Mentoring

Futures Unlocked is an established multi-faith and non-faith Community Chaplaincy working in Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull to increase community safety, reduce re-offending and strengthen our communities.

We are an inclusive organisation, which encourages volunteer involvement and works with clients from all backgrounds.

Why mentor?

There are exciting opportunities for volunteer mentors to work with clients who are preparing for release from prison into Warwickshire. Some clients only need a little support others need much more. With a range of volunteers we can make the right match to get the best results.

What might you be doing?

Examples of client support could include being alongside the client to

access accommodation,
pursue welfare benefits claims,
attend Probation appointments,
register with a GP,
work on IT skills as so much is now done online,
offer support around family matters,
or help them to work towards education or employment
find a faith community to join.

Philip Jones, Community Chaplain, says

You might just be someone sensible, reliable and objective to talk to in those first few, all important, weeks.

How long can it last?

Most cases last between 6 and 9 months. It can be shorter if the case demands are not too high, and on occasions can last as long as 12 months. You might meet more frequently at the start and less often towards the end of the mentoring provision, but usually you will be meeting with the client once a week in the community - a cafe, the library, the jobcentre, statutory agency.

Some examples -

1. Mentor Jane took client David, by car, to the crematorium to pay his last respects to his mother who had died while he was in prison. David was worried that the occasion, coupled with his return to his old haunts, could cause him to relapse in his abstinence from alcohol which had been a trigger for so much of his offending. He was very grateful to Jane (as was the Probation Officer) and Jane found it a moving experience for her.

2. Having found himself work, Peter was struggling because he had no bed in the flat he had moved into from probation Approved Premises (with help from Futures Unlocked). He was sleeping on the floor. Mentor, Christine, sourced a bed for him and was able to arrange for it to be delivered when he was home from work. She loaned him some bedding until he could get his own.

3. Every week, Kirandeep went with her client Paul, who had limited intellectual capacity and no experience of computers, to the library to be alongside him as he went on the computers to bid for property for him to move into from the supported accommodation he was then living. After several months a property was found. Paul was very grateful to Kirandeep especially as he had become more confident on computers.