AboutThe aim of the Resilient Woman Resilient System (RWRSI) initiative sponsored by the Ministry of Justice and hosted by CoLab Exeter is to explore how a whole system approach based on promotion of “resilience” might prevent women from entering the justice pathway, improve their experience and outcomes once within it and help reduce their chances of returning. The project design draws upon research, which highlights the unique nature of women’s offending, specifically how it is often precipitated by social, environmental and lifestyle factors that could be better addressed or avoided. |
Background
In 2016 Dr Phillip Lee, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice said that women who commit crimes, far from being a danger, are often some of the most vulnerable in our society. He proposed development of initiatives that would see fewer women in custody and a greater focus on early intervention, diversion and multi-agency approaches to address their specific needs.
In early 2017 The Prison Reform Trust published Fair Cop: Improving outcomes for women. This discussion paper made the case for greater use of ‘problem-solving approaches’ for women at the point of arrest in cases where the harm caused by an offence was low but the needs of the individual were multiple and complex. It drew on research and interviews with the police, probation staff, women’s voluntary sector providers and national policymakers, and its intention was to inform and encourage the adoption of effective early interventions for women at the point of arrest.
The term ‘problem-solving’ used referred to a range of interventions for women at the point of arrest including police-based triage, Integrated Offender Management (IOM), restorative justice and liaison and diversion services. It encompassed decisions taken by frontline police officers in the community as well as charging decisions taken in police custody suites. This approach is believed to foster a more inquisitive way of thinking about criminal justice, defined by evidence–based analysis of offending and desistance, and in relation to women has tended to result in:
A recent study (Kilroy, 2016) of justice pathway stakeholders working around three of the four hubs in Devon highlighted the challenges and strengths of the current pathway, along with aspirations for moving toward something better: respondents said,
In early 2017 The Prison Reform Trust published Fair Cop: Improving outcomes for women. This discussion paper made the case for greater use of ‘problem-solving approaches’ for women at the point of arrest in cases where the harm caused by an offence was low but the needs of the individual were multiple and complex. It drew on research and interviews with the police, probation staff, women’s voluntary sector providers and national policymakers, and its intention was to inform and encourage the adoption of effective early interventions for women at the point of arrest.
The term ‘problem-solving’ used referred to a range of interventions for women at the point of arrest including police-based triage, Integrated Offender Management (IOM), restorative justice and liaison and diversion services. It encompassed decisions taken by frontline police officers in the community as well as charging decisions taken in police custody suites. This approach is believed to foster a more inquisitive way of thinking about criminal justice, defined by evidence–based analysis of offending and desistance, and in relation to women has tended to result in:
- extending and improving collaborative decision-making between statutory partners
- referring women, where appropriate, into rehabilitative or supportive interventions where a particular need is identified and / or specified offence criteria are met
- redirecting those who have committed low-level offending away from formal prosecution expediting prosecution in cases where it is deemed necessary.
- Prison is an expensive and ineffective way of dealing with many women offenders who do not pose a significant risk of harm to public safety’.
- Prison is rarely a necessary, appropriate or proportionate response to women who come into contact with the justice system. The limitations of a ‘one size fits all response’ are now well understood and there is growing interest in the potential of a gender-informed, ‘whole systems approach’ that improves integration between criminal justice, health and social care services and the voluntary sector.
- Most of the solutions to women’s offending lie outside prison walls in treatment for addictions and mental health problems, protection from domestic violence and coercive relationships, secure housing, debt management, education, skills development and employment.
- There is some excellent and inspirational work being undertaken in women’s centres. Services were gender-specific and sensitive to the needs and diversity of women. Where this worked best, women had access to a range of specialist services through a ‘one-stop-shop’ approach. Interventions were aimed at addressing the women’s needs as a whole, rather than offending behaviour in isolation, and, partner agencies worked together to provide individualised plans and support for women.
- Women with experience of the criminal justice system should be involved in developing new and improved problem-solving responses. Working with women to design and deliver services that address their needs, and builds upon their strengths, is likely to be more effective than services designed without the insight of service users
- Holistic, gender informed services can deliver significant improvements in outcomes for some of the most vulnerable women in the community, making them good value for budget-holders with a statutory duty to support these individuals.
- Ideally, problem-solving schemes should sit alongside a universal service offer for women which seeks to shift the focus from the nature of the offence to the needs of the individual.
