"The history of probation has... been characterised as a journey from 'advise, assist and befriend' to 'enforcement, rehabilitation and public protection'. But there is now a weight of evidence and argument to show that the way to get the best from people is to treat them well - with fairness, respect, encouragement and personal interest. This is not only ethically valuable, but also conduces to probation's objectives. In each of its phases, probation has sooner or later made this discovery. Perhaps the best way to enforce, rehabilitate and protect the public is by advising, assisting and befriending."
The above quote was offered by Prof Rob Canton, somewhat embarrassingly as author, during some Twitter exchanges yesterday. He went on to say he wrote the words in 2007 in the Introduction to the Dictionary of Probation and Offender Management, edited by R. Canton and D. Hancock (Willan Publications) and wondered 'if they made sense to probation folk?'
Of course they do indeed make sense, especially to regular readers and contributors to this blog because 'advise, assist and befriend' goes to the very core of the probation ethos and why many of us have stuck with it and refused to be party to its abandonment over the years.
The sadness is that this core belief has had to be practised 'under the radar' and in a clandestine manner with many of its adherents of experience and service actively encouraged to believe it was they that were misguided, old-fashioned and out of step with contemporary theory and practice. Before it is too late, could this be the moment to correct this disgraceful and disrespectful treatment of both long-serving staff and deserving clientele? (Many of us refuse to use PoPs).
It feels enormously refreshing and encouraging to have one's beliefs validated and these words from 2007 need to be repeated and reinforced in 2022 because probation now faces the existential threat of disappearing as a distinct service, professional identity and autonomy. The Probation Institute appears about to mount a campaign, the Napo AGM is not far off and I would suggest that now is the time for all those that care come to the aid of our profession and core belief, in which case there could surely be no better rallying cry than
'Advise, Assist and Befriend'.
From Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"Unfortunately many of "the genuine POs" have been bullied out or 'managed' out by the new regime, have left due to stress/illness, have taken early retirement or simply have had enough of the tick box 'robot' role & left the building for pastures new."
From Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"If you’re a Probation Officer or have been one who doesn’t treat people well then you really don’t deserve to be in the role. You need a genuine interest in the people you work with. Probation robots will come and go. The genuine POs will stand the rest of time."
From Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"If you’re a Probation Officer or have been one who doesn’t treat people well then you really don’t deserve to be in the role. You need a genuine interest in the people you work with. Probation robots will come and go. The genuine POs will stand the rest of time."
From Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"In my career, I can’t say that there’s not that many people I haven’t got on with - you form a relationship and build upon it. I think they call it therapeutic alliance - I just think it’s human interaction."
It is skilled and informed human interaction, and if it isnt based on genine empathy and respect, then it will fail. I dont think it matters if we put it into the language of therapy or "treatment" or of social justice values. As practitioners we have to look at the whole person, not a label, a list of risks and needs, a task, a target: and we need to bring our whole self to the conversation.
DeletePearly Gates
From Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"Yep! I was bullied out of my PO role in the CRC after 18 years and then joined the NPS for a couple of years before leaving Probation. Thankfully I am now in an amazing role but am so sad to see so many experienced and decent POs leaving in their droves."
From Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"Absolutely, and something I strive to continue as if a person sets a target for themselves, they are far more likely to strive for it. I can lead any horse to water - only the horse can make itself drink. I tell all my cases this, that the changes they want to see come from them!"
I’ve been advising,assisting and befriending throughout all of the recent changes as it’s the one thing that in my experience works and stands the test of time.....current management are telling us to engage more.....that we aren’t spending enough time with people, it’s not the amount of time you spend with someone that counts,it’s finding the way in, gently coaxing, encouraging.....I suppose that’s why I still get random calls from people I supervised ten,fifteen years ago just to let me know what they are up to, Christmas cards etc.....now I’m told that the old ways don’t work, that we have to think differently but all I see is a ridiculous reliance on breach and recall as a way of demonstrating that ,we are in control’....I suppose that we have a cadre of your managers who struggled to do the job now telling us how to do the job.....but all the while we go about advising,assisting and befriending.......
