, Wales CRC stepped in and cut back the vegetation to make it safe again.Elsewhere they cleared pathways in Cefn Mawr, Wrexham and collected litter from problem areas across Gwynedd and Ynys Mon and the coastline in Flintshire. The teams in Dyfed Powys have also made a tidy job of clearing litter from some of Carmarthenshire’s most popular beaches and tourist spots including Cefn Sidan Beach, where more than 100 bags of rubbish were collected during Clean Coast Week. In Burry Port harbour they swept up another 40 bags of rubbish, 60 more from the National Cycle Path between Llanelli and Felinfoel, 50 from the Millennium Coastal Path in Llanelli and another 50 bags from other litter hot spots in the area. A key project in Powys has been working in conjunction with Llanfyllin town on the Llanfyllin Wetland area, which has seen otters returning to the River Cain thanks to an ingenious environmental reed filter system. The wetland pools and reeds create a filter system to stop polluted water from
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Our Community Payback partnership with Keep Wales Tidy’s Tidy Town Initiative has helped to clear up more than 9,000 tonnes of rubbish from communities across Wales
the town’s car park entering the river. As part of the Tidy Towns project Community Payback has worked with the town council to clear the ponds of litter and debris. They have also picked litter from housing estates in Newtown and Llasantffraid and cleared gardens for elderly residents, whose hedges were growing wild and obstructing public footpaths. Meanwhile in Gwent a partnership with police, fire and Tidy Towns cleaned up woodland around Cwmbran. Two of the most recent Tidy Towns partnerships in South Wales have been with the 3Gs Development Trust in Gurnos, Galon Uchaf and Penydarren in Merthyr Tydfil. In four days CP teams gathered more than 77 bags of litter and safely disposed of 140 syringe needles from a popular walking route on the outskirts of the town. On Merthyr Common our teams joined forces with South Wales Fire and Rescue Service, the local council and waste management companies for a day of action to tackle the problem of illegal fly-tipping on Merthyr Common. Louise Tambini, Operations Director Keep Wales Tidy, said: “Our partnership with the probation, fire and police services have helped make the project such a success.” “We have seen the work develop from litter-picking activities, access improvements and creation of food growing areas to the training of volunteers and creation of sustainable, inclusive, community groups. “We are excited to see how the work can develop further to help deliver the anti-poverty and green economy agendas and look forward to continuing our successful partnership with Wales CRC.” Graphic reproduced with permission from Keep Wales Tidy.
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MEET THE STAFF Name: Sarah Williams Job: Programme Facilitator and Treatment Manager Special interest: Restorative Justice Trainer and Facilitator.
It’s Time to Change
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Sarah Williams is a powerful advocate for the benefits of Restorative Justice. She provides the Wales CRC has joined the national campaign to end the link between victims of crime and the offenders stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental who want to make amends for their offending health problems. behaviour. Liz Rijnenberg, Director of Wales CRC, signed the Time She says: “Restorative Justice provides the to Change Wales pledge on behalf of Wales CRC following victims with a voice and gives them back a sense a presentation by the campaign’s programme manager of control, while at the same time putting the onus Antony Metcalfe. on the offender to confront the effects of their Mental illness is more common than most people think behaviour.” with one in four people experiencing a problem in any “As children we are expected to say sorry given year. The most common mental health problems are if we hurt someone, but as adults there is depression and anxiety and more working days are lost to no expectation to be held to account for our stress, depression and anxiety than any other work-related behaviour. I love the ethos of RJ; the way it illness, costing the Welsh economy the equivalent of £860 empowers people. It’s something I really believe for every member of the workforce. in. I get great satisfaction knowing that we are Liz Rijnenberg, said: “It is a pleasure to sign the pledge. giving victims the chance to have their voices Many people know or work with colleagues who have heard.” experienced mental health problems. By signing the pledge At any given time Sarah can be working on a we are delighted to be backing this important campaign number of different cases. Some complex cases to eradicate the added misery and distress caused by the can take several months to reach the point where stigma surrounding mental health.” both parties are in the right place to be able to As part of the company’s commitment Rhian Lovell, meet. Deputy Head of Wales CRC’s Dyfed Powys Local Delivery Sarah’s first case was a powerful meeting Unit, has been appointed the Time To Change Wales between Elli, a 12-year-old schoolgirl who came champion. For many years Rhian battled anorexia and now, face to face with the man who burgled her having recovered, she uses her experience to help others grandmother, Pam’s house. and promote mental health campaigns. She also leads Sarah explains: “Elli was upset and angry Wales CRC’s Offender Health workstream. after the break-in, which had left her and her Rhian explains: “Research among our service users grandmother feeling unsafe in their own homes. made it clear that a large proportion of them suffer from She was keen to meet the offender in person and diagnosed and undiagnosed mental health conditions. As tell him how she felt. After a lot of preparation, I a result I felt as an organisation it was important that we escorted Elli and her grandmother to prison to signed the pledge with TTCW for staff, service users and meet the offender. She asked him why he had partners to be aware that we will not stigmatise mental done what he did and he was able to answer her health in Wales CRC.” questions. She later gave him a card which read Anthony said: “We are proud that Wales CRC have ‘Batman or Joker. It’s your choice.’ pledged their support. We all have mental health which “It was a brave and mature gesture and we have to look after, just like our physical health. We are something that moved him greatly. Something campaigning for long term change in society.” quite powerful happens when victims and Pictured, Antony Metcalfe, Programme Manager Time to Change offenders come together. The impact for both Wales with Liz Rijnenberg, Director of Wales CRC and Rhian Lovell, sides is huge.”
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Wales CRC’s Time To Change Champion.
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Wales CRC is owned by Working Links, a public, private, voluntary company committed to helping people change their lives for the better. Working Links works in partnership with Innovation Wessex, a mutual community interest company made up of @WalesCRC www.walescrc.co.uk former probation trust workers.