Crime Prevention Conference 6th February 2020

FORUM 2 - "Learning from good practice and the role of appreciative inquiry in addressing offending behaviour”

Thank you for attending the crime prevention forum on Thursday 6^th February and for all your input on the day. We hope that you found the forum interesting and useful to your work. Once again a huge thank you to all of the speakers who made the day so successful.

There was a huge amount of enthusiasm in the discussions at the event and the presentations were well received by the audience. The key take-aways were:

1. The causes of crime are a long way up stream (being in a constant state of fear over develops the 'self-protection' areas of the brain). All roads lead back to personal development, resilience and support for the individual.
2. If practitioners can change our language – Reframing the conversation positively and using generative questions - we can make a sea-change in the support and outcomes for our clients.
3. Sport and physical activity can provide powerful ways to have these conversations, through 'towards' language and by providing experiential learning environments – in turn developing the creative, outward looking, areas of the brain.

Delegates engaged in the discussions and experiential activities with a very positive and proactive mindset bringing a huge amount of energy and value to the group.

There was a consensus from a wide range of organisations about wanting to be involved in helping tackle issues related to crime prevention and offending.

Get Berkshire Active provide Experiential Learning programmes / sessions using MTC, Motivational Interviewing and similar techniques. We can support:

• Unemployed Groups
• Those at risk of offending
• School Pupils
• Workplaces (Team / Leadership Development)

The focus of the forum was on "Learning from good practice and the role of appreciative inquiry in addressing offending behaviour".

Once again a huge thank you to all of the speakers who made the day so successful:

Cheri B. Torres, Ph.D.

Cheri's passion is helping people use everyday conversation to create positive dynamics in their relationships, organisations, and communities and has worked across all sectors: corporate, government, education, dysfunctional groups, the National Guard and social profit/NGOs, supporting their capacity for learning and innovation, shared leadership, teamwork and collective impact.

She has trained thousands of trainers and teachers in the use and practice of Experiential Learning, Appreciative Inquiry, and other strengths-based processes and has been the catalyst for the restoration and development of hundreds of dysfunctional youth and offenders.

In addition to North America, she has worked in India, Mexico, Canada, South America, and Europe. She specializes in leadership, team and individual development, and whole system strategic planning, emphasizing the art of productive and meaningful engagement through intentional conversation. She blends together Appreciative Inquiry and Neuroscience practices and grounds her work in the current research in positive psychology and neurophysiology.

Cheri is a perpetual learner. Along the way she's accumulated a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Collaborative Learning from the University of Tennessee. She also holds an MBA, a Masters in Transpersonal Psychology, Level 2 certification in Cultural Transformation Tools/Barrett Values Centre, and Level II certification in Spiral Dynamics Integral. She has authored numerous books and articles including The Appreciative Facilitator: Accelerated Learning Practices and Dynamic Relationships: Unleashing the Power of Appreciative Inquiry in Daily Living and Conversations worth Having which she co-authored with Appreciative Inquiry pioneer Jackie Stavros with a forward by A.I. Founder, David L Cooperrider with whom she has worked closely since the birth of the Appreciative Inquiry concepts . She's been featured in leading media sources including Fast Company, Forbes, HR Magazine, SmartBrief,Training Industry, and Training Magazine. She co-designed and patented Mobile Team Challenge, an award-winning, portable low ropes course. She lives in Asheville, NC with her husband, Michael, their dog, Annabelle, and feisty cat, Ziggy. cheri@conversationsworthhaving.today

Cath Marriott, Thames Valley OPCC

Cath entered the world of Crime & Disorder reduction in 2004 in a large Local Authority. She joined the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner a year ago as the Partnerships & Performance lead for the 16 Community Safety Partnerships across the Thames Valley. She manages the relationship between the PCC and CSPs, including the approx. £3m of grant funding they receive annually to deliver against shared priorities.

She has been the lead officer on a wide variety of subjects including Strategic Analysis, Problem Solving & being Evidence Led; Integrated Offender Management; Cyber Crime; Exploitation of vulnerable people; Information Sharing; and Business Crime and has spoken at local, regional and national events throughout her career.

She worked with every CSP to submit a successful bid to the Home Office for a share of the £17m Early Intervention Youth Fund to tackle Serious Youth Violence. As a result, she is now overseeing the deployment of £822k across the Force area and has recruited a PCC funded Project Manager and a Partnership Analyst to support the work.

In her own time, she runs a weekly community craft group to tackle mental health issues and loneliness, volunteers for Search Dogs Buckinghamshire who support PolSAs in looking for high risk MISPERs (esp. dementia and despondent), facilitates Parenting Courses and is a Youth Leader in her church. She is married with two children, 15 and 18 years of age.

Dave Evans, Reading FC Community Trust Manager

Dave Evans has been a Community Trust Manager for 23 years working in all 4 divisions of the league with both Wycombe Wanderers (13 years) and presently Reading FC (10 years).

