Invisible Walls Family Support Service
HMP Winchester
The Invisible Walls approach
DfE funded project 2011-2013 Big Lottery Reaching Communities 2013-16 HCC Troubled Families Innovation Grant
Common Aims :• help reduce re-offending• increase stability of children’s lives, and • help families achieve positive outcomes
The scale of need….
• 200,000 children experience a parent being sent to prison each year nationally• around 65% of boys with a Dad in prison
become offenders themselves• nearly 30% of children with a parent in prison experience mental health problems • children of prisoners are more likely to experience poorer education attainment and higher levels of social disadvantage
• Emotional Impact on Children :
• Disenfranchised grief – grief that persons experience when they incur a loss that is not or cannot be openly acknowledged, publically mourned or socially supported”. (Doka 1989) The Role of Schools in Supporting Families Affected by ImprisonmentWinston Churchill Memorial Trust - Report Oct 12
• Feelings of guilt by association
• Feeling labelled – ‘Don’t assume that I will end up in prison like my Mum or Dad’
• Not being told the truth
• Loss of childhood – changing roles in families
Invisible Walls -what do we offer ?
• Information , advice and support for families visiting the prison
• Signposting and referrals to community support
• Parenting programmes and support for fathers in prison
• Pre and post release support packages
• Training and workforce development
a space to talk…Visitor’s Centre at HMP Winchester
a space to play…Visitor’s Centre at HMP Winchester
Feedback from families
[The Visitors’ Centre] is a hand of humanity in a very cold, sad place. It
helps me feel less of an outcast in society
If this centre wasn’t here I wouldn’t
bring my children
The Visitors’ Centre makes the whole
thing easier
Children’s voices…
Some extracts from visitor’s boards…
Some extracts from visitor’s boards…
Pre arrest Arrest
First court appearanceRemand: bail/custody
Trial and Sentence
Custodial/non-custodial
Serving Sentence in custody
Pre-release
Release
ResettlementThe
Offender Journey
12
Parenting Support
• Time for You and Your Child
• Time for You and your Baby
• Time for You and Your Teenager
• Family Days
o Storybook Dadso Dads Together Groupo Self Study Packs
Feedback from fathers
I enjoyed setting goals for myself and thinking for
the future
I’ve learned about my child’s emotional
development and how important a
Dad’s role is
Most enjoyable… expressing and
sharing my thoughts and feelings
Future opportunities and challenges
• Resettlement agenda – HMP Winchester
• Changes to Probation Service
• Troubled Families agenda
• Commissioning
• Capacity
• Expectations
PARTNERHIP WORKING
Contact details :
Kerry Longhorn – Service Lead
mob : 0778 0757 7368
Issy Pound – Workforce Development Lead
Mob: 07794 394678