There was a line in Friday nights first episode of 'The Investigation' on BBC2 that immediately resonated with me. It's the beginning of a murder case and stress is already becoming apparent amongst the detectives involved. Before heading home in pensive mood, an experienced officer makes a revealing statement to a younger colleague along the lines of 'there hasn't been a homicide case I haven't taken home with me'. Oh boy, that resonated and got me reflecting.
I think we're all familiar with the old probation mantra of 'advise, assist and befriend' and I know for a fact that this remains a fundamental element of practice amongst some officers and especially of a certain vintage. For those not 'in the know' it's hard to adequately explain the stress caused by having to try and help (supervise?) clients who are homeless, destitute, frightened and possibly suicidal.
In addition to the person's situation assaulting your emotions and challenging your professional skills of advocacy, it can utterly disrupt your planned working day and 'essential' record-keeping. The advent of the computer has made things 100% worse. And then supposedly you have to 'switch off' and go home, hopefully to a contrasting world of calm, comfort and safety, but not always of course.
The cumulative effect can be extremely serious and lead to what used to be termed 'burnout', long term sickness, depression and in some instances suicide. Sadly during my career I have known of two colleagues who took their own life and one who had to be 'sectioned' for their own safety. This sort of thing doesn't seem to be talked of nowadays and I wonder why? Can you do the job 'properly' any more, or just 'sign-post' everything off? 'Not my job guv'.
But 'advise, assist and befriend' and social work was only ever part of the story because the job has always been concerned with justice, punishment and rehabilitation too. In order to be effective there is an inherent need to get to the truth, a task that can be extraordinarily difficult especially in relation to sex offenders and people convicted of murder.
It can be incredibly stressful, particularly as parole dates approach and you become acutely aware of the importance that words can have in influencing key decisions. Did they really not do it? Has there been a miscarriage of justice? Is that really what happened? Will it happen again? In my experience these cases have not only 'come home' with me but continue to live with me years and decades later.
The recent ITV drama-documentary about the notorious Pembrokeshire murders reminded me that, not withstanding a whole-life tariff, one or more probation officers will have that case, but unlike police officers will never talk about it publicly, write a book or sell a story to the media. It all means the public and politicians continue to remain blissfully ignorant as to what the job is all about. I sometimes reflect that even in my fairly pedestrian career, I carry around the baggage attached to more than a handful of stories, the telling of which would amount to much media interest and quite a pretty cash sum. It will never happen though, such is the distinctive probation ethos that still survives.I'll end this meander with a final thought. Just imagine the emotional effect on probation officers prior to the 1965 abolition of the death penalty and their involvement with clients destined for the gallows. I've never heard any discussion at all of this, but wonder if this was the origin of the practice of 'pairing' in cases of murder right from first allocation. I know that when I joined in 1985 it was routine practice to have a colleague assigned as a 'pair' on all murder cases for support, continuity and essentially another view.
In other news;
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55766678
Janice Nix: The drugs kingpin who joined the Probation Service
Unlikely to pass probation police-style vetting today,
Janice Nix used to be a notorious London drug dealer. Known as Mamma J, she drove flash cars and had money to burn.
DeleteHer crimes caught up with her though and she spent many years in prison. The suicide of a fellow inmate would lead to Janice to turning her life around, and she went on to become a probation officer.
The 62-year-old, who has released a memoir about her eventful life, has now left the Probation Service but still works voluntarily to help vulnerable women in the capital.
She describes her transformation from drug dealer into Probation Service engagement officer as at one point being "the most talked about thing on Brixton High Road".
People who remembered her dealing and driving fast cars were speechless to meet her again when they walked through the doors of Brixton police station.
Sometimes her past still makes her uncomfortable.
"I am not proud about it," Janice says. "Sometimes I cringe when I think about my criminal history but then I am gentle with myself, because I also understand that without that past I couldn't have what I have in front of me today - [the chance] to teach people, to support women."
“She describes her transformation from drug dealer into Probation Service engagement officer”
ReplyDeleteGood story, but didn’t the NPS get rid of ‘engagement workers’ at TR?
Sadly we always hear of the criminals that became volunteers, mentors and engagement workers in probation.
What about the criminals that became successful QUALIFIED PROBATION OFFICERS?
Those are the stories I want to read.
