About Us

Our mission is to support ex-offenders in leading crime free lives.

• To contribute to building safer communities
• Reducing crime, protecting the public and consequently reducing the numbers of victims of crime.
• To support ex-offenders to break the cycle of re offending, working with the full range of statutory, private, and voluntary sector Services.

To improve the life chances for ex-offenders

• To maintain and increase faith community involvement in developing community solutions to crime and offending locally, regionally and nationally. Recognising the wider Government Inter-Faith Strategies.
• Integrating with and complementing existing models of Offender Management alongside the voluntary and statutory sector to ensure a holistic approach to work with offenders in custody and the community.
• Proactively address race and wider equality issues to meet the specific needs of women, youth, BAME (Black, Asian Minority Ethnic) and disabled offenders.

Our activities:

• Practical, emotional and spiritual support
• We provide trained staff (both employed and voluntary) to assist offenders, families of offenders and those subject to community orders with their resettlement needs. This is provided through a range of support from specialist staff, advocates, mentors, and befrienders.
• We work to deliver practical and spiritual support through advocacy to meet our client's needs (informed by the NOMS reducing re-offending 'pathways' which outline the areas where offenders are most in need of support).

Our Values

Futures Unlocked is committed to ensuring that the following values permeate the whole of its work with its clients, staff, volunteers and others:

• A positive regard for all individuals
• A firm belief that change for the better, underpinned by personal transformation, is possible for all human beings
• The importance of treating each individual as unique
• Working with individuals from their own unique starting point
• Addressing the needs of the whole person, that is; social, economic, psychological and physical as well as spiritual

The place of faith

The work of the Futures Unlocked reflects the values of the Prison Service Chaplaincy, which seeks to serve people of all faiths and none. Futures Unlocked will assist individuals in a holistic way and anyone with a personal faith will be offered appropriate support. The work will not involve or seek to involve any proselytising or promotion of any faith or religious belief.

What Futures Unlocked does

• Inspire communities to address the causes and consequences of crime
• Support identified offenders and their families
• Promote a faith dimension within offender management
• Provide a co-ordinating focus and oversight of faith groups’ activities
• Act as a link between faith groups and other services.

How it provides practical, emotional and spiritual support

Futures Unlocked provides trained staff (both employed and voluntary) to assist offenders, families of offenders and those subject to community orders with their resettlement needs. This is provided through a range of support from specialist staff, advocates, mentors, and befrienders.

Futures Unlocked works to deliver practical and spiritual support through advocacy to meet clients' needs (informed by the NOMS reducing re-offending 'pathways' which outline the areas where offenders are most in need of support). These are:

1. Accommodation
2. Skills and employment (including: Job hunting, training and education opportunities)
3. Support to the Children and Families of offenders
4. Finance, Benefit and Debt
5. Drugs, alcohol and general substance misuse.
6. Physical and mental health issues
7. Attitudes, thinking and behaviour - focusing on Social interaction and integration
8. Emotional, spiritual and pastoral support

Commitment to partnership working

Futures Unlocked signposts to, and thereby complements, existing services to fill the gaps where such services are seen to be lacking. It offers a number of services according to local need while avoiding any replication or duplication of effective provision that is already in place.

Wherever possible it will work with the full range of local Statutory, Corporate, Civic Faith and Voluntary Sector organisations to ensure that the needs of service users are met.