ReplyDeleteProbation today operates like a mega open prison estate. The people it receives from custody are not really seen as members of the public, but are viewed more like prisoners on a period of extended ROTL.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, under the mantra of probation being there to protect the public, those subject to probation can never be seen as members of the public, because they are the very people who probation claim to be protecting the public from!
I see very little good in todays probation service for anyone. It manages people on licence, mostly through threat of recall or sanction, until they can be signed off probation caseload, and then they become someone else's problem. I personally find that a strange process to base a claim of public protection on.
If someone has reached the end of their licence period without reoffending, and yet nothing has been done that effects some change in that person, then I would argue that it's probation that's protected itself, and not the public.
How better to protect the public then to lead someone to a place where they don't want to offend, and are equipped with the means to make not reoffending a reality?
Probation needs to be recruiting more bonafide probation officers, not those with the community prison officer attitude.
Probation by its nature works with problematic, difficult people, and I feel many in the current service fail to understand that comes with the job.
Recalling someone (I accept sometimes necessary) doesn't solve any problems, it shelves problems, and if probation can't be about solving the problem, then it sure as hell can't be about protecting the public.
Probation has to be about changing people, not just managing them.
If it's just about managing people through a set period of time, then I'm sure G4s or Serco could do it much cheaper then the cost of running todays service .
'Getafix
In my probation area I see people using the power of relationships in order to support people to make changes on a daily basis . We know that the challenges of those we work with are often caused by poverty, disadvantage and trauma . The work to support people sits alongside the important work of protecting the public and sometimes this means a swift recall back to prison - it’s difficult to advise , assist and befriend someone when they are displaying risky behaviours - for example in one situation recently a man convicted of sexual offences who had started grooming the child of a neighbour and then been “outed” by local vigilantes . We need to stop harping back to the good old days (of which I was part of) and start rebuilding a compassionate , trauma informed probation service that supports people but also has the capacity to manage risk . The two should and can work in tandem . What we need for this ? Enough staff to have manageable caseloads . Decent accommodation for people coming out of prison and in the community . Strong partnerships . The ability to work creatively in a person centred way . What we don’t need is to attack each other or criticise staff who are trying their best .
DeleteAbsolutely agree with you on the need to balance risk and support. Sad you used a sex offender case to illustrate your point, as its a red rag to a bullish media whenever that comes up.
Delete"We need to stop harping back to the good old days (of which I was part of) and start rebuilding a compassionate , trauma informed probation service that supports people but also has the capacity to manage risk ." I think we do need to harp back to the good old days. Just to strike that balance between risk managment, box ticking, and working creatively and humanely in collaboration with our clients.
From Twitter:-
Delete"This is a good analysis of Probation (I am a probation practitioner) - but doesn’t address how PPs are supposed to do the good work to address change. Especially with an endless staff shortage leading to excessive workloads and very little time."
https://www-lincolnshirelive-co-uk.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.lincolnshirelive.co.uk/news/local-news/meet-lincolnshire-probation-officer-who-7500043.amp?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16616968485824&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lincolnshirelive.co.uk%2Fnews%2Flocal-news%2Fmeet-lincolnshire-probation-officer-who-7500043.amp%23amp_tf%3DFrom%2520%25251%2524s%26aoh%3D16616968485824%26referrer%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.google.com
ReplyDeleteAfter studying criminology at university, Ms Nicholls worked her way up to become a probation officer, working to keep the community safe... "Crucially, my day is about managing risk, and this ensures every day is incredibly varied."
DeleteMs Nicholls said that one of the highlights of her job so far was helping a notorious offender finish his probation... "I knew the key to success, as with many offenders, was securing accommodation and access to mental health services...I have a duty to keep the community safe."
The Probation Service is currently hiring in the East Midlands
Mental health services and accommodation are a mess. It can be months waiting for an assessment to mh services, and longer still to be allocated a cco. When you do get one, they might rarely see you, and will often be trying to do the same as a lot of po's - hit targets, which can mean anything from shoddy neoliberal interventions, like cbt/dbt, and referring you on to various third-sector organizations.
