Sacro, Team Leader, Youth and Community Justice
Sacro’s Lived Experience Peer Support Service (LEPPS) is funding by Glasgow City Council and has been active since August 2021. The value of lived experience/peer to peer support for people in the justice system and its role in achieving better personal outcomes is well recognised, you can CLICK ON THE VIDEO BELOW to hear about that direct from some of the people who experience this as part of their recovery from alcohol/drug misuse and ultimately recovery from involvement in the justice system. This is one of a showcase of ‘Shared Sentences’ films, commissioned by Community Justice Glasgow and made by people with that lived experience to explore issues that face people in that system from their perspective:
CLICK BELOW TO PLAY THE VIDEO
Sacro provides a wide range of Criminal Justice Services, all of which are aimed at safeguarding communities and reducing offending within the community. These services work mainly with people charged with offences and their families to support and assist them in addressing the issues which cause, or may cause them, to offend.
The Peer Support Service offers those subject to Community Sentences or Post release licences, the opportunity to be mentored by a support worker who has lived experience. Community Sentences are explained in the publication ’A Summary of Community Options’ – CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO READ MORE
The service is delivered by means of a mentoring approach, which is a way of helping and supporting individuals with many of the issues they might be facing both practically and emotionally.
The role of a mentor may be challenging and will not always be straightforward. Sacro mentors have a full understanding of their responsibilities, the process of mentoring as well as being fully briefed on working with complex, challenging and often vulnerable people. Sacro uses volunteers to complement the work being done by paid staff. This is in line with Scottish Government’s policies on ‘active citizenship’ where people volunteer to support their community and help others to do things.
Over the Reporting period (1st October – 31 March 2022)
- 36 Referrals were received
- 5 cased were closed
- 2 of those were planned closures
- 3 were unplanned closures – (all non-participation)
Our service only began taking referrals in October 2021
Many of the issues faced by the people who engage with our service are well evidenced drivers of offending and re-offending and are priorities for the Community Justice Glasgow Partners -of which Sacro is one of many. These are set out in the Community Justice Glasgow Outcome Improvement Plan:
Particularly, those referred to a the ‘Protective Factors’ which reduce the risk that someone will re-offend, such as health & wellbeing, housing, education, employability, structure, family connections etc.
A service user was referred to LEPSS by his Criminal Justice Social Worker and has since been engaging with the service for the last three months. Many of his convictions were related to alcohol and substance misuse and were of a violent nature. His most recent conviction was due to a fight with close family members, resulting in a breakdown of familial relationships and increased feelings of helplessness and isolation. The Peer Mentor was informed by Criminal Justice Social Work (CJSW) that the person was not comfortable around new people and this discomfort can sometimes lead to challenging behaviour. Therefore, the first few meetings were used to build a rapport and establish a level of trust between the Peer Mentor and the person that allowed him to discuss his main concerns and previous experiences in a safe and natural environment.
Due to unstable family relationships and offending history the person’s housing situation had been precarious for 10 years, most recently having been moved through 5 temporary accommodations in under a year. This added to the feelings of chaos and lack of connection to local community. When the Peer Mentor began working with him, he had just been awarded a more permanent place in a supported accommodation specialising in alcohol dependency.
He was engaging well with his addiction worker and adhering to methadone maintenance treatment plan at the point of referral but was still struggling with alcohol misuse.
He identified that lack of structure and meaningful activities increased his desire to drink. The Peer Mentor helped him identify Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings in the local area that he could attend and referred him on to a Garden Project as he had expressed interest in outdoor activities.
The service user was also struggling to keep track of his ingoing and outgoing expenditure, so the Peer Mentor accompanied him to a meeting with the bank to update addresses and contact information as well as set up online banking – this allowed him to understand more about spending patterns, seeking further budgeting advice from the Peer Mentor.
Having applied for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in early 2019 due to a major operation resulting in loss of feeling and limited mobility in one leg and the onset of Grand Mal seizures causing interference with short-term memory, muscle aches and fatigue – he had heard no more about the claim. The Peer Mentor assisted him in contacting PIP and making sure that the application had been received and contact information was up to date. Subsequently, he got his PIP application denied and the Peer Mentor assisted him with launching an appeal, making sure that correspondence from all hospital departments and GP were included along with a supporting letter. The frequency and intensity of his seizures has been increasing, and due to the severity of his dyslexia, he was unaware that he had been prescribed a new medication to help. The Peer Mentor helped him liaise with a GP and arrange for prescription to be made up. Since taking the medication, he is experiencing much fewer symptoms and is a lot more confident going out on his own.
The service user is happy with the progress he has made in recent months and is enthusiastic about continuing to work with LEPSS. He is beginning to feel more settled and has started to look for further opportunities develop and grow.
