Work with Offenders

"You only have to see the look on the face, the sense of achievement and hear the account of a Mobex activity to know it's not about macho activities. It is often about giving people the ability and opportunity to change their lives, to take control for the first time."

Quote from Northumbria Probation Service

Mobex North East has been successfully delivering The Constructive Activities Partnership for the National Probation Service Northumbria since 1995 and for the local Youth Offending Team in Newcastle since 1999. We have developed a staff team with in-depth knowledge, understanding and expertise in working with these particular groups.

The Partnership uses a wide range of outdoor activities as personal development tools to help increase self esteem as well as further develop interpersonal and social skills. By increasing self esteem you can have a positive impact on the participant's mental health. Participating in physical activities helps offenders improve their health and fitness, which helps increase motivation. This in turn improves general health and well being.

Staff at Mobex North East offer participants positive encouragement in everything they do and this helps to instil a feeling of self worth, which in our experience, is lacking in a high percentage of the people we work with.

By reviewing the activities and associated experiences, Mobex North East enables participants to relate their feelings and learning back into their everyday real life situations.

REAL LIFE EVALUATION OF MOBEX NORTH EAST'S CONSTRUCTIVE ACTIVITIES PROGRAMME

These are the thoughts and feelings of an offender on a Drug Treatment and Testing Order from a days hill walking up High Street. At one point, he had been using eight bags of heroin a day (£80 a day) and committing on average four crimes a day to sustain his habit.

 This account has been taken from his own words: 

"From the start I could see roughly in the distance where we would be walking and where the highest point was. My feelings towards the walk were of excitement and adventure. It did not seem at the time I would have any problems of any great magnitude!

I felt frightened as hell coming up but I thought the quicker I go, the nearer the end of the ascent, which I realise now would be some achievement. As I let thoughts of bad feelings I’ve thought about go, can I do this was a constant question I asked myself, I had to answer that by making each movement count, no matter how shaky or trembly .  My heart is still in my mouth, my heart pumping through each muscle, even still now as I write this.  Sadness, worry, respect, attitude, health, fitness, trust, communication, individual self worth combining as one was what I thought at the first stop.  A feeling new to me but I already feel something has been given to me by that extra special beautiful place - the Lakes - and that day of “achievement”.

 The scramble took so much energy out of my body.  Very unusual, I felt stepping off the stone and onto the rich looking ground I felt like I had achieved so much in such a short space of time. I thought whilst I lay down with my face flat on the ground what my feelings of exhilaration and joy and relief meant.  This, I thought, is to be alive. Whilst I had these emotions I gripped the ground, still very afraid and very small but as all the lads gathered around me, they all gave me the energy and realization of what we, the eight of us, had achieved.  I stood up unsteady and walked over to the white stone point on the High Street and held onto it. Then I looked around at the views and slowly began to feel safe and relaxed by each wonderful view of nature.

The descent was calm and for the first time in a long while, I felt I was worthy of this life.  The walk all the way down was happy, alive, reflective, productive, and knowledgeable.  To see views like this through clear eyes and a clear mind made me feel like I could build a new fresh, healthy and exciting life on top of my old lifestyle.  To deal with my fear on this walk I think that if I look back into the cause of my fear head on.  Accept my fear, get used to it and deal with it rather than hide from it.  That I think is what made that walk so deep and magical, facing eye to eye my emotion acknowledgment made life up there easier."

 

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