DeleteCouncil housing supply doesn't meet demand, so its years waiting, and the private rented sector is unaffordable, and the landlords who do accept benefits and low-income people are often dodgy.
Back to Ms Nicholls:-
DeleteMs Nicholls said: "I wouldn’t say you have to be a people person, but you need to have people skills. I want to work with offenders and support them in order to stop them reoffending - I have a duty to keep the community safe.
"The role is an important one as you have to support a group of people who have very complex needs. That’s why a big part of the role is listening and assessing their needs where previously they may not have had this support. This part is vital as it keeps the public safe."
So agree getafix. The old training grounded in psychology,sociology and criminology led to practitioners/ professionals who wanted to engage with those who had already been judged and sentenced/punished and to really try to understand how individuals functioned,or didn’t ,within “societal norms”, to help them grow amid poverty,stigmatisation and labelling. This was truly a profession and never “just a job”. Sadly I feel this is now lost and it is actually to the detriment of protecting the public as merely policing service users exasserbates the gap between them (the bad) and “us” ;(the good) and just reinforces criminógenic justification. We have lost so much in terms of our professionalism that I now doubt it will ever be recovered. One of my saving graces is that I still bump into former clients/service users who great me warmly and proudly introduce me to their families in tow and recount our sometimes turbulent relationships
ReplyDeleteFrom Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"At present, I'm not sure the probation practitioners (as they're now called) know what their job is. I think COVID has had a big impact. They realise they didn't need to be doing half of what they were doing, and now don't know what to do instead."
The probation and mental health industries should have minimal role in society - we can attribute many of the problems of people accessing those services to capitalism.
ReplyDeleteI’ve said it over and over. Probation will not change for the better until it separates itself from the unnatural buzzword ethos of enforcement, risk management, public protection, protecting victims, OASys, MAPPA, ARMS, Visor, Vetting. These practices for monitoring and control are not what probation was intended to be.
ReplyDeleteFrom Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"Advise Assist and befriend. It is my mantra at home, in my social life and at work. No one has ever been able to prove to me that this does not work."
From Probation Institute August Newsletter:-
ReplyDeleteProbation and Prison Service Restructure
We are extremely concerned about news of an integration of the Probation and Prison Services at a leadership and senior management level. We note that this is described as intended to improve local service delivery and achieve the Civil Service savings required, but we see this as harmful to the professional identity and autonomy of the Probation Service. We will shortly be publishing a statement of our views.
Parole Reports and Recommendations
"In a judgment urgently handed-down on 9 August 2022 (R (Bailey) v SSJ [2022] EWHC 2125 (Admin)) the Administrative Court has granted interim relief to ensure that the Parole Board hearing a review of the continued need or otherwise for detention of an individual shall receive the evidence it chooses to."
Following the Secretary of State's intervention to prevent parole writers from including recommendation - we very much welcome the interim finding that the Parole Board should be able to see a recommendation concerning release in Parole Reports if it so wishes. The ministerial decision to preclude recommendations suggests a lack of understanding of the holistic nature of a Parole Report in which assessment of risk and articulation of a potential release plan cannot be separated from advice on release or otherwise. The guidance on Parole Reports is to be rewritten but at the time of writing we cannot find the updated guidance.
Chair
The Probation Institute is still seeking a new Chair. The Chair steers the organisation, supporting the CEO and the Board of Trustees. Whilst experience and knowledge in the justice system is essential the Chair does not need to have a background in Probation - we welcome members and Trustees from right across the justice system. If you would like to discuss the role please contact Helen@probation-institute.org in the first instance.
The 9/8 judgement has not been mentioned at work/ for practice? We are still working from ‘no recommendations’?
