I feel that I am in a unique position to carry a message effectively to vulnerable people due to having found a new positive way to live my life. I believe I am able to offer a solution to vulnerable people involved in a life such as mine was, as well as holding a positive influence over vulnerable young people who may well be considering or embarking on a lifestyle of destruction.
Previously I have worked as a Behavior Life Coach/Mentor with Charlton Athletic Community Trust as part of the social inclusion team. My main role was to work on early intervention with young people in partnership with the local authority, youth services, local communities; local youth support groups and volunteer organisations. To provide a seamless multi-agency support network, to engage with disengaged young people from a diverse range of backgrounds who are furthest away from the labour market by supporting them to take the next steps in moving forward with their lives by enhancing their employability status and progressing them into sustainable employment, training or education. I sat on a discussion panel as a guest speaker in The House of Lords in 2012, subject matter desistance in criminal activity, where Digby Griffith, National Director of NOMS was one of the panelists. Also, Professor John Pitts invited me as a guest speaker to attend The Fifth Biennial Conference of The International Juvenile Justice Observatory; this was The International Youth Justice Convention 2012. I spoke alongside Dr Ian Millward, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Winchester, I consulted about the detriment of peer lead interventions in the workshop: Youth Mentoring and Youth Friendly Initiatives. In May 2015 I was a guest speaker at the Breaking Bad regional conference, Drug exploitation – where’s the harm? The said conference was at the Kassam Stadium in Oxford, chaired by the Youth Justice Board. I delivered a workshop on: Feeling Safe, giving insight into the routes by which young people become entangled in activities that make them vulnerable to continuing a life of violence and crime. On the 28th February 2018, I was a speaker at the Ministry of Justice/HM Prison and Probation Service National Conference, ‘Developing Effective Practice for Families and Significant Others, I consulted on the importance of family interventions within prisons. More recently in October 2019 I was involved in the first “welcome event” for new prison officers, delivering an inspirational offender journey story for those officers in training.
I have delivered numerous youth intervention programmes that were written by myself and nationally accredited. I have delivered these in primary, secondary schools, youth clubs and in communities. In 2014, whilst working with Charlton Athletic Community Trust, I won a Partnership Award with Woolwich Jobcentre plus for gaining employment for young people at risk. The award was presented by Sir Robert Devereux, Permanent Secretary for the Department of Work and Pensions. Following on from this award I submitted two successful bids over two consecutive years, as well as securing funding to deliver a programme I wrote “The Citizenship Youth Project” which is a National accredited Level 1 Award.
Up until 2016, I worked with Charlton Athletic Community Trust as an ‘Employment and Youth Engagement Officer’. I have attained a BTEC Award in Communication and Self Development in Counseling Skills and an ABC Level 3 Diploma in Youth Work Practice as well as 7 GCSEs. I am currently working towards my Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management in Adult Care.
