The Service

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Pathways to Change (PTC) is a weekly life skills group designed to help prison residents to prepare for a successful release.

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It is structured around the Seven pathways to Rehabilitation, factors recognised by government as those which can influence whether a client re-offends:

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• Accommodation

• Attitudes, thinking and behaviour

• Children and family

• Drugs and alcohol

• Education, training and employment

• Finance, benefit and debt

• Health

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Pathways to Change is a voluntary support network geared towards reducing reoffending through changing behaviours. It focuses on residents who are willing to:

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• Take responsibility for their actions and for their future lives

• Address past behaviours

• Explore new ways forward

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Our clients

 

PTC is designed for residents who are within six months of their prison release date.  It is also for vulnerable residents who need peer support to make positive changes.

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What we offer

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Pathways to Change is a mixture of peer support and one-to-one volunteer support.  Residents are encouraged to identify and address past negative behaviours, and explore new ways forward. We offer:

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• Support in a group setting, where clients connect with each other

• One-to-one support from a trained volunteer

• Mindfulness practice as a central part of group interactions

• Life skills coaching

• Coping mechanisms and strategies for life outside prison

• The opportunity to talk and be listened to

• Space to reflect and feel safe to take steps out of prison life and become rehabilitated

• Opportunities to gain/offer peer support

• Encouragement and support to build self-belief and self-esteem

 

PTC is linked to our Through the Gate service.

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How PTC makes a difference….

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​To clients

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Clients taking part in PTC are given the chance to engage in ways that they may not have been able to for some time, showing them that they can move outside prison life and change their engrained behaviours. They are able to:

 

• ​Feel empowered

• Develop transferable skills

• Increase in self-awareness

• Become part of a support network in a safe space to share and talk

• Take responsibility for their own actions

• Make connections

• Use advocacy to have their say

• Change their attitudes and lifestyles – and use our toolkit to maintain change

• See the positive side of asking for help

• Reduce reoffending behaviour

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To health and wellbeing

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PTC uses positive group and one-to-one work to restore residents’ self-esteem and build essential life skills – reducing the risk of self-hatred and self-harm and the spiral that leads to re-offending. The programme gives residents:

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• An understanding of their ‘triggers’ (homelessness, addiction, financial issues) and past behaviours – suggesting alternative behaviour and coping skills

• Self-awareness of their own needs

• Accountability to the self

• Restored trust and respect

• Access to support services/Professionals

• The ability to understand and make different life choices

• Improved self-esteem

• A sense of purpose

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To the prison environment

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​The impact of PTC on residents has a hugely positive effect on prison life, improving the prison environment through:

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• Better behaviour

• Peer support

• Reduction in Mental health issues

• Reduced self-harming/Violent/suicidal thoughts

• Alternative coping strategies on the wings

• Entries on CNOMIS

• A unique group approach that works

• More positive Resident to Resident/Officer interaction

• Positive staff rapport

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To society 

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Self-aware and responsible offenders and ex-offenders are less likely to re-offend, contributing to a safer society. PTC is crucial in realising this by:

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• Equipping those in the justice system with a better understanding of the impact of their actions

• Giving offenders the life skills to make positive changes and contribute to their community

• Creating safer communities with less victims of crime

• Changing society’s views of offending and how it happens by offering volunteering opportunities in prisons

• Improving housing options on release so that offenders are integrated into the community

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