Author: Froundigoun, Liz
Title: Evaluation of the Turnaround Service
Summary: This research was commissioned to evaluate Turnaround, a new criminal justice service, which provides a community intervention service as an alternative to short term prison sentences for young men, aged 16-30, who are persistent low tariff offenders with drug and/or alcohol addictions and other issues, and have failed or are failing in other community-based alternatives. Turnaround is a partnership service, managed by Turning Point Scotland and delivered with Apex and the Venture Trust, which aims to provide a holistic approach to tackling the complex needs of this service group through a range of interventions to stabilise their addictions, reduce their offending, and through a range of programmes to increase their social and employability skills. It operates from four community bases in Irvine, Kilmarnock, Greenock and Dumbarton and since July, 2009, a 10 bed residential unit in Gleniffer Braes, Paisley. Methodology There were three stages to the research. Stage one involved a review of the existing academic and Turnaround literature, and introductory visits to the service to establish context and background. Stage two involved interviews with all staff in each of the four community day centres, all staff who were available to be interviewed at the residential unit and a sample of service users. All members of the advisory group were invited to participate in a telephone interview to clarify and expand on issues that arose either from our meeting with them or in the evaluation process. In stage three an analysis of statistical data provided by Turnaround from their data base was undertaken. This report documents and analyses the experience and views of the development of the service from the perspective of those strategically involved in its delivery through to frontline staff and service users. It is based on data obtained from interviews carried out in each of the five locations: Greenock, Dumbarton, Irvine, Kilmarnock, and the residential unit in Gleniffer Braes. Of particular interest to this study are the young men’s experiences and perceptions of the service. The research was conducted in line with the ethical guidelines of the British Sociological Association, The British Society of Criminology and Glasgow Caledonian University. Summary Findings 1. The service provided by Turnaround is much needed to support this service user group in desisting from offending and addiction behaviour. 2. All staff were well trained and committed in their belief of community-based person-centred interventions as an effective approach in dealing with these service users. 3. Service users are particularly enthusiastic in their appraisal of the service. In total 1306 referrals have been made to the service with 474 (36%) actively engaging in the programme through the community bases (see Table 2). This includes some service users who have had more than one period of engagement with the service. 4. The person-centred approach, they report, enables them to make effective transitions to recovery from a life of crime and addiction by addressing their most pressing needs. 5. All service users interviewed reported improvements in their quality of life: reduced offending, stabilisation of their addictions, improved family relationships including re-establishing contact with their children, access to training and skill building in readiness for employment. 6 Turnaround, where it is used as an alternative to short-term custodial sentences, is likely to produce significant financial savings and, as stated above, more likely to impact positively on the lifestyle, addiction and offending behaviours of their clients. Good Practice 7. Turnaround should be commended in five main areas: Partnership working with APEX and the Venture Trust in service delivery has allowed for a more holistic service to be provided. The person-centred approach to service delivery is unique in that its flexibility allows for clients to individualise their recovery programme. Flexibility and an open door policy were stressed by service users as invaluable. Staff training and induction are comprehensive and undertaken prior to working in either the community bases or residential unit. Turnaround’s data base is centrally maintained and contains extensive clients’ records; however, it has limited applicability for monitoring their progress. Lessons Learned 8 Delivering such a service is a lengthy process from identifying and defining the concept through to locating suitable premises, furnishing offices, training staff and opening the doors to service users. 9 Filling staff vacancies quickly is central to maintaining staff morale and ensuring the continued development of the service. 10 Time-limited funding is an issue for the development of new services and would appear to have been a contributing factor to staff moving on from Turnaround in the last year. 11 Meeting the requirement imposed by funders should be reviewed, as their expectations of ‘hard’ evidence cannot always be realised. 12 Developing links with referring agencies such as the Courts, Reliance and CJSW needs to be pro-active in order to establish an identity and awareness of Turnaround’s services. Areas for Development 13 A clear protocol for sharing of information across agencies is essential to ensure the smooth transition of service users between Turnaround and other service providers. 14 Opportunities to develop peer support should be considered. 15 Service users would like to see more support or a staged programme to exit using all drugs and/or alcohol rather than being on a stabilisation programme of methadone. 16 Service users would also like to see more day activities – swimming walking, canoeing, and abseiling - provided by Venture Trust rather than the 3-day or week long programmes that they have been able to access thus far. Outcomes 17 Where Turnaround is used as an alternative to the traditional, costly short-term custodial sentences so characteristic of the service users’ history, this is likely to provide significant financial savings. 18 The programme is impacting positively on the lives of its service users’ and on their offending behaviours and addiction issues, and in supporting them into stable lifestyle patterns, as well as improving social and employability skills. 19 The community bases are well established and despite the geographical difficulties of the Irvine base it is running well. All were found to be very effective and supportive from the service users’ point of view. 20 The service is not always running at its capacity especially at the residential unit; however there was little evidence to suggest that this was impacting on the quality of the service and as it develops the perception is that service user participation will increase. 21 While the service is delivered by highly qualified and committed staff some of the services delivered were compromised due to staffing shortages. 22 The majority of service users have been referred to Turnaround from the Courts, Reliance and CJSW. However, referrals from the Courts and Reliance show a lower uptake of Turnaround’s services than those referred from CJSW. Recommendations 1 Funding should be secured for another 3, preferably 5, year period, to allow the service to develop its potential without struggling with a constant turnover of staff. 2 Funding streams should be re-examined to see if there is any way of negotiating a staged or staggered approach to extending the funding period with the Scottish Government and the various charitable organisations currently supporting this project. 3 Referral routes and processes should be re-examined especially in relation to the Courts, Reliance and CJSW. The provision of clearer guidelines or criteria for selection of young offenders for referral to Turnaround may help to reduce the lower up-take of referrals from the Courts and Reliance. 4 The role of APEX workers should be reviewed. Currently they are working as support or project workers but as the service develops it is important that their role as Employment Development Advisors is retained. 5 The role of the Venture Trust should be re-examined. It is felt, amongst service users and staff, that there is considerable scope to develop their involvement to the benefit of the service and enhance the service users’ experience and skills. 6 There is the desire for more physical activities amongst the service users, for example, swimming, canoeing, abseiling, walking, football, and in the residential unit for supervised access to the gym. Consideration should be given as to the best way to provide these activities in ways which allow service users to develop and build on their inter-personal, communication and team-work skills. 7 Consideration should be given to extending the age range to 16-40 and also to including girls and young women in service provision. While this may be problematic, staff experiences suggest that there is an unmet demand from girls and women and from older men whom they currently cannot accommodate. Suggestions proffered by staff included splitting the service delivery into two categories - a young person service 16-25, with another to focus on the older group 25-40. 8 Communication strategies should also be reviewed. In relation to staffing, morale and identity of the service, a clear communications strategy and more all-staff meetings are needed to encourage a homogenised service and the exchange of good practice between the various community bases and the residential unit. 9 Exit procedures should also be reviewed and protocols set in place with partnership agencies to ensure a smooth transition between support services for service users. 10 Peer support opportunities should be considered to widen the service range. Some service users report that contact with ex-service users is helpful and indeed some of the current service users feel they could offer peer support to those who have just come to Turnaround.
Details: Glasgow: Glasgow Caledonian University, 2011. 95p.
Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 11, 2011 at: www.turningpointscotland.com/documents/6618
Year: 2011
Country: United Kingdom
URL:
Shelf Number: 123312
Keywords:
Alternatives to IncarcerationCommunity Corrections (Scotland)Community ServiceCommunity-based Corrections |