- Reduce the number of women unnecessarily sent to prison, on sentence or remand, and places a strong emphasis on early intervention, multi-agency working and engaging with women with first-hand experience of the criminal justice system.
- Local commissioners should explore options for greater co-production of services to women with local voluntary sector organisations, particularly women’s centres. Commissioning arrangements should reflect the wider social value of these services as required by the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2012.
A recent study (Kilroy, 2016) of justice pathway stakeholders working around three of the four hubs in Devon highlighted the challenges and strengths of the current pathway, along with aspirations for moving toward something better: respondents said,
- Service provision is fragmented
- Key agencies work in silos
- A strategy for women doesn’t exist; which means there is no ownership and leadership of outcomes
- Commissioning is inconsistent and often doesn’t specify the offer to women
- There is little prevention/early intervention work happening
- There is little choice and activities commissioned are often ‘not viable’ because they are only offered to one group in which numbers are low
- A women’s centre or refuge facility is unavailable to most women
- The largest group (75%) are women serving community orders rather than prison leavers – but much of the focus and resource is on the later
- TR has drastically reduced the number of offender managers and services available and there isn’t a clear policy around supporting women
- Multi-agency hubs provide an access point to a wide range of services and a holistic approach , but currently there isn’t a specific offer for women
- CoLab Exeter’s prototype project “the exchange” (an open access space for people on the justice pathway to find support and opportunity serving 1151 visitors, 122 of which were women) was seen as a valuable new resource worthy of further development.
- New enterprises like ‘BetheChange’ a new social enterprise based in CoLab were valued for work to reduce reoffending rates in first time offenders
the initiative
The challenge:
The Aim:
The aim of the Resilient Woman Resilient System initiative in response is to explore how a whole system approach based on resilience might better serve women within or at risk of entering the Justice Pathway.
Outcomes:
The grant funded project will bring Justice Pathway partners together within a new ambition to become stewards of the pathway and champions of women and families directly or indirectly navigating the system. It will provide resource and mandate to invest in upskilling partners in collaborative working; to enable leadership of change around the needs of women and families within the system; and through rapid prototyping practices, identify future commissioning prospects. It will do all of this alongside supporting and enabling women to have a voice and participate in co-designing relevant and meaningful services that work for them too. Finally the new WSA will provide much needed coordination and facilitation of joined up women-centred working, and provide the time and engagement needed to explore future investment for sustainability in this area.
Rationale for the model
The Devon Model is based on a core belief that in a time of diminishing resources, rather than simply cutting everything back, it is important to invest in new ways of thinking about how we use existing resources differently as well as discovering new ways of working. To make the most of the resources we have individually and as a system, we need to help people to help themselves at each point of the pathway. To achieve that we need to understand what empowers people to turn their lives around and what brings people in the system together to meaningfully collaborate. We also want to know more about what generates resilience and capacity for transformation in both in women and the system itself. We had our purpose and our tools, we now need to understand where transformation most needed to happen locally.
A recent report (Kilroy, 2017) offered a snapshot view of cross sector perspectives on the local criminal justice pathway following two years of TR reforms. Views expressed highlighted current issues in the system for people using it and working within it, along with aspirations:
The Methodology
Resilience
The pathway is designed to develop resilience models lend themselves very well to the work that is already done by agencies across multi agency partnerships. We believe that following a resilience model could help practitioners strengthen their work in this area thus helping women further develop the skills they need to reduce their risk of entering or re-entering the system, whilst at the same time, improving their overall health and well-being which in turn will increase their chances of healthier and more fulfilled lives.
The challenge for those working with women at risk of offending is to enable them to develop the confidence and interpersonal skills to form a satisfying sense of their own identity so that they will:
The whole system surrounding the individual is supported and modelled to develop positive practice in terms of getting the persons needs met.
1) Collaboration
The aim is to utilise The Constellation Model to change the fundamental way stakeholders engage – with each other – and with the issues. This we believe will unlock transformation potential in within stakeholders and the system alike, by providing much needed system learning. The Constellation model "is a complexity-inspired governance framework for multi-organisational collaboration. It is a way of organising a group of interested parties to meet a need without having to create a new organisation to ‘hold’ the issue. It offers tools to help participants to recognise and become conscious designers in a complex ecosystem of organisational collaboration."
One of the powerful things about the model is it enables stakeholders to retain a view of the system as well as the pathway. It offers a new metaphor to guide and inspire developments – that of an ecosystem – which suggests interconnectedness, mutuality and reciprocity, rather than competition, silo working and a sense of lack (in terms of resources).
