Reviewing for engagement
Content
Case summary
Inspector’s comments
Take-away learning
Back to engagement in case supervision Next chapter: Desistance
Reviewing should focus sufficiently on supporting the service user’s compliance and engagement. Practitioners should:
- consider compliance and engagement levels and any relevant barriers
- make any necessary adjustments to the ongoing plan of work to take account of compliance and engagement levels and any relevant barriers
- meaningfully involve the service user in reviewing their progress and engagement
- include the completion of written reviews as a formal record of actions to implement the sentence, where appropriate.
Case summary
Tom is a 22-year-old male released on licence for supply of Class B drugs. He has a small number of convictions, but they are of a similar nature committed within a context of his involvement with gangs. The most recent offence was committed while on licence for a longer sentence, also for supply of drugs. Because of Tom’s connections to local gangs, he was assessed as medium risk of serious harm and supervised by a specialist probation officer who worked with the city’s gangs’ team. Preparation for release and intelligence gathering and sharing was impressive, both before and after release. The responsible officer reviewed Tom’s associates as well as carrying out regular safeguarding checks for his younger siblings, as he returned home to live with them and his mother.
Tom had six GCSEs and the release plan focused on encouraging him to find work, with impressive support and introductions to work opportunities. Three months after release, Tom obtained full-time work and had attended all of his appointments.
In order to agree the next phase of supervision, a formal review was conducted. A three-way meeting was convened at the probation office between Tom, his responsible officer and his assigned police officer from the gangs unit. This meeting was positive and was used as a means of praising Tom. The review meeting acknowledged how far he had come and how supervision could now be less intensive but with clarity about the level of monitoring that would need to continue while Tom was subject to licence. The responsible officer had written confirmation of the employment offer and discussed the job with Tom’s employer. There was full disclosure and transparency about the current situation and the responsible officer was confident that the employer would alert them should they have any concerns about Tom’s behaviour in the future.
Inspector’s comments
This case provides a very positive example of reviewing. The service user in this case had made excellent progress and the support and encouragement offered by the responsible officer to find employment resulted in a positive outcome. Finding work would clearly reduce the likelihood of further offending.
It was great to see the use of a three-way meeting to give credit to Tom for his achievements and formally agree the next phase of the supervision process. This was recorded in both nDelius and OASys to evidence the decision to reduce the intensity of contact. It was clear from records that Tom had contributed positively to the review and his perspective was thoroughly documented throughout.
Inspectors had the benefit of speaking with Tom during fieldwork and he could not say enough positive things about his responsible officer and the police that had supported him. He had never managed to obtain legitimate employment before, and it was clear that this achievement had had a significant effect on his self-esteem and attitude towards the future.
Take-aways – applying the learning
- The responsible officer took a constructive approach to this case and enlisted the assigned gangs police officer in the same approach. They managed the service user’s continued engagement for the purpose of desistance. They used the meeting with the employer to recruit a similar constructive approach to maintain engagement. The level of oversight in this case was very successful. Do you use similar approaches? If not, what, if any, learning will you take from this case illustration?
- In this case the responsible officer organised a review to reflect positively on the service user’s progress and engagement throughout the order. Do you use reviews constructively to reinforce good progress?
This case summary is intended for training/learning purposes and includes a fictional name.
