Adullam Homes - Chesterfield – resident involvement

Chesterfield – resident involvement

Resident involvement has really taken off at the Chesterfield project over the last six months, with residents regularly attending resident’s meetings. We have managed to arrange for professionals from services including the police, sexual health, Connexions and other places to talk about a variety of issues with our young people. On the 23rd of March, Gary Mellor kindly agreed to give up his time to come to the project and talk to our young people about his experiences of the criminal justice system.

Gary had been in prison in the past, had a previous alcohol addiction but has now changed his life around. He did this with the help of probation, drug and alcohol support and his own determination. Gary gave an honest and frank account about not only his experience of prison, but also his past addiction and how he felt this made him vulnerable to exploitation. The residents listened intently to Gary and asked lots of valid and mature questions.

I spoke to two of the residents who had attended this meeting and asked them what they thought about what Gary had told them and what, if anything, they felt they had got from listening and speaking to him. One said that he thought “prison was not a nice place and I don’t want to go there”. The other said “it has made me realise what I have got here and that I don’t want to go back to secure”.