Prison, Life and New Achievements (or PLAN A for short) is an innovative, evidence- based programme which involves children and young people in up to three interventions concurrently: one-to-one mentoring, group or one-to-one creative psychotherapy and restorative justice (RJ).

Support is delivered for up to 6 months during custody, after release from prison or whilst serving community sentences. The inclusion of three stands of intervention in PLAN A is unique to this programme, with each strand complementing the other, enabling other strands to be more successful and increasing the likelihood of overall engagement. For example, for many children and young people, until they have overcome trauma through creative psychotherapy sessions, or dealt with guilt and shame related to their offence through restorative justice, are unable to engage in the support offered through mentoring, such as seeking employment.  

Originally piloted in 2014, PLAN A has been independently evaluated by Royal Holloway University. Our internal evaluations of PLAN A since 2016, have shown that out of 100 participants who took part in the evaluation: 

• 84% showed improvements in their mental and/or emotional well-being
• 81% decreased their resolve to reoffend
• 80% increased their prosocial relationships.

Out of 35 participants who took part in a separate strand of evaluation:

• 60% increased their engagement, and 
• 63% increased their access to education, employment and training.

Last year PLAN A delivered mentoring, psychotherapy and restorative justice interventions to 50 young people aged 18–21 in the community or serving sentences at HMPYOI Feltham and HMPYOI Isis.

Dayo’s Story:

Psychotherapy as part of the PLAN A programme at HMPYOI Isis Dayo took part in one-to-one creative psychotherapy sessions over 5 months as part of our PLAN A program, which we have been able to expand into HMPYOI Isis this year. Dayo begun psychotherapeutic intervention with a stance that therapy would not help him but he was willing to give it a try. During therapy he explored themes of relationships, communication, life in prison, responsibility, past life experiences, substances, adulthood, change, progress, violence, gang culture, acting out behaviour, social pressure, religion, sexuality, deportation, safety, care, trust, shame, guilt, justice, exclusion, otherness, self-image and identity.

Dayo initially expressed strong beliefs around the usefulness of violence in community or prison to secure safety and order. There was also a tendency for Dayo to support the idea of eye for an eye and the need for punishment for wrongdoing, oftentimes highlighting Dayo’s belief of having to atone for his crimes. Despite his beliefs he was able to engage in meaningful debate, as well as listen, be curious and ask questions. This progressed to Dayo explaining how instead of using violence to deal with a conflict he had on his prison unit, he chose to use negotiation and boundaries. This showed Dayo’s development and maturity.

Dayo did not initially believe in his ability to be empathetic or flexible, but every session highlighted his ability to think of others and grow in confidence. During therapy he began making conscious choices to utilise his critical thinking and systemic understanding of how his actions affect others to make more informed and wiser decisions. He improved his ability to take a step back and deconstruct his own harmful core beliefs. Dayo reviewed his engagement with this psychotherapy positively and agreed to take part in the mentoring and RJ strands of PLAN-A.

Feedback from our participants:

“(My PLAN A mentor) is someone to lean on when I need help, I don’t get any other support. Her support feels important. She listens to me, is open, doesn’t judge. I wouldn’t engage if I didn’t feel like I was being helped. I would still like the support to continue.”

 

“(PLAN A therapy sessions) pushed me to become a better version of myself and stopped me from hindering who I can become and what I can do with my life. (They) made me realise jail isn’t the end of me. PLAN A was the most unique programme I’ve done. There aren’t many programmes that care about your wellbeing or how to be a better version of yourself but this programme did that, 100%.”

“PLAN A helped me understand everything about my offence, my emotions, the consequences and victim awareness… it was respectful and there were good boundaries in place. Before PLAN A I just did things but now I think about the consequences. It also helped me to consider what other people are thinking.”