Welcome to Gibran UK

If you think you may like help from the Going Home team or know someone who you think may need help then please get in touch.

Group Sessions

Training

Eight beneficiaries completed our first training course 'Introduction to Working with Offenders in the Community'. This was a taster session which proved to be very successful. Feedback included:

• The day was a resounding success
• Really enjoyed the day...great to meet like-minded people
• Very helpful...look forward to meeting again
• Excellent...somebody thought long and hard about what women need when being released from prison
• A good stepping stone to find out what support is available
• The training really boosted my confidence to talk to others in the same position

Come along to one of our groups

The groups will vary in type and location and will be lead by a mentor or peer mentor. At all of our groups it will be a priority to establish "Group Rules" and respect confidentiality, we want women who come along to feel relaxed, comfortable and safe. The groups are a great place for women to get and give support, and share their past experiences.

Some of the activities and discussions we may offer will be: Active Listening Skills, learning the roles of a mentor, boundaries of mentoring relationships, handling difficult situations. Barriers faced by ex-offenders re-integrating into society, challenging stereotypes, controversial issues, effect on families/partners - discussion, confidence building, team working.

If you think you have an idea for a group session then we would like to hear about it and we will try our best to run the most popular requests. We want the groups to be run and designed by the women for the women.

Volunteer

As the project grows we will be able to provide women with the chance to gain experience or use their skills to help us with our work on the project. If you would like more information about volunteering or becoming a peer mentor then please get in touch get in touch.

Becoming a Peer Mentor

We deliver a 4 day training programme to potential peer mentors; those who complete the training are invited to apply for a post as peer mentor and are then subsequently interviewed.

The peer mentors then shadow outreach staff to develop their skills and experience before they work with their own women.

A training programme ran in May and September/October 2011; Peer Mentors who had progressed through the process of in-house training, shadowing and one to one support. Peer Mentors also gained additional training skills in communication, administration and had one to one support.

The training course that took place in September / October 2011 was completed by 5 Peer Mentors.

Peer Mentors were asked what they enjoyed most about the training.

Peer Mentors provided the following feedback about various aspects of the course:

They enjoyed;

The DVD GOING HOME was shown - one person said “it was incredibly moving and showed how brave people in difficult situations can be”. (Peer Mentor 19th September 2011)

Group discussion – “building rapport and learning from the group” “Hearing people say what really goes on in prisons instead of having stereotypical views from the TV”. (Peer Mentors 19th September 2011)

Practicing Peer Mentors contribution – “Jess coming in to talk about her experience of mentoring and of her experience of prison” (Peer Mentor 12th October 2011)

The role play and action planning – “the role play as mentor/beneficiary made me feel much more confident in my ability to mentor” (Peer Mentor 12th October 2011)

The controversial statements – “people’s reaction and discussion on these subjects” (Peer Mentor 12th October 2011)

Peer Mentors provided their assessment of the four day training. On the 14th October after a couple of day’s reflection three of the Peer Mentors sent texts saying:

“Thank you I really enjoyed the training I took a lot away with me. Thanks for inviting me”.

Download our peer mentor case study to find out more.

Confidence Days

We recognise that our work may encourage individuals to focus on and deal with difficulties that they may have in their lives. To help combat this we hold regular fun, confidence days at our offices in LLanover!

Most of the time we work with women it is helping them focus on the difficult areas of their lives - benefit claims, debt, poor housing and problems with relationships. So this was great opportunity to do something completely different.

These days are often lead by our beneficiaries putting to use any hidden talents that we may discover... activities include; frugal veggie growing, card making, decorative paint finishes, we also have a nail technician, cake maker and a qualified masseur!

International Women's Day 2011