The model is also useful as it establishes a light but effective governance structure to ‘hold’ the process, thus sharing responsibility, and inspiring leadership of areas where that agency or individual has talent, experience and energy.
The process of setting up the new system also introduces new concepts of governance, participatory leadership and stewardship, which set a different tone for development and collaboration.
The Constellation Model is based on a Collective Impact approach, and has the following components:
- Develop a means of agencies coming together to improve efficiency and effectiveness of provision across the criminal justice pathway
- Develop a whole system approach that provides holistic support throughout a woman’s journey to improve outcomes for her and for the system
- Develop a range of activity that either diverts women from the system or supports them appropriately so they do not return
The Aim:
The aim of the Resilient Woman Resilient System initiative in response is to explore how a whole system approach based on resilience might better serve women within or at risk of entering the Justice Pathway.
Outcomes:
- Development of a woman-centred approach to system and services planning and delivery.
- Development of new ways of managing the justice pathway and delivering relevant and meaningful services so women are better served, more resilient and successful in their lives
- A more coherent and collaborative system led by a stewardship group that guides the pathway towards efficiency and effectiveness overall.
The grant funded project will bring Justice Pathway partners together within a new ambition to become stewards of the pathway and champions of women and families directly or indirectly navigating the system. It will provide resource and mandate to invest in upskilling partners in collaborative working; to enable leadership of change around the needs of women and families within the system; and through rapid prototyping practices, identify future commissioning prospects. It will do all of this alongside supporting and enabling women to have a voice and participate in co-designing relevant and meaningful services that work for them too. Finally the new WSA will provide much needed coordination and facilitation of joined up women-centred working, and provide the time and engagement needed to explore future investment for sustainability in this area.
Rationale for the model
The Devon Model is based on a core belief that in a time of diminishing resources, rather than simply cutting everything back, it is important to invest in new ways of thinking about how we use existing resources differently as well as discovering new ways of working. To make the most of the resources we have individually and as a system, we need to help people to help themselves at each point of the pathway. To achieve that we need to understand what empowers people to turn their lives around and what brings people in the system together to meaningfully collaborate. We also want to know more about what generates resilience and capacity for transformation in both in women and the system itself. We had our purpose and our tools, we now need to understand where transformation most needed to happen locally.
A recent report (Kilroy, 2017) offered a snapshot view of cross sector perspectives on the local criminal justice pathway following two years of TR reforms. Views expressed highlighted current issues in the system for people using it and working within it, along with aspirations:
- The general health, wellbeing and social status of service users has noticeably deteriorated over the past two years due to a range of factors. This means that people are starting from a lower point on the pathway to recovery and rehabilitation.
- There is growing support for a more community-based response to rehabilitation of pathway users but it is not yet functioning as a coherent system.
- Where good rehabilitation is happening in the pathway, it begins with investing in the basic recovery/rehabilitation capacity of a person – first by meeting their basic need for food, clothing and shelter, then offering something to do, and finally learning opportunities that build skill and capacity.
- We don’t have an offer for women, and their needs are just not being met – each services is putting things on for their clients and just not getting the numbers – we need to be much more joined up in our thinking
- Transformation of the system and pathway to date stakeholders believe, has favoured system rather than service user goals, which has led to some of the current issues. To shift transformation efforts in the right direction, they called for:
- Further development of the “hub approach” where the ethos is more human, person-centred and collaborative, as this creates a stronger context for rehabilitation to occur.
- Setting shared goals and working as cross-sector team to drive innovation and enterprise. Providing opportunity for more conversations and developments around bespoke learning offers, whole-system women’s offers and jointly funded roles that deliver cross sector outcomes.
- Moving towards a whole-system approach to rehabilitation, something which begins with prevention and early intervention activity, and continues to have a preventative focus throughout the individuals’ journey through the system - to reduce reoffending ultimately.
- More integrated commissioning, focusing on a few key outcomes and cross sector arrangements, within a whole system model that brings sectors together in one common approach.
- Begin where we are with a woman-centred offer and work towards specialist women’s centre type provision
- Focus on increasing resilience to promote health protection behaviours and minimise risks
- Develop a coherent community response system
- Discover more about what builds recovery and rehabilitation capacity
- Develop the hub approach as a context for rehabilitation
- Invest in prevention throughout the justice journey
- Move toward integrated commissioning and cross sector arrangements to make best use of diminishing resources
The Methodology
Resilience
The pathway is designed to develop resilience models lend themselves very well to the work that is already done by agencies across multi agency partnerships. We believe that following a resilience model could help practitioners strengthen their work in this area thus helping women further develop the skills they need to reduce their risk of entering or re-entering the system, whilst at the same time, improving their overall health and well-being which in turn will increase their chances of healthier and more fulfilled lives.