If you'd read the above post properly, that's literally what it's about. She was a qualified PO and later left the service, but continues to work voluntarily.
DeletePerhaps if you read !
Delete“she went on to become a probation officer ... She describes her transformation from drug dealer into Probation Service engagement officer”.
Not qualified, seems probation officer is being confused with probation ENGAGEMENT office, aka ex-offender mentors, which she did 2014-2018.
Didn’t they start in 2014, discontinued by the NPS after TR, continued by CRC only? Not knocking her, but I know of those that have done much more, then gone to uni, qualified as probation officers, worked for many years, overcome all the obstacles.
They didn’t get book deals, but should have!
https://mbalit.co.uk/client/janice-nix/
DeleteMBA Literary agents:-
The telling of Janice Nix’s remarkable story marks her transformation from a woman with a criminal history spanning two decades to a dedicated and award-winning London Probation Services officer.
Janice embodies the inspiring process of change she now offers to others in her work, and demonstrates the requirements to make that change. As the Probation Service’s Diversity and Engagement Award winner in 2015, she continues to raise awareness around the systemic problems that former offenders face, as well as empowering individuals to overcome challenges in their own lives. Janice’s motto is: ‘Each one, teach one’”.
I'm one! Been a PO for nearly 20 years now.
Delete"And then supposedly you have to 'switch off' and go home"... except that at the mo much of this work is being done in our homes on the phone. The psychological impact of having the trauma in your home is significant. The journey from kitchen table to kettle by way of a commute is no enough of a transition from the day job to the evening off.
ReplyDeleteI am now at the point where when our leadership pile on the praise, thanks us hidden heroes for what we are achieving, as they did in my area on a zoom "event" last week, I have to fight the impulse to throw my computer through the window. They bung out "well being" stuff, and talk about being kind and flexible, but I dont see any evidence whatsoever that in these circumstances workload relief would be in order. Staff who are minding young children at home are working as best they can amongst the demands and lego, and then slogging away in the evening. It isnt right and it is clearly not sustainable as evidenced by high levels of work related stress. Of course there are staff shortages, so there is nowhere to offload excessive workload to. Yes there is! Just take a big black felt pen and score out any number of processes and activities that dont have an immediate benefit. Get the courts to grant an amnesty by way of eg, taking all unpaid work orders who are more than half way through the hours, and say half way through the order, where there have been no further offences, and revoke them in favour of conditional discharges. In fact, take that approach across the piece in some form. Stop quality auditing for heavens sake. There is more scrutiny than before the pandemic. Its using up officer and manager time pointlessly. WTF is the new mappa Q review process about. Another humongous document completed entirely by copying and pasting entries from existing assessments and records, when in the main "NO CHANGE" would be a perfectly satisfactory entry.
Possibly the best & most important contribution of recent times, @12:53.
DeleteUnfortunately most of the perfectly reasonable, sensible & common-sensical points you make will carry no weight with those who define themselves as 'managers' or 'leaders'.
A toxic combination of incompetence, insecurity & indifference renders them incapable of any chance of understanding what you have described because they think it doesn't affect 'them'. And on their salaries, with their mindset, it probably doesn't.
For example, if anyone has bothered to read any of Romeo's tweets since she returned to the MoJ, its all about her own career & achievements.
And for at least ten years now Janice Nix's application form wouldn't have been selected at first sift.
I recall someone once posted on here that Nigel Bennett (now a Seetec suit) once bragged he would NEVER employ ANYONE with a criminal conviction. Did Nigel ever mention he was once a Downing Street advisor to Cameron? Not sure its true...
Neither would most of the dinosaur PO/PSO's
Delete“And for at least ten years now Janice Nix's application form wouldn't have been selected at first sift.”
DeleteWouldn’t be selected at any sift. There’s currently a whole pile of probation staff in CRCs about to be vetted out of probation existence.
Problem is not just the recruiters and managers, many of the probation staff turn their nose up to sitting next to an ex-con too.
Probation used to pride itself on training up ex offenders as PO’s. Now it’s unheard of and a dirty secret.
Awww, Nigel, did someone hit a raw spot?
DeleteThe tension comes from the fact that the Probation Service isn't simply there to take in ex-offenders. It has a much wider professional remit which requires key skills in areas other than just relating to people. There are numbers of staff in CRCs - and a smaller number in NPS - who are just not equipped to deliver a professional service in all the required areas. It can't be a bad thing for the reunified Service that some of these people will go. It's unpalatable to hear in those terms but I do think it's a reality.