DeleteI have been reminded that this motion was agreed at Napo AGM Cardiff in 2019:-
ReplyDeleteCAMPAIGNING COMMITTEE MOTION: The Future of the Probation Service
It was proposed by Chris Hignett and seconded by Mike Guilfoyle, that:-
“Having considered the government's proposals for a future probation service, as set out in "The proposed future model of probation - a draft operating blue print" this Conference calls upon Napo’s Campaigning Committee to make clear that:
it believes the future service, while providing national coverage, should cease to be either a part of the Civil Service or the Prison Service and should seek alternative arrangements for its governance based on shared responsibility between local authorities and the Ministry of Justice;
it rejects the distinction between "offender management" and "interventions" as designed to promote a market for services that ought to be united and delivered as one, free of market interference;
it discards the phrases " protecting the public" and "preventing reoffending", for which the evidence is slender, in favour of "advise, assist and befriend" which should seek to enable desistance from offending;
insists the term Probation Court staff designated to Court are appropriately trained to oversee the delivery of the court's supervisory orders and to otherwise assist in the fair delivery of justice.”
All hot air if unions cannot push through motions. I cannot think of any motions Napo successfully achieved.
DeleteIf this was 2019 then what has Napo done to make it a reality?
DeleteMost certainly nothing . However it's a wordy way to say stop something or prevent further. That's Napo wordy desistence blah blah. Well intentioned people but pretentious blah.
DeleteI’m an Approved Premises Manager and I ensure that all of my team follow the advise, assist and befriend motto. Of course fundamentally we are a risk management facility but if you are responsive to the needs of the resident the risk management element often supports itself.
ReplyDeleteFor example- When a resident lapses, rather than immediately withdraw a bed, I meet with the resident and we collaboratively put a plan of action in place. My team then work with resident to implement the plan, adding extra support in place like going with them to drug/alcohol appointments, CA/AA meetings in the community and putting on additional 121 relapse prevention sessions in the AP.
It still blows my mind however that there are a pool of POs who as soon as they find out a resident is struggling want to recall them straight away without even giving them a chance to get back on track.
Now as I said earlier, of course if situations like this mean that risk is entirely unmanageable then recall needs to happen, but I find in 9/10 of situations it really doesn’t. I’ve noticed we get a far better response from residents if they can see we are trying to help them succeed. It saddens me that for some this approach seems to be diminishing.
This is very reassuring and I wonder out of interest if the hostel is one directly managed or one that is independent?
DeleteMy AP is NPS and not independent. Fortunately I have a supportive Area Manager who has seen the benefits in my approach! I don’t think all APs are the same but they absolutely have the potential to be in my view
DeleteThanks very much for getting back to us!
Delete"Of course fundamentally we are a risk management facility but if you are responsive to the needs of the resident the risk management element often supports itself."
DeleteIt's about 'managing' risk, managing being the operative word. It's about supporting people through failure, not punishing them for daring to fail, because the consequences of failure has been explained to them.
Withdrawing a bed or activating recall (although I accept sometimes it's essential to do so), doesn't actually solve a problem. At best it shelves it, at worst it exasperats it.
I think once people who joined the service did so because they wanted to work with people who failed or struggled and understood that as a consequence many would exhibit complex and difficult behaviours.
For many in todays service, the complex and difficult behaviours exhibited by those they 'supervise' is seen as just an unpleasant part of the job that's got to be 'put up' with.
Working with people on probation or in APs is complex and difficult.
Too often breach or recall represent the easy option or response to a problem.
Again,
"fundamentally we are a risk management facility but if you are responsive to the needs of the resident the risk management element often supports itself"
'Getafix
"It still blows my mind however that there are a pool of POs who as soon as they find out a resident is struggling want to recall them straight away without even giving them a chance to get back on track."
DeleteI've had colleagues tell me how "we're not a befriending service" and then in another breath tried to promote signposting service users on to befriending services, saying they could use pip to pay for it.
Theres a lot wrong with that, the most obvious being the assertion of not being a befriending service. I work in an nhs mental health service, and theres a lot of crossover with probation, including many of the same service users.
As the actual workers doing the job, theres often a conflict of interest between us and managers - we know that people dont just become well or stop offending in a vacuum, and it can take time, but managers want those targets. A patient I currently support, and have already been for about 3 years, has just started probation. He started binge drinking about a year ago following two deaths and this led him making some unwise decisions and ending up getting arrested. Hes been abstinent from alcohol for ages, but due to the stress of ending up in the cjs, relapsed into heroin - hes used gear most his life.
