Partnership
Supporting the third sector
Partnership
Supporting the third sector
Giving Time
Supporting people with criminal convictions into Volunteering.
What is Giving Time?
Giving Time was a service that engaged with organisations and people within the criminal justice system to deliver a volunteering brokerage service – helping match people with criminal convictions to volunteering opportunities, both prior to and upon release from prison.
If you are recruiting people with lived experience of the criminal justice system or are looking to develop a similar service outside of Leeds, you may find the Toolkit and Evaluations useful, you can find them at the bottom of the page under ‘documents you can download.’
If you are recruiting people with lived experience of the criminal justice system or are looking to develop a similar service outside of Leeds, you may find the Toolkit and Evaluations useful, you can find them at the bottom of the page under ‘documents you can download.’
Amicable
The work delivered by the Giving Time team is now being extended to further prisons through the AMICABLE (Addressing Mental Health In Custody A Brief Learning Environment) project. These prisons are HMP Hatfield, HMP Leeds, HMP Lindholme, HMP Low Newton, HMP New Hall, HMP Styal and HMP Wealstun.
Funding through the National Institute of Health Care Research (NIHR) has been granted to Giving Time, in collaboration with University of York researchers, an ex-service user co-applicant, a prison service lead, the prison radio association, third sector organisations, one NHS Trust, four intervention prisons and a community lived experience group.
The project works to support the mental health of people in custody, using a six-step problem-solving model. Serving prisoners are trained as voluntary Problem-Solving Support Mentors, aiming to improve their mental health and wellbeing of that of their fellow inmates.
Once released from custody, these volunteer mentors can be supported to volunteer in the community, with help from Voluntary Action Leeds and our Giving Time partners. These partners are Community Vision, CVS Cheshire East and Durham Community Action. The partners can also support local organisations to strengthen their volunteer recruitment, in order to engage people with lived experience of the Criminal Justice System as volunteers.
If you’d like to find out more, please email AMICABLE-project@york.ac.uk
Funding through the National Institute of Health Care Research (NIHR) has been granted to Giving Time, in collaboration with University of York researchers, an ex-service user co-applicant, a prison service lead, the prison radio association, third sector organisations, one NHS Trust, four intervention prisons and a community lived experience group.
The project works to support the mental health of people in custody, using a six-step problem-solving model. Serving prisoners are trained as voluntary Problem-Solving Support Mentors, aiming to improve their mental health and wellbeing of that of their fellow inmates.
Once released from custody, these volunteer mentors can be supported to volunteer in the community, with help from Voluntary Action Leeds and our Giving Time partners. These partners are Community Vision, CVS Cheshire East and Durham Community Action. The partners can also support local organisations to strengthen their volunteer recruitment, in order to engage people with lived experience of the Criminal Justice System as volunteers.
If you’d like to find out more, please email AMICABLE-project@york.ac.uk
Documents you can Download
Recruiting Volunteers with Criminal Convictions Toolkit
This toolkit is designed as a first step for organisations to ensure their volunteering programme is accessible to the prison community. It provides guidelines about what to consider when assessing potential volunteers with criminal convictions, so that recruitment and support processes can be made inclusive and safe for staff, volunteers and service users.
Adult Giving Time Project Evaluation
This year 5 evaluation was conducted to discover if the Giving Time project has made a difference to the lives of service users and the likely impact on reoffending rates and to identify any areas of learning for future projects. In addition a summative review taking into account previous evaluations has also been undertaken.
Youth GT Evaluation Report 2020
This evaluation for the fifth and final year of Youth Giving Time explores the impact that the project has made on the lives of young people, and the difference that volunteering has had on them.
