HMP Standford Hill greatly recognises the importance of strong family relationships and actively promotes this in numerous ways throughout the prison.

We believe that maintaining and encouraging positive family relationships can be an important protective factor in helping prisoners to break the cycle of crime and desist from future offending and may impact on the prevention of intergenerational crime. This is reinforced by a thematic findings paper by HMIP 2016 Life in Prison: Contact with Families and Friends, which states that ‘good family contact has an important role to play, not only in supporting prisoners through their sentence, but in supporting their rehabilitation after release’.

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Standford Hill is committed to facilitating specific family days, as an open prison we are able to make these days as informal and enjoyable as possible. We are assisted by PACT our family services provider, as well as many other very willing volunteers within the prison, including The CGL family worker, KCC libraries and some of our peer support workers. We are committed to transforming HMP Standford Hill into a place of safety and reform. We recognise the need to provide the men in our custody with stable environments, as well as opportunities to change their behaviour and turn away from a life of crime. Relationships with families and significant others play a key role in this. We use the importance of strengthening prisoners’ family ties to help prevent re-offending and reduce intergenerational crime.

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Pact Family Services are contracted to provide the Family and Significant Other provision within the establishment. The team holds the relevant qualifications and experience to enable them to work with visiting children and families. 

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Regular Events

Family Days & Extended Visits: We provide regular events for families to enjoy a day of activities and entertainment in the Visits Hall, provided at zero cost to the attendees. They are themed around seasons, religious celebrations, and holidays.

Extra Sessions: Pact also offers monthly Baby Bonding and Homework Club sessions. These help prisoners engage in child focused activities, strengthen family ties, and become positive role models. Baby Bonding is for prisoners with children or grandchildren aged 0-2, who desire extra bonding time with their young children. Homework Club creates space for prisoners to play a important role in the education of their children.

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Structured 1:1 Courses

Anger and Stress

Confidence and Assertiveness

Dads Reconnected

Family Finance

Going Home

Good Relationships

Parenting Teenagers

Managing worry

Moving on

My Family Matters

New Beginnings

PSHE Parenting 0-12

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VISITS PACT

This provides meet & greet services and play activities for children and families to enjoy during visits. The team also offers support which helps prisoners to interact with their children and bond with them during visits.

 

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT

Pact’s Lead Family Engagement Worker helps prisoners connect with their families and other support services. They can contact family members or agencies like social services and courts on behalf of prisoners. They can also help with court applications for maters such as child arrangement orders.

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Who Are We?

Change Grow Live has grown from a tiny volunteer-led Sussex-based organisation, to a nationwide charity that helps tens of thousands of people each day.

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Our Vision

To develop, deliver and share a whole person approach that changes society.

 

Our Values

• Be open.

• Be compassionate.

• Be bold.

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How Can CGL Help?

Support and advocacy - For those who are CGL clients, regarding the effects of addiction on families and relationship Challenges.

Communicating to professionals - Help with Social Care, Cafcass, Solicitors, Early Help, filling out forms/ writing letters to significant others, applying to courts etc.

Signposting/referral - To services in the community.

Families and significant others – During visits, via our generic email address, contact number, Facebook, Twitter or during a workshop / Family Day event.

Supporting your families - Helping them and you, adjust to your release and transition back into the community.

Family sessions - Where you can work together to build stronger attachments.

Group sessions - Wellbeing, understanding yourself, your needs and any personal and family changes, relationship issues, being a dad in prison.

Special purpose visits – These are visits that must be approved by the Governor. A special purpose visit may be needed if families are struggling and need mediation or time together to build their relationship.

 

CGL Family Days

Families to spend an extended period of time together, taking place on a Friday. The day runs from 10:00am to 14:00pm. This gives all the family the opportunity to enjoy games, activities, and share lunch together as a family.

 

Family Interventions & 1:1 Sessions

Foundations of families – Four – day programme 1st session - Focuses on Family History and the influence of family history and upbringing on past behaviour. 2ND session - We look at Power, Control and Equality 3RD session - We look at past behaviour, specifically looking at anger and anger management. 4th session - We focus on the future and future relationships. Keeping in Touch – Spend time planning and doing creative activities. Some sessions will have a seasonal theme. Tree of Life Workshop - reflect on your past, acknowledge who you are today and where you see yourself in the future. The purpose of this exercise is to reflect on what’s made you who you are, think about what you are doing now and explore what you want to do in the future.

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In -Cell Packs

Addiction in the family / Family, Children & Drugs - To help and support people who are unsure if or how their substance use has affected those around them.

Barriers to recovery – Barriers to recovery? What does recovery mean to you?

Communicating Effectively - Effective communication is the process of exchanging ideas, thoughts, opinions, knowledge, and data so that the message is received and understood with clarity and purpose.

Improving Family Dynamic - Strategies for dealing with conflict / Ways to strengthen Family relationships.

Repairing Relationships – Rebuilding relationships / Realistic expectations

Self-Motivation - We need to explore two things, our mission, and our vision. Mission – what you’re doing now and what you’re all about. Vision – where you’re going.

Life Baggage - Acknowledging your issues and what things trigger you is the first step in knowing if it is baggage that is holding you back.

Maintaining Positive contact with your children - It is for parents that are allowed to have contact with their children but might be struggling with how to maintain contact or be a parent from prison.

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Improving Wellbeing – Let’s talk about your………

Trigger • Emotions • Behaviours • Physical • Thoughts • Impact

Managing Relationships - People in your life who can provide you with emotional or physical support. It’s the people in your life who help you achieve your personal goals.

Parenting skills - Importance of family, and a healthy relationship with your child

Parenting in Recovery - Is aimed at individuals who are set to be released soon. The purpose of this in cell pack is to help you think about how you can reintegrate back into your family system. In particular your parental role whilst working towards recovery from addiction.

Parenting from Prison - Although you may feel that your role within the family unit has changed there are still ways you can continue to support your family from prison.

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We offer various courses on Relationships that prisoners can take with us through the programme.

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Relationships- Understanding relationships, healthy and unhealthy relationships, understanding boundaries, understanding co-dependency, effective communication, plan a healthy relationship.

My Family-To identify positive role models and support network. To understand how to communicate with family. To understand importance of respecting family. To understand how to improve family relationships. To understand how to maintain family relationships.

Coming Home-Coming Home is a one-day accredited course designed to encourage preparations for release. The course will encourage participants to consider the practical, emotional, and relational issues that are often experienced following a period of custody. The course will enable participants to produce a SMART action plan for their release.

Within My Reach— Provides strategies to improve communication and conflict resolution skills, and relationship safety/violence prevention. The course is based on the PREP methodology a scientifically based method of teaching relationship education.

Staying Connected—Contact with you family is an important part of rehabilitation, those that maintain contact are less likely to re-offend, contact is also important for the child’s wellbeing. This course will increase knowledge of parenting skills as well as giving tips and strategies of how to reconnect or stay connected while in prison. We offer various courses on Relationships that prisoners can take with us through the programme.

As a Charity, we also have access to funding that allow us to help families of Prisoners, perhaps with White goods, school uniform, supplies & bedding. We have also been able to help with a food voucher to help families with the cost of living.