Before all this, hed been clean and come off his script, and his mh was showing some improvement. Hes now back to square one. His cco, who is a social worker, is planning to discharge him in the next month or two, which is way to soon. Under pressure from her managers, shes been trying to get rid of him for a while, and now hes under probation is basically thinking he can be dumped on them.
This happens because the neoliberal culture is all about targets, not helping people. If we want this work to return to its original ethos, we have to fight the bigger fight, which is political.
From Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"I believe lockdowns and the forced removal of direct contact brought into question the need for people to attend appointments. Did reoffending or recalls rise due to the inability to follow pathways, protocols and frameworks? What's more important, productivity or efficacy?"
https://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/20778229.darwen-man-stand-trial-charged-perverting-course-justice/
DeleteWow! This is astonishing:-
DeleteA man accused of perverting the course of justice by lying to probation about serving time in Afghanistan is to stand trial next year.
Appearing at Burnley Crown Court on Friday charged with the alleged offence, which can carry a life sentence, Dominic Cain spoke only to confirm his name.
Cain, 31, of Highfield Mews in Darwen, was not arraigned on the indictment due to having only appeared at Blackburn Magistrates Court on Thursday, August 25, so did not officially enter his plea.
However, it was accepted by Judge Sara Dodd that he was expected to plead not guilty, therefore a trial date of May 4, 2023, was set.
The charge relates to an incident on May 3 this year when Cain allegedly made a false claim to a probation officer preparing a pre-sentence report to assist the court, in that he claimed he had actively served in the military in Afghanistan.
The prosecution claim this was a statement which had a tendency to pervert the course of public justice.
Cain was released on unconditional bail until his next court hearing.
apologies for the tangent but v.important for some:
ReplyDelete"Therese Coffey has slipped through a controversial plan while MPs are on holiday to push 114,000 more Universal Credit claimants into work.
The Welfare Secretary has changed the rules for her intensive work regime which means even those with health problems must attend compulsory weekly sessions at Jobcentres from next month."
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tory-minister-quietly-changes-rules-27849175
From Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"Thank you so much for your efforts. I have seen far too many men who are recalled too quickly. Many are struggling to adjust to being released and just need a bit of support. I understand that we need to manage risk but recall isn't always the answer."
From Twitter:-
ReplyDelete"Modern day mass surveillance of people whose actions have come into conflict with the law + Safeguarding based surveillance for those at risk = modern day panopticon."
Talking of surveillance, I heard somewhere that all the talk we hear at work of 'wellbeing' is a form of it. Rather than punish people by way of sacking them, which would make an employer look bad, they punish and survey workers by trying to get us looking inwards and changing attitude and behaviour using psychotwaddle.
DeletePrisons and Probation are not natural allies or partners. Its worth checking out opinion beyond the bubble: This evening tea with a good friend who has no interest at all -in reality- with my day job. In passing on the "how did your week go?" front, I sighed and said: looks like Probation and Prisons are merging. She stared at me incredulously: "That is ridiculous! Completely different. Absurd. RIdiculous."
ReplyDeleteProbation & prisons began to merge from 2003 when the Carter review was published:
Delete"In 2003, The Correctional Services Review (Carter, 2003) set out the need for all elements of the criminal justice system to work more closely together in order to achieve the shared aim of crime reduction. Recommendations were made for reform that would ‘break down the silos of prison and probation and ensure a better focus on managing offenders’ ...
The Offender Management Model (OMM) sets out to achieve the overarching aims of crime reduction, public protection, punishment, and offender reform by promoting an end-to-end approach to offender management that underpins an offender’s journey through the criminal justice system, including periods in custody.
Tier 1 cases: punish (lowest risk cases);
Tier 2 cases: punish and help;
Tier 3 cases: punish, help and change;
Tier 4 cases: punish, help, change and control (highest risk cases)."
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/217371/delivering-noms-offender-management-model.pdf
Merging prisons and probation is like merging the Crown Prosecution Service with the Metropolitan Police. HMPPS itself should be disbanded as in practice we never were and never will be one service.
Delete