Delete... In terms of the comments about Janet Nix above, she joined the Probation Service in 2014 so plainly DID progress beyond the 'first sift' in the last 10 years?!? Just saying...
In my long career ex offenders always hit a management imposed ceiling and progression was impossible no matter how good able or better they were.
Delete@16:32 - that'll teach me to read more carefully:
Delete"In the 15 years since her release, Janice has worked as a ward clerk in a hospital and supported ex-offenders through the St Giles Trust.
*** She joined the Probation Service just before the decision in 2014 to part-privatise it.
She describes the policy - since reversed - as "a bad idea", and one that eventually saw her spend more time behind a desk instead of having face-to-face meetings with offenders."
Don't understand your post 17:41... An admission that you misunderstood? Or are you trying to make another point? I genuinely can't tell.
Delete17:40 - if your experience of ex-offender employees includes numbers that are statistically significant enough to reach any conclusion, it rather undermines the claims that the Service doesn't employ enough ex-offenders. Doesn't it?
Deleteto @17:55 - can't see what else I was doing beyond admitting I'd failed to read the article properly. Even went to the trouble of pasting the quote & marking the very specific line with asterisks.
DeleteAnything else I can do to help?
17:55 Nothing else. Apologies for jumping down your throat. So difficult to interpret tone in text only... especially with my level of paranoia!
DeleteAll is good. And you're right, oftenmost the spats over posted comments or emails etc are simply interpretations - or failing to read things :)
Delete(that's a smile)
The Fuckwittery continues unabated:
ReplyDelete"A student party that attracted people from up to 200 miles away has been broken up by police. Some of the guests were found hiding in cupboards when officers raided the gathering in Lower Loveday Street, Birmingham, on Friday night. One officer was assaulted as one guest made off but was not hurt, West Midlands Police said. Party-goers had travelled to the event from places such as Newcastle, Nottingham and London."
"Police have issued more than £15,000 in fines after 300 people attended an illegal rave in a railway arch. Officers raided an unlicensed music event in Nursery Road, Hackney, at 01.30 GMT on Sunday. Many people fled the scene, while organisers padlocked the doors from the inside to stop officers getting in, police said."
I think the modern day employee is seen mostly as just another cog in the machine that makes the process function. A piece of apparatus that has a function not dissimilar from the computer they sit in front of.
ReplyDeleteInfact, I wonder if someone went to management and said,
"I'm very distressed and feel I'm suffering from emotional burnout, and by the way my computer isn't working properly", would it be the employee or the computer that attention was focused on first?
Flicking around the Web after reading today's post, I've discovered a phrase I'm unfamiliar with called "emotional labour".
There's a short paper that explains its benefits, it's usage and application, and it's consequences and burnout that can impact on those where emotional labour is part of their work.
It may or may not be of interest to some, but...
HM Inspectorate of Probation
Academic Insights 2020/03
Emotional Labour in Probation
Dr Jake Phillips, Dr Chalen Westaby and Andrew Fowler
APRIL 2020
'Getafix
Love it when 'Getafix points us towards an HMI doc we should all have read!
DeleteNonetheless, the data from our original study suggests that surface acting is prevalent in probation work. Thus, when practitioners spoke to us about probation work being ‘relentless’, how probation work spills over in to their personal lives leading to them becoming more suspicious, parenting in different ways and changing their personal routines, it is possible that we were actually being told that they were suffering from some form of burnout (Phillips et al., 2016; Westaby et al., 2016)
Although there is – as yet – no definitive evidence about the strength of the relationship between probation work, emotional labour and burnout, it is reasonable to assume that such a relationship does exist. Considering emotional labour plays a part in effective practice, it is incumbent upon employers to look after their staff in the course of their day to day work. If we look beyond the field of probation, there are certain activities which employers can
undertake to ameliorate the risk of emotional labour related burnout and low staff wellbeing.
There is a role for individualistic approaches such as encouraging staff to practise mindfulness and making the workforce more ‘resilient’ so that they can cope with the immediate day-to-day pressures of probation work.
