I gets lots of feedback to the blogs, thank you to everyone who sends me some feedback or an idea, and I thought it would be good to share this email I had today from Michael Burger who is doing some amazing stuff in our Offender Management Team.

Many thanks Michael for doing what you do everyday and for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights. Any more budding bloggers out there?

Thanks Roy

Dear Roy

Following your most recent Blog entry, I just thought I’d tell you about an event I attended the other evening.

I was invited by London Probation, with whom we have a contract which runs out of Leytonstone, to attend a presentation evening. The event was to recognise the achievements of around a dozen of our clients, all ‘former offenders’ (a description one of the other speakers, also a former offender, chose to use, which sounds much better than ‘ex-offender’), in achieving units of a qualification, which would ultimately lead to them obtaining a ‘Streetworks Licence Card’, and the chance of employment within highway maintenance.

One by one, they were presented with City and Guilds certificates for their achievements, followed by various individual and group photographs. It struck me during these presentations that this wasn’t the real achievement. The real achievement was that they were there at all, and had made it to a point where they were a stage closer to turning their lives around.

We continually battle against a wave of public perception, which is generally very negative towards, Prisons, offenders and ‘former offenders’ (in some cases justifiably so). This perception is not helped by the tabloid press who have a tendency to sensationalise stories involving the same. I wish they had been there to hear from the other speakers and the positive work they, and A4e do, but more importantly, to see the faces of those twelve guys, and what their certificates meant to them, along with the video clip of them carrying out their training.

Over the last 18 months of working within the OMD, I have been lucky enough to work with some top people, who between them, have helped to secure employment for nearly 300 former offenders. Countless others have been referred to further learning opportunities, offered 1-2-1 support or just the ear of someone that treats them like a person rather than a negative statistic.

Because of the types of organisations A4e partner with, we work in a very target driven industry. I heard a quote recently along the lines of “it’s no good hitting a target, if you then go on to miss the point.”

Well the ‘point’ in this case was the group of twelve guys sat to my right holding their certificates, and Melanie and Darren from our A4e office in Leytonstone, who were sat behind me, and who had helped ‘make the point’.

Events like this, although relatively small, are inspirational and help to remind me why I enjoy doing what I do and why I, and the guys I work with, keep doing it!

Thanks Michael Burger