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Explore + Prisons |
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Stuart Robinson’s Testimonial – Governor at Warren Hill YOI |
Testimonial 2 |
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Explore was recommended to me by Stephen Pryor (following nearly 40 years in HMPS), who said he believed it would meet a “critical need for offenders” – and that he was “unaware of anything like it in the prison service”. We have run four Explore Workshops over the last year as a ‘purposeful activity’ in association time at Warren Hill YOI, and they have proven their worth.
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As Governor I see positive working relationships involving staff and offenders in Warren Hill YOI as critical in achieving our aim of challenging and changing damaging behaviour. Through Explore’s work, offenders learn how to relate to each other, work as a team, explore deep and sensitive issues – with adults, work within boundaries, stay committed to a task, respect other peoples points of view, listen, welcome visitors, and so on – which I feel directly contributes to this aim.
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As Governor I have to have faith that Explore works, because unlike some of our other programmes it has no pre-determined and easily measurable outcomes. In many ways this represents strength, because the young men lead an exploration of the relationship and family issues that are on their minds – which can vary enormously. For example in one of the Explore 12-session Workshops I understand the offenders explored experiences relating to money, work, elderly in-laws, trust, sex and contraception, children and drink and drugs, bad habits, violence, health problems, resolving conflict, and a wide range of further experiences. In another Workshop with different participants the experiences explored will naturally be different – so the outcomes vary each time. But invariably their own thinking is tested and developed, thereby affecting behaviour.
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Finally I am aware from the research that re-offending is most likely to stop when an offender settles into a stable relationship with a partner. Whilst Explore has no evidence that it directly impacts on this, I believe they probably make a small yet valuable contribution towards an offender settling into, and sustaining such a stable relationship. |
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Stephen Pryor’s testimonial (retired Governor of Highpoint & a life-time working in the prison service) |
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Explore would very effectively meet a critical need for many offenders who are seeking values and standards for themselves, having had bad or non-existent personal experiences. Prisoners often have excellent educational opportunities (such as parenting courses), however Explore represents an opportunity to test the reality out by asking questions of married couples. As far as I am aware there is nothing like this in the Prison Service. |
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