However, the most effective measures will be ones which change the conditions under which probation practitioners work. Much of this will come down to resources: more staff would result in lower caseloads and so fewer hours worked. Lower caseloads would enable
staff to build more genuine relationships with their service users which, in turn, would lead to greater potential for deep acting over surface acting.
When organisations make the emotional demands of a job more explicit, people can cope better. Not knowing what emotional displays are appropriate adds stress and increases the risk of ‘getting it wrong’. By providing better training in dealing with emotional labour and
Deletehaving more open conversations about what emotion skills are needed, staff will be able to perform emotional labour in less harmful ways. Probation providers might also work on recognising emotional labour as a productive endeavour rather than simply an ordinary and expected feature of the job. The National Probation Service is currently rolling out a new
supervision and line management framework under the umbrella of SEEDS2. This includes a much greater focus on the emotional demands of probation work and includes provisions for line managers to support staff with this side of their work.
"The National Probation Service is currently rolling out a new supervision and line management framework under the umbrella of SEEDS2. This includes a much greater focus on the emotional demands of probation work and includes provisions for line managers to support staff with this side of their work."
Deleteoh really?
I had high hopes for the original SEEDS, that it was going to be embraced by our employer & rolled out, that it would provide the much promised support for staff at a time of great turmoil way-back-when.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/224308/probation-views-seed-pilot.pdf
And look what happened... nurtured, supportive?
No. It was grooming for a ruthless violation.
carelessly posted in the wrong thread - sorry.
Deletehttps://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.293093!/file/probation-staff-views-seed.pdf
https://www.ksscrc.co.uk/2020/06/29/probation-staff-supervision-valuing-me-time/
Following the comments... I've just experienced first hand how the failing of ViSOR goes. An utter shambles, especially when the fail wasn't related to any personal brisks with the law as there isn't any! Successfully appealed, but an awful process. Heart goes out to those coming over from CRC!
ReplyDeleteI’ve heard the horror stories.
DeleteVetting is the evidence that the probation service does not believe in change.
Probation workers lucky enough to be employed with criminal convictions, family with convictions, CCJs, are the hidden minority.
HMPPS is contradictory at its core. The probation institute, journal, unions and even probation officers all follow suit.
But what do I care; I’m alright Jack!
depends on one's definiiton of 'alright'...
DeleteIt is entirely proper that employees with convictions are a minority in the service. As those with convictions are in the wider community. Would you be looking for a majority? Come on people, let's have some sort of reality here. What other properly functioning professional services have benefitted from a staff group made up largely of former service users. Some, yes of course. But what point are you trying to make here? DBS checks are a form of vetting, bit I rarely hear people dismissing these as persecutory or unnecessary. Perhaps we should just ignore people's histories or known associations because we all know that they have no bearing at all on character or behaviour??
DeleteI regularly hear of many discriminated against due to past convictions. In many cases committed decades ago. In many cases very minor too.
DeleteFor a service built on ‘change’ I would expect many more probation officers with convictions. I would also expect the service to be quite open about this too, if not overtly welcoming.
The service’s approach is the opposite. Keep convictions secret. Weed out those that managed to scrape through under old rules. No routes for ex-offenders to progress into HMPPS except as second rate volunteers and mentors.
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.293093!/file/probation-staff-views-seed.pdf
Deletehttps://www.ksscrc.co.uk/2020/06/29/probation-staff-supervision-valuing-me-time/
'Regularly' hearing of 'many' discriminated against suggests a fairly large number of employees with convictions. Perhaps more than any other public service. So which is it? Can we decide on whether we don't employ enough people with convictions.. or whether we don't promote them to more senior positions? If people don't get through the sift, then how are we evidencing obstacles to career progression? Beginning to sound like people want to complain but don't really have much info to base a complaint on.
ReplyDeleteI didn’t say they worked in probation. The few I have known in probation, generally haven’t been treated very well. Many have expressed concerns over vetting.
DeleteMany of the few? Or a few of the many? Could you be any less clear on your point?
DeleteAnyone else working with female sexual offenders? Today's R4File on Four is well worth a listen
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000rcq5
Just listened it was good. It raised the issue that very limited work is done with females. This is unfortunate as many women are willing to explore if given a forum. I feel that there is too much of a move away from encouraging women to explore their offending. Instead proffessionals are more comfortable blaming relationships and drugs and not acknowledging female desires. Guilt and shame is not always a protective factor!
ReplyDelete