Following the success of their workshops for prisoners on mental health, substance misuse and purpose in life, Jacqueline Hollows, founder of Beyond Recovery, created an apprenticeship programme
“After the first few groups we ran in 2015 many of the participants wanted to become peer mentors and I noticed what a huge impact this had on the new participants. We have been working with the peer mentors since then. It soon became apparent that some of these guys had the attributes to make great teachers so we created our Beyond Recovery Apprenticeship Programme to provide them with the skills and qualification to be able to teach groups in the 3 Principles understanding”
The 9 month long programme recruits a small number of participants (12 max) and involves monthly ‘teaching days’ as well as assisting the men to run their own groups, help other inmates in one to one sessions, and develop appropriate programmes to resolve current issues. In the first programme the men created a seminar where they presented their work to the public (Mind Behind Bars) – they planned it, created the materials, organised the meet and greet and planned the presentations. They were magnificent! Much of the feedback from the public who were there by invitation, was mind blowing. Here are three examples:
“One of the most moving and joyful days of my life.”
“It was such a positive experience to see how the men had taken this understanding and were applying it to their lives. I came away knowing that I had taken part in a very special day.”
“It was a very emotional experience. The love, friendship, and learning in the room was contagious.”
The Mind Behind Bars Event
One of the graduates from the Apprentice Programme recently presented at the 3 Principles International Conference in London in front of 1000 people. Jacqueline and he were the keynote speakers, kicking off the conference which is a three day event. Alfie told his story and had the audience laughing, crying and received a standing ovation. Many people approached Alfie after the event to comment on how they felt inspired by his talk and several weeks later we are receiving emails that it was the best talk of the whole event!
You can see his presentation in the video clip below.
Beyond Recovery are now on their third apprenticeship programme and have graduated six participants. These men are qualified practitioners of the 3 Principles approach and will be able to work as coaches, counsellors or leaders in this approach in any organisation.
Many thanks to 3PUK for permission to use this video. You can book for the 2019 conference here.
