New Service for Women in Gloucester
The Nelson Trust has been awarded major funding from the Ministry of Justice to open a groundbreaking new service in Gloucestershire for female offenders and those at risk of offending.
This will now ensure there is an appropriate support provision for women in a safe non-threatening environment. Crucially, however, women do not need to have offended in order to access the service.
The Nelson Trust’s work with women who exhibit complex and multiple needs has already been widely recognised. The Trust was cited as an example of good practice by the Ministry of Justice and Cabinet Office Short Study on Women Offenders in May 2009.
The Nelson Trust was invited to submit a full written proposal to demonstrate how it will support women across the following areas which are linked to offending behaviour:
• Accommodation
• Employment, Training and Education
• Health
• Drugs and Alcohol
• Finance, Benefit and Debt
• Children, Families and Relationships
• Attitudes, Thinking and Behaviour
• Supporting women who have been abused, raped or experienced domestic violence
• Supporting women who are, or have been, involved in prostitution.
We plan to create a unique centre based in Gloucester, offering interventions, support and education for some of the county’s most vulnerable women. It will also provide a crèche facility for those with young children run by a Barnardo's Worker. This innovative service aims to raise women out of their entrenched cycle of offending and imprisonment and deliver effective preventative strategies to those at risk; thereby minimising the likelihood of a return to offending behaviour.
The new centre will equip women with:
• Access to a full range of support and other services
• Enhanced interpersonal and practical skills
• Greater confidence and self-esteem
• Insight into the links between thinking, circumstances, substance misuse and patterns of offending behaviour
• Motivation and opportunities to turn their lives around.
The skilled and experienced team currently running the Trust’s women’s residential service will be the brains behind the development of a range of specialist interventions and links into other support services. The programme will begin with a comprehensive assessment and an individual support plan involving partnership workers where applicable.
The service will work in partnership with key criminal justice agencies to identify adult women at risk of offending, on bail, on community orders, or on release from prison. The service will also forge links with other service providers in order to meet the needs of women who have difficulties affecting thier lives which may result in or has resulted in them breaking the law.