The Community Trust or CCO (Community Club Organisation) as they are more commonly known, are charities that run alongside their parent football club with 92 charities operating from the Premier league, Championship, Division 1 and Division 2, with additional CCO's operating from the National league.

These Charities are partly funded by the Premier League (PLCF – Premier League Community Fund) and the English Football League (EFLT – English Football League Trust]) with each club applying for funding through 4 main pillars of activities – Health, Social Inclusion, Sports participation and Education.

Dave Evans is an A licensed football coach with a degree in Sports Management and a strong passion in using football as an engagement tool with disadvantaged, disengaged, and so called "hard to reach "young people. The work around young challenging people has lead Reading FC CT to become one of the leading youth engagement services in Reading working alongside many schools, referral units/centres, local authorities, the Police, youth offending services, charities and other youth providers.

Currently the Trust run several intervention and engagement activities alongside its partners and supporters :

• Mispers – Missing children in Reading – Social services, Reading borough council
• DIVERT – Custody Coach – Thames Valley Police
• Premier League Kicks – PLCF
• RAP (Reading Alternative Provision) – Schools, Referral units/centres, local authorities
• Traineeships – Education provider
• Employability course – Education provider
• Positive pathways (county lines) – local authority funding

"We are sometimes seen as a football coaching organisation delivering a number of football lead activities however the Trust is much more than this, we are here to help change and save lives, using sport and football as the main driver, working with children who are being partly or fully excluded from school, young offenders, young people who are involved with anti-social / criminal behaviour or senior citizens who are struggling to cope with isolation or illness".

"The Trust's activities are hugely diverse and by working in partnership we are able to have a real positive impact in the local and surrounding areas" – Dave Evans, Reading FC Community Trust Manager

Nick West-Oram, Head of Development and Insight at Get Berkshire Active.

Nick joined Get Berkshire Active, who are the strategic lead for Sport England in Berkshire, in 2012 as Commissioning and Development Manager. Nick spent several years developing new relationships and programmes, whilst overseeing the remit for Children and Young People. During this period he oversaw the delivery of nationally recognized programmes Such as Berkshire School Games and Satellite Clubs.

Becoming Head of Development and Insight in 2017, Nick has been a leading advocate in moving the organisation and partners towards tackling social and community issues through sport. He has developed relationships and initiatives with a wide range of partners outside sport, leading to influence and strategic collaborations with local decision makers such as Thames Valley Police, Public Health, Local Authority, Department for Work and Pensions. Nick has developed innovative programmes to test how physical activity supports issues in social care, physical health, mental health, employment, crime prevention, community cohesion and personal development. He also leads on GBA's Insight function.

He is currently developing a number of exciting programmes in partnership with the Police to divert young people away from crime. Building on initial successes in targeted areas such as Britwell in Slough and schools in Reading, we are developing a wider offer linking with agendas like employment and education.

Nick has a degree in Tourism with Recreation and Leisure Business Management, is a qualified level 2 sports coach with a keen interest in personal development and coaching principles both in sport and business teams.

Chelsea Piggott MSc, Programme Delivery Officer at Get Berkshire Active.

Joining the team at Get Berkshire Active in 2017, Chelsea has led the Satellite Clubs programme and supported over 1000 young people in becoming active across Berkshire. More recently she has coordinated and delivered programmes specifically linked to reducing serious and violent youth offending and preventing those at risk of finding themselves on that pathway. This work has given Chelsea the opportunity to work with a variety of different stakeholders which includes strong relationships with Thames Valley Police, pupil referral units and youth clubs. She is also supporting other Active Partnerships across the country with similar crime prevention projects.

Chelsea holds a Masters in Sport and Exercise Psychology from the University of Gloucestershire but is currently continuing a life of learning by studying a part-time PhD Studentship in Sport and Exercise Psychology at the University of Loughborough. Chelsea is exploring whether life skills learnt through Sports-Based Youth Development programmes can increase protective factors for young people living with Adverse Childhood Experiences. This research compliments her passion for positive youth development, youth offending and mentoring children and young people.

Crime Prevention Forum is supported by Mobile Team Challenge

Mobile Team Challenge are actively involved in the setting up of Home Office commissioned Community Projects focussing on reducing Knife Crime, Street Gangs, Serious Youth Violence and Hate Crimes. Whether the young people are looking to develop their Social Skills, such as; Respect, Empathy, Diversity, Self / Other Awareness, Self-Belief etc, at risk of offending/involved in anti-social behaviour or are Offenders preparing for re-settlement, MTC's principles, interventions and concepts are making a huge impact by changing lives and eliminating re-offending, restoring those who have offended so as not to re-offend and in the prevention of involvement in criminal activities of members of Street Gangs.

Since its launch in 2004, MTC have been commissioned by over four hundred organisations, across 14 countries on five continents, to deliver the MTC solution which provides them with powerful on-site activities and development programmes to create a positive future for their young people through behaviour-changing games which deliver game-changing lives producing behavioural and attitudinal change in individuals which is lasting.