The Message Is Simple

It's the eve before the Napo conference and AGM in Nottingham and there's much to discuss because we all know the prison half of HMPPS is not the only bit in a state of crisis. But sadly I think we've all come to realise that one thing the civil service command and control modus operandi is really good at is sticking its fingers in the ears and closing its eyes to what is going on 'see nothing; hear nothing; say nothing'. 

There's mountains of evidence that the culture and probation workplace is becoming increasingly toxic and staff both new and experienced are leaving in droves. It's particularly noteworthy that there's even a growing refusal to partake of the annual charade of completing the Staff Survey, despite bullying to do so! In effect staff are saying that completion of the thing is taken as a high degree of satisfaction by management, despite whatever issues are raised within it.

The message is quite simple in my view. You cannot be an effective Probation Officer if you are a civil servant. Probation must break free of HMPPS and hopefully this view will be strongly endorsed at Nottingham this year. I'm not attending and this is a callout to any member who would like to submit their thoughts and reflections for publication and as the event progresses, anonymously and in order to stimulate discussion and edification of a wider audience. You can get in touch via jimbrown51@virginmedia.com

This person did and it adds to the growing testimony of traumatised staff:-

Dear Jim        

I saw your tweet about the bad relationship we are all in, and can’t leave. From my heart, in the deepest possible way, it resonates with everything I have felt and thought for years now. And it’s been decades of my life. It’s been like serving a life sentence. And I’m at that point where I’m walking away because it’s ruined my faith in people, in justice, in being a part of an institution, my health.

You know when you read something, and you’ve been trapped in despair, and you can’t escape, because you don’t know how to explain it to anyone else in a way that makes it make sense? Then you read something and suddenly you know how to explain it. That’s what reading that was for me.

I genuinely believe probation officers who stay for years, do the job, give so much more than they ever get back, are constantly criticised and never acknowledged, and are beaten back down with policies, targets, unrealistic expectations, and blame if they ever dare to speak up, have survivor trauma. There isn’t any other way I can think of to describe it. We survive the horror stories, the angry clients, the verbal abuse, the firefighting when things escalate with a case. But the real abuse is the thinly veiled threats from above, the devaluing, the gaslighting, the prejudice and the absolute degradation and discrediting of staff when they speak up and challenge anything.

By the time we do finally find the ability to leave, we are so burned out that it doesn’t even feel like a success to be free. It just feels like having to re-evaluate everything you ever believed in, and never seeing things in the same way ever again. It’s a battle, and the victory feels tainted, and drenched in exhaustion and broken trust, from having to fight so hard for so long, while being damaged repeatedly all the way along that rocky dirt path. It leaves us feeling bruised.

Survival trauma. We survive, but that survival comes at great personal cost.

Thank you for posting the tweet. You help to give us a voice and it’s comforting to know that somewhere out there is someone who thinks we’re worth fighting for. I think most officers who have been doing the job for years really struggle to both find reasons to stay, find a way to leave, and find a way to explain those feelings.

Anon