Message From The Chairman

Chairs Review and comments of CLIC, January 2008

The work of CLIC has gone from strength to strength over the last two and a half years. The project has a acquired an excellent reputation with both its partners and users alike. We all started out wth some trepidation stepping into the unknown, not really knowing what to expect. Having an integrated evaluation process from the inception of the project has allowed monitoring closely its progress and address for improvement.

It was indeed a steep learning curve for us all. I am pleased to say all the team rose to the challenge .

 

A key strength of the CLIC Project is its partnership working with other groups and agencies dealing with ex-offenders and their needs in the Mid Hampshire Area.  We have found this invaluable in accessing assistance for individuals; particularly as our project is small and it may only be one person who has a need for say accessing sheltered workshops.  Our partners are represented on the Steering Committee, Housing and Employment Groups, thus informing the process in terms of joined-up working.  We have found the feedback and support of our partners vital to the ongoing maturity of the project over the last 2 years.

 As chair of CLIC would like to express my gratitude for their support and commitment to the project. In my view these effective partnerships have been a significant factor to the success of the project.

There have clearly been challengers posed by both users and partners like generally in relation to working practices. But the public health model CLIC has adopted to resettlement has not only been robust but also but also effective in working and engaging with these challenges.

 

One of the hard outcomes is whether our beneficiaries engage in Education, Training & Employment (ETE).  All of our beneficiaries would like to engage in some form of ETE activity, but there are many barriers to this, including mental health, stability of accommodation, and generally chaotic lifestyles posing a number of challenges to the CLIC worker.  This is in addition to the difficulty in obtaining work when ex-offenders disclose previous convictions.  These barriers are not insurmountable and have required our service to be flexible, and adaptable to the evolving needs of the ex-offender.  It is a mutual learning process. However we have had a number of identifiable successes in the project and our on-going evaluation allows us to measure this success in a tangible and objective way.  Other hard outcomes include accessing a doctor, making use of the gym, and engaging with the drug and alcohol services.

The CLIC project by successfully integrating ex-offenders into the community has saved the prison service approximately £1.5 million. Moreover the social benefits to the service user is priceless; they are given a fresh hope and renewed purpose .

There is I believe a real future for projects like CLIC in terms of the potential to positively influence and change lives.

Peter Jones RMN MA Chair of CLIC