The challenge for those working with women at risk of offending is to enable them to develop the confidence and interpersonal skills to form a satisfying sense of their own identity so that they will:
- Develop and sustain lifestyle behaviours which will promote, support and maintain health and well-being, whilst decreasing their offending risks and behaviours
- Be empowered to avoid negative outcomes and the consequences of future offending on their lives.
- Social Competencies
- Secure base
- Education
- Friendships
- Talents and Interests
- Positive Values
The whole system surrounding the individual is supported and modelled to develop positive practice in terms of getting the persons needs met.
1) Collaboration
The aim is to utilise The Constellation Model to change the fundamental way stakeholders engage – with each other – and with the issues. This we believe will unlock transformation potential in within stakeholders and the system alike, by providing much needed system learning. The Constellation model "is a complexity-inspired governance framework for multi-organisational collaboration. It is a way of organising a group of interested parties to meet a need without having to create a new organisation to ‘hold’ the issue. It offers tools to help participants to recognise and become conscious designers in a complex ecosystem of organisational collaboration."
One of the powerful things about the model is it enables stakeholders to retain a view of the system as well as the pathway. It offers a new metaphor to guide and inspire developments – that of an ecosystem – which suggests interconnectedness, mutuality and reciprocity, rather than competition, silo working and a sense of lack (in terms of resources).
The model is also useful as it establishes a light but effective governance structure to ‘hold’ the process, thus sharing responsibility, and inspiring leadership of areas where that agency or individual has talent, experience and energy.
The process of setting up the new system also introduces new concepts of governance, participatory leadership and stewardship, which set a different tone for development and collaboration.
The Constellation Model is based on a Collective Impact approach, and has the following components:
The aim of the RWRS initiative is to take a whole system approach to resilience-based transformation using the Constellation Framework/ Collective Impact approach. This methodology is underpinned by an assumption that no single policy, government department, organisation or program can tackle or solve the increasingly complex social problems we face as a society. It is an approach which calls for multiple organisations or entities from different sectors to abandon their own agenda in favour of finding a common agenda, identifying shared measurement criteria and means of aligning efforts and activities.
Unlike many collaboration or partnership approaches, Collective Impact initiatives have centralised infrastructure – known as a backbone organisation – with dedicated staff whose role is to help participating organisations shift from acting alone to acting in concert. This body helps stakeholders establish a common agenda and goals, agree how progress and measure success. They also support and manage development of group dynamics and communications.
Unlike many collaboration or partnership approaches, Collective Impact initiatives have centralised infrastructure – known as a backbone organisation – with dedicated staff whose role is to help participating organisations shift from acting alone to acting in concert. This body helps stakeholders establish a common agenda and goals, agree how progress and measure success. They also support and manage development of group dynamics and communications.
the ecosystem
- An ecosystem approach: As a starting point we suggest a call to action: women and form agencies are part of an interconnected ecosystem that thrives when each element hears respects, communicates with and supports one another – the first question is how do we create and steward that system?.
- A stewardship group: As partners come together to respond to that call, they share what motivates them to succeed and agree principles of joint working. They then begin to formulate a plan which expresses the ambition to achieve outcomes for the system and for women whilst maximising resources available and attracting new investment for long term sustainability.
- A Resilient Woman Lead: A project manager will provide advocacy for women on the pathway, leadership of the overall project (using a “leader as host” approach); support for the constellation project leads; coordination of pathway activity; information resource to the stewardship group; monitoring and evaluation.
- The Backbone Agency: The backbone or secretariat acts as a third-party catalyst and capacity builder for the group. Their role is to support the process of the collaboration – guiding the group through the various planning stages, facilitating meetings, incubating constellations, fundraising for joint work, mediating conflict, ensuring the flow of information and generally building the capacity of the group to work towards their desired outcome.
- The Constellation Projects: Once the new framework or infrastructure ecosystem is in place, and the vision and goals agreed, participants are supported to co-design a number of projects. This is an iterative process; the projects evolve as learning and data passes through the stewardship group. They are each facilitated and managed by a partner ‘lead.’