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Information about us and our charity

What is Guernsey Caring for ex-offenders?

GCFEO is an independent charity working across local churches of all denominations. The charity is overseen by a team of directors, with its office being based at Holy Trinity Church Center in St Peter Port.

A full-time GCFEO Co-ordinator is supported by a team of volunteers working as Mentors, Prison Visitors and Support Workers. The work of GCFEO is funded by grants and donations from grant-making bodies, private individuals and the Island’s churches

How does it work?

GCFEO assists an ex-offender’s resettlement into society by training a Caring for Ex-Offender team in order to mentor and support them. The Mentor establishes a relationship with the individual whilst they are still in prison, visits them if possible, meets them at the gate on release, helps them attend initial appointments and obtain basic needs.

Integrating into a community after time spent in prison can be a daunting challenge, and every individual requires a number of necessary elements to successfully live a transformed life. GCFEO signposts ex-offenders to the resources that can help them achieve housing, employment, education, recover from addictions, family relationships, healthcare and debt and benefits advice.

Local churches also offer a variety of resources, and willing congregation members are often available to assist the mentors in directing ex-offenders through other areas, including writing CVs, filling in forms, going to interviews and other practical matters.

How does this affect you?

If you are in prison and would like one-to-one mentoring or extra support upon release, then please speak to a Prison Officer, the Offender Management Unit or the prison Chaplaincy. They will arrange for the GCFEO Co-ordinator to help you complete a referral form.

If you are an ex-offender and are no longer in prison but would still like support, then please contact the GCFEO Co-ordinator using the contact details on our contact page. The Co-ordinator will then arrange to meet with you over a coffee to explore how we can best help.

If you are a church member and would like to be involved with the work of GCFEO or just find out more, then we would love to hear from you. Please get in touch using the contact details on the contact page of this site.

If you are another organisation with similar goals, we would love to work together in caring for ex-offenders. GCFEO aims to reduce reoffending, and in an effort to do this most effectively, we work closely with the Probation Service, Prison Services, Police Authorities, and other charitable and statutory groups also working towards this goal.

If you are currently working with an individual who you believe may benefit from the additional support of Guernsey Caring for Ex-Offenders, we can offer our resources to assist with reintegration into the community.


Our Mission and Background

The primary object of GCFEO is to work collaboratively with other professional and third-sector agencies to assist in the resettlement and re-integration into the wider community of persons released from prison; who are or intend, resettling in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

Ex-offenders often have a history of social isolation and marginalisation, physical or emotional abuse, together with a poor educational background. Many are challenged by physical and mental health issues that may be related to substance abuse and drug addiction.

Society's perception of their offences means they can feel socially unaccepted and isolated. This is often born out in a particularly poor record of employment/unemployment together with poor access to suitable and appropriate housing.


GCFEO 2020 Highlights

In 2020 GCFEO supported 82 ex-offenders and we have improved the number and range of the workshops and training opportunities we offer from 1 weekly craft workshop, to 3 weekly workshops (craft, furniture upcycling, sewing) and also literacy classes.

These groups and classes have helped individuals cope with anxiety, depression, feelings of low self-worth and social isolation. In order to do this we have needed greater flexibility of space and have moved our workshops from Trinity Centre to The Caves in Upper Mansell Street, just opposite Holy Trinity Church.

Released prisoners often find it difficult to obtain legal employment, housing and appropriate and positive social support. With this in mind, GCFEO focuses on three main areas as listed below:


1. Preparing for, securing and maintaining employment,

(paid and/or voluntary). GCFEO works particularly closely with both employers and the Job Centre at Employment and Social Security (ESS). To this end, GCFEO has had a very successful SLA with ESS for 3 and 1/2 years. We envisage this arrangement continuing.

2. Securing and maintaining accommodation,

working very closely with Offender Deposit Assistance Scheme (ODAS), States Housing, Guernsey Housing Association and private landlords.

3. Community inclusion opportunities/activities,

particularly through our group workshops and social activities. This allows for constructive use of their time, adds structure to their day, builds up confidence and increases social and teamwork skills - all precursors to being employment-ready.




However, the support we offer is holistic and is dependent on the needs of the individual and can include; 1 on 1 mentoring, support in agency meetings and court proceedings, form filling, practical assistance, advice, advocacy and on occasions, financial aid to prisoners/ex-offenders and their families etc.

