Working with offenders
Volunteering is often suggested to people who have criminal convictions as a way of using and developing their skills, participating in the community and being valued and recognised.
Most importantly it is a meaningful activity which can help prevent re-offending.
How we can help
As a Volunteer Centre we have a crucial role in balancing the needs of the individual, with those of the volunteer involving organisation.
Organisations need the help of volunteers to deliver a service or further a cause. They also need to have confidence about the security of their service users, other volunteers and staff. Their priority is rarely the provision of supported volunteering placements. It can be difficult for us to identify placements for individuals with serious or complex offences. Task-based work often seems the best type of volunteering to pursue, but is often undertaken within agencies who provide services to vulnerable people or have vulnerable people within their existing volunteer workforce.
Our experience
Our Health & Wellbeing team has worked with offenders for many years. Experience shows that identifying and securing an appropriate placement can be a very lengthy process, often involving numerous enquiries and negotiations on behalf of the individual. However, individuals who are suitably placed often remain in volunteering and, in some cases, take on additional volunteer roles.
If you work within a criminal justice service and would like to encourage a client to volunteer, here’s what you need to know:
Remember that agencies wishing to recruit new volunteers are rarely experts in working with offenders. Their skill and experience lie in other areas. To consider a new volunteer with a history of offending may take them well out their comfort zone. As the client’s support worker, you have a vital role in providing support and guidance to a potential placement.
We do not recommend that individuals with serious offences directly approach volunteer involving agencies. We recommend that referrals come via us using our established protocol on working with serious or complex offenders. This includes referral by an initial “anonymous profile”.
Volunteer Centre Edinburgh is unable to accept referrals of individuals with convictions for sexual offences. This decision was reached after lengthy consultation with volunteering agencies in the city and experience over many years of exhausting all possible ways of involving sexual offenders in mainstream volunteering.
If you are still interested in referring one of your clients please see our Ex-Offenders Protocol
For more information, or to discuss any of these issues please contact a member of the Health & Wellbeing Team on 0131 225 0630.
- Paul – 29 July 2010