DISC News Spot - Updated 05/11/08

Together Women Project Wins Third Award for Outstanding Work

The Together Women Project (TWP) which helps women offenders break the cycle of offending and turn their lives round has won a National Criminal Justice Award for ‘outstanding contribution to working with offenders’.

The award follows on from two awards gained earlier in 2008 - a Partners of Prisoners Outstanding Achievements When Working with Female Offenders award, and a Howard League for Penal Reform Community Award.

DISC is one of the partners in the TWP, which is led by Foundation Housing and works out of centres in Leeds, Bradford and Doncaster. Some DISC staff are key workers who offer holistic and one to one support to help women tackle the reasons they commit crime. Other DISC staff provide specific e2e (entry to employment) vocational training in basic skills and IT in order to help the women gain the skills, motivation and confidence to seek work.

The National Criminal Justice Awards were judged by senior criminal justice system members, including Jack Straw MP and Baronness Scotland of Asthal QC. They acknowledge organisations which ‘do something over and above their ordinary work’, and have made ‘an outstanding contribution in their field’.

Sheena Brown (name changed to preserve anonymity) is an example of a former offender who has turned her life round. She was convicted for assault in 2006, and consequently referred to Together Women. As her offending behaviour was linked to her mental health problems, a great deal of support focused on helping her cope with these issues, without which she would have continued to offend.

Sheena now has an effective community support network in place, which enables her to manage her illness and lead a healthy law abiding life. During her time with TWP Sheena also attended courses in Basic Skills and IT training, Money Management, Confidence Building, and Healthy Eating.

She has recently ‘graduated’ from TWP and her parting letter says it all. “Together Women and my key worker there gave me a lot of support and sound advice as I went through some crises at different times. I shall miss the women at TWP, but feel I’ve gained so much in confidence and am now much more able to deal with things on my own. Now the time’s come to leave and I want to say thank you to TWP for all their help and support. Thanks for everything.”

Updated 05/11/08