GCFEO continues to offer help to ex-offenders for as long as needed following release from prison, working collaboratively with other professional and third-sector agencies to support successful reintegration into the community and thereby reduce the risk of reoffending.

One very significant role undertaken by both volunteers and paid staff is that of being available outside of normal office hours. It is often at weekends, bank holidays, evenings or late at night, that ex-offenders need support that otherwise would not be available to them.


Accommodation

In 2020 we also supported 29 ex-offenders with sourcing and retaining accommodation. This has involved working very closely with some landlords who would otherwise have struggled to manage the needs and difficulties presented by the individuals. GCFEO also works closely with probation and the Offender Deposit Assistance Scheme (ODAS) in offering loans for housing deposits, as well as offering loans directly through GCFEO when the individual does not meet the remit for ODAS.

Employment

Due to the unfolding COVID 19 pandemic in 2020, finding employment opportunities for ex-offenders was even more challenging as Guernsey experienced much higher levels of unemployment than usual. However, the work continued and we’d like to pay particular thanks to Alison Cleveland who was our first Employment Keyworker and who worked with our clients during lockdown and then sadly had to stand down in June 2020 due to personal reasons. We are delighted that Alison has remained as a volunteer and will continue her involvement with GCFEO.




Andrew Kewell joined the staff on 1 September 2020 with responsibility for Employment as well as being Deputy Co-ordinator to Mary Hervé. Since starting, Andrew has assisted in developing the work pioneered by Alison and the following snapshot gives an overview of his first four months in the role.




We are delighted that 3 people we support were offered 2 full and 1 part-time roles in 2020. A 4th person was also offered a full-time role but other members of the employers company refused to work with an ex-offender when the nature of their offence became known. This is just one example of the barriers ex-offenders face when trying to secure employment.

GCFEO Craft Workshops

Our Art and Craft Workshops are overseen by our GCFEO Community and Well-being Keyworker, Michelle Stringer. During 2020, we had 20 people overall who attended one or more sessions in the year. Due to the Coronavirus lockdown from March-June 2020, we couldn’t meet as usual on Tuesday afternoons in Trinity Church Centre but art and craft materials were delivered to those who wanted to work at home and we were in regular phone and text contact.

Throughout the earlier part of the year, we were in negotiations with the Youth Commission about renting space at the Caves as we were outgrowing the space at Trinity. Some building work needed to be done, so there were delays in our space being ready, but we finally moved over there in mid-September. We have a permanent store for our growing stock of craft and art materials and we rent a large room from 9am to 4pm Monday through to Friday. This means that we can offer more workshops. We currently have 4 x two hour workshops and a few one to one literacy classes. There is also a small area outside, which is being made safe so we can look at growing things starting in 2020.

Due to COVID, we were limited in the amount of community involvement available, but we had a coffee morning with craft sale at Trinity Church in August 2021 and hosted a coffee, cake and craft afternoon at Town Church during their Christmas Tree Festival. Both events were very successful and have meant that the workshops are remaining self funding

Michelle continued her links with the art groups in prison and met the new Head of Education there. There have been changes in the Education Department at the prison, with more emphasis on gaining qualifications. We are looking into the possibility that we can also support this on release. We have also linked in with Probation Services to provide opportunities for offenders to carry out their community service hours by helping at our workshops.

Below is one of our stalls at the Christmas Tree Festival in December 2020.


Thank You

We continue to be very grateful for our fantastic group of 15 or so volunteers who generously give of their time to act as Mentors, help at the various Art and Craft Workshops, visit people in Prison and Hospital, help at our Thursday Church group and in so many other unseen ways. We would not be able to do all the work we do without our volunteers. We are also grateful for all the people who give financially to the work of GCFEO. If anyone would like to see a copy of our accounts please do get in touch on gcfeo@suremail.gg

We are also grateful to Social Security for their support and grant funding to assist exoffenders into paid employment. Andrew Kewell has continued to meet monthly with the Work Rehabilitation Officers to share information and collaborate on our joint caseload of clients. He was also invited to the Social Security Offices in November 2020 to find out more about their different teams/roles and to talk about the work of Guernsey Caring for Ex-Offenders to members of their staff.

Looking Forward

We would like to increase the depth and scope of our craft and education workshops still further to include gardening and computer skills together with various training sessions; e.g. interview skills, budgeting, cooking etc... Our additional new premises at The Caves offer greater capacity to expand the work and we have plenty of ideas to develop in 2021/23