Tag: Volunteering at Unlock -

Finding my place in the world through volunteering at Unlock

I was convicted of a serious offence towards the end of 2013. As a result, I lost my job, my reputation and my self-esteem and I attempted suicide during the police investigation. My wife, my family and most of my friends stood by me, but I had lost many things that were important to me. After several unsuccessful job applications I thought I would never work again.

Unlock advertised for volunteers in Spring 2014 and, having used the helpline and the information hub, I decided to apply. I was invited for interview and Chris, Debbie and the rest of the team were very welcoming.

I got the job and worked two days each week doing administrative work in the office. Chris and Debbie could see that I had much to offer and I set to work on a list of tasks that they had wanted to do but never found the time.

As well as enjoying the work, I also enjoyed the social interaction in the office and I enjoyed putting on a shirt and trousers and travelling to work each day. I felt normal again!

I think I made a positive contribution to the work of Unlock in the time I was there, but the best thing for me personally was when Debbie asked me to represent Unlock at a training workshop in London. I travelled up on the train, took part in the discussion, made some new contacts and came back with some useful information. This might seem strange, but it made such a difference to how I felt about myself. These were things that I did all the time in my old job, but now I felt normal again and part of the working world. Yes, I could still do it!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was offered permanent paid employment a short time later. An old friend with his own business had a vacancy, he knew I could do a job for him and knew that I was trying hard to help myself.

However, I had “unfinished business” at Unlock. Chris and Debbie had been very good to me and I could not let them down. I did one day a week for a few weeks after I started my new job and finished off some work that I wanted to finish for Unlock.

I hope you will see from the above that Unlock helped me to find my place in the world after a very traumatic experience. They helped me to get back to work, but more than that I also made some new friends. We have kept in touch and I intend to keep it that way.

Thank you Unlock!

By Dave* (name changed to protect identity)

Transition – You never truly fail until you quit

My journey of transition unwittingly began as I lay face down at the banking of the Thames surrounded by a group of armed officers after having failed miserably in my bid to evade capture after a 5 hour armed siege.

What then ensued was a series of hearings to determine my plea of guilt which thankfully, owing to the overwhelming forensic evidence linking me to the firearm, saved me from the humiliation I would have had to endure had I have opted for a trial.

However, what followed had been far less palatable, a specified period of 15 years under the then quite novel IPP ruling which at the time had been the largest single term of its kind.

Prior to that point my life had been one of conflict with society where I tended to orbit in an environment outside of society’s realm as opposed to wanting to assimilate with it.

However, I was now faced with having the monumental task of ploughing my way through what in effect was the equivalent of a 30 year sentence.

Thankfully I had the presence of mind to utlilise my time as productively as the system would allow and began using education as a means of liberating myself out of my previous lifestyle choice.

I began by studying law, receiving a distinction in Prison and Human Rights Law and for the first time began to see the role which parliament had set out for what law was to achieve and strangely began to develop a slow but meaningful respect for it.

Add to this a couple of NVQ level 3 qualifications in counselling coupled with the beginnings of a journalism diploma, which sadly I had been unable to finish, I was now faced with a whole new proposition.

As a result of the new found understanding I had of law I launched my own appeal had my sentenced reduced by half and significantly lowered my risk to a point where after 7 years I was now manageable in open conditions.

During this period I began volunteering at Unlock, and within weeks of me being there I attended The House of Lords as part of the drive to launch Unlock’s online disclosure calculator.

This really impacted upon me and was the beginning of the broadening of my social landscape as it was under the auspices of Unlock that I really began to develop as I was now privy to all sorts of interesting third sector and criminal justice news which would simultaneously stimulate, inspire and at times appall me.

Having said this what it did provide me with was the rumblings of my very first remit statement for an initiative that I went on to launch. Thankfully my altruistic fervor hasn’t suffered as a result of the hard work I have had to endure being a small practitioner in a landscape which overwhelmingly favours the primes. In fact quite the opposite.

I think If there is a lesson I could impart from my own experience of change it would certainly be my new found understanding that you never truly fail until you quit.

Tag: Volunteering at Unlock -

Finding my place in the world through volunteering at Unlock

Transition – You never truly fail until you quit

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