News, blogs & podcasts

Ollie and Dominic speech for Vision Paper launch: Turning the Tide

Today we see the result of over year’s work with Making Every Adult Matter – the publication of our joint Vision Paper for multiple needs and exclusions, Turning the Tide.

Ken Clarke’s comment piece in The Guardian on Tuesday caused a storm of protest over his unfortunate use of “feral underclass” and “criminal classes” to describe the rioters. Beyond the debate on the semantics, his article underlined the justice secretary’s analysis of the need for reform in criminal justice and beyond.

The riots that began in London last Saturday night and then spread to other cities across England have focused even more attention on criminal justice reform. As journalists and commentators struggle to understand why the riots happened, thoughts also turn to how rioters should be dealt with and what long-term lessons can be learned.

Last week saw the publication of Graham Allen’s second report, Early Intervention: Smart Investment, Massive Savings. Although it focuses on interventions for children and young people, many of its themes and recommendations are highly relevant to adults with multiple needs.

Our new literature review, launched today, provides evidence and tools for anyone concerned with commissioning or delivering support to short-sentenced prisoners in order to improve health outcomes and reduce reoffending.

I recently attended the 2011 London Drug and Alcohol Network (LDAN)/DrugScope conference ‘Capital Concerns – the future for drug and alcohol services’ on 9 March.

International Women’s Day celebrates women’s economic, political and social achievements around the world. Today I am celebrating the achievements of some women I met in Reading and the support services that are helping them.

On the occasion of World Book Night, I have been thinking of those writers whose work has illuminated for me the various lived experiences of mental health problems, substance misuse, homelessness and imprisonment. Here are some personal favourites.

Today we submitted our response to the Government’s Breaking the Cycle green paper. This sets out how we believe that it is possible to achieve a “rehabilitation revolution” in this country. But only if the Government ensures that every community can offer services that work holistically with people with multiple needs outside the criminal justice system with effective routes to this support from every police station, court, probation service and prison.

Friends often enquire about my work. They find it hard to relate to the concepts of partnerships and development. They want to hear about people. A person with multiple problems is helpful shorthand for those of us who work in the field but spoken out loud to a friend or relative, it sounds like jargon and it is. So I tell them about Jacky.

The following blogs are from Service User Forum members who have this week taken part in film training.