Last year Helen Collins travelled across Canada and America to learn about projects and approaches that aim to promote integration and desistance from crime. This was a research project supported by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust and Prison Reform Trust. Hugely influenced by the work of Professor Shadd Maruna, one of Helen’s main interests was the role of identity in the process of desistance and how approaches or interventions can help people involved in the criminal justice sytem shift a negative sense of self into a more positive sense of self that helps people to look forward. Lots of learning was taken from this experience but one of the main themes and something which Helen is keen to develop in the provision of rehabilitative services are opportunities for people to give back. You can access the report here: Collins-Final Churchill Report
Discovering Desistance 