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C.R.E.A.T.E
COACHING AND COUNSELLING
REBUILD
ENGAGE
ADVOCACY
TRANSFORM
EMERGE
C.R.E.A.T.E is a 6-month programme from January -June, annually, and it provides coaching and counselling support with the aim to help people rebuild their lives after custody and have a space for advocacy, while they transform their experiences with life-changing actions and emerge as whom they have always wanted to be. The programme provides support services for female ex-offenders who have just been out of custody within a three-month period of release. Primarily, this programme will be accessible to women living in or who relocated to London after release.
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Rationale:
Many of our interactions with people who have been in contact with our services have shown that after release from prison, women are subject to discrimination, exclusion, stigmatisation, and bias, which leads to a lack of confidence, deprived opportunity for employment, depression – in some cases and many more negative effects. For these reasons, we want to continually encourage people from custody and provide opportunities to integrate into society and rebuild their lives seamlessly.
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Individuals voiced that they have been made to feel unworthy after release when they want to integrate into society and do what they used to do before imprisonment, e.g., being talked about when attending school events with their children or taking them to school and not being accepted into folds they used to belong to after release from prison- e.g., community groups, religious groups, parents’ teachers’ associations, etc.
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Also, the inability to get employment and full access to facilities are some of the challenges being faced by individuals, after releasing from custody.
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Application for the C.R.E.A.T.E Project opens every July - November.
This project is dedicated to helping women ex-offenders get a dream job without hassles. The project usually starts with holding a fair for women ex-offenders, who are looking to get into new job roles or thinking of starting a business. After the fair, a selection will be made and successful participants will receive a full suite of support, which will include support with deciding a well-suited job role or business niche, support with applying for the role and writing a CV, getting an interview invite, preparing for an interview and attending the interview, and three months support with ongoing coaching and counselling after work.
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For business owners, there will be support with choosing a business niche, business model and plan, marketing support, signposting for business funding and support with the launching of the business.
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The project shall run for 52 weeks and all participants who started the yearly programme shall be eligible for support throughout the one-year phase of the programme. The Programme starts in June 2023 and will mainly be directed at the Newham Council.
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The programme consists of coaching; counselling and training to help BAME ex-offender women to become more apparent with their purpose and learn how to manage change and plan for a new life. The project will create a strong community by connecting experienced women volunteers with BAME women ex-offenders seeking guidance and support in their personal and professional lives. This project will allow the BAME women ex-offenders to network; learn from each other; and develop new skills. The project will foster a sense of empowerment and camaraderie among women, and encourage them to support each other both within and outside of the project.
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Application for the Project: Shop your dream job! opens every March-May and the programme runs from June -May.
Project: Shop your dream job!
Online CV Writing Workshops
The CV writing workshop series was created in response to a need from our service users and other female folks who were either returning to work after long breaks or just entering the world of work mid-life. This service is available to women ex-offenders looking to get back to work or other women folks, as mentioned above, living in London and particularly in the London Borough of Southwark.
The need for CV writing workshops was expressed by select groups of people we have worked with, who felt that even though they had a rough idea of the type of career that they would like, they didn’t have a good positioning CV to help them apply or get the job they wanted. They understood the importance of gaining work experience, but they weren’t confident in articulating their skills, experiences, and qualities in written form.
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The CV writing workshops are online events and they are organized based on demand and are broken into three sessions. The first session teaches a general guide on how to create bespoke and compelling CVs that attract interviews. The second session is a CV checking session, where participants check their CVs for the essentials needed for a compelling CV and ask questions on how to improve their CVs or better tailor their CVs to be fit for purpose. The third session helps participants develop the motivation and enthusiasm of going forward to apply for jobs they are interested in and how to manage interview pressures. This session is aimed at helping participants experience a structured and engaging approach to CV writing, building confidence, clarity, and autonomy in the process.
​What makes the sessions unique is that not only do they teach participants how to create a CV, and prepare for interviews, but it also involves elements of mentoring and coaching to build confidence. There may also be assigned homework to bolster the learning and discoveries found during the sessions.
This is an ongoing project and is open for application at any time.
This is a bi-annual WEP for women who want to live life on their terms. This programme encompasses training in Personal development, leadership and entrepreneurship. It is a six-month programme broken into three parts. The first part is the inaugural part, where participants are admitted into the programme and given induction after selection. The second phase is a 3-months coaching programme to open up opportunities for a progressive lifestyle and the third phase is the attendance of a two-day retreat for women who want to plan, reflect and invigorate in order to create a future that they desire.
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"You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough." — Mae West.
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This project is on a subscription basis and full details can be accessed here.
Women Empowerment programme
Project THRIVE - Total Harmony Retreats in Victory Embrace
