Advance’s Minerva service works with women involved in the Criminal Justice System offering safe, targeted support and advocacy to women to help them address their complex needs in relation to the 9 pathways to offending, such as substance misuse and financial difficulties.  Minerva aims are to reduce re-offending, encourage desistance amongst repeat offenders, divert women from Criminal Justice involvement as early as possible and reduce the number of custodial sentences imposed by Courts.

The Minerva WrapAround service is a new 3-year programme launching in April 2018 and funded by MOPAC (Mayor’s Office for Policing & Crime) in order provide enhanced support to women and girls who have committed crime and are at risk of re-offending, with complex multiple needs.  The service is designed to be a “whole system” response to women in the Criminal Justice System and these additional services will offered across 15 London boroughs in North, East and West.  There will be 12 community keyworkers – Minerva WA who will offer an enhanced service to a total of 700 women across these boroughs, each of whom will have been assessed as having complex needs and therefore require additional support to our Minerva CR service in the form of additional key-work sessions, innovative interventions or diversionary and group-work sessions and access to a women-only Centre in their region.  Each keyworker will work with women in one or more boroughs, and are likely to be co-located for up to 4 days (depending on need) with a partner organisation in one of the boroughs they cover, with a requirement to attend Advance’s Regional Centre for Supervision and Team meetings at least once per month.  

The Community keyworker – WA service will:

• Provide an in-reach service to women serving custodial sentences at HMP Bronzefield, HMP Downview and HMP Send to assist in supporting them and building a relationship in the 12 weeks prior to their release;
• Regularly review the initial assessment of risk and need, and provide one-to-one advocacy, support and advice across all 9 pathways to women released from custody to a London address;
• Complete an initial assessment of risk and need, and provide one-to-one advocacy, support and advice across all 9 pathways to women who are sentenced to a community disposal;
• Create and regularly review Resettlement and Support Plans in collaboration with the woman and potential the Responsible Officer/another agency to support women in addressing their multiple needs and enable them to engage with licence requirements and Court orders;
• Co-ordinate and sequence appropriate community interventions to enable the woman to meet the objectives on the Support Plan, liaising with co-located support workers from other agencies as required;
• Work intensively with a selected caseload to provide a more tailored, specialised approach, focussing specifically on housing/homelessness, domestic abuse/sexual violence,  mental health, emotional well-being, parenting and family relationships, Education Training and Employment and Finances, Benefit and Debt;
• Where necessary, deliver appropriate group-based support programmes in order to empower women to move forward with their lives and to challenge the stigma associated with women affected by the Criminal Justice System; 
• Work closely with Advance’s Minerva CR team, as well as other Minerva WA partners (eg Hibiscus, Housing 4 Women and others), as well as local borough agencies (Social Care, Police, Mental Health, Housing, Substance misuse and others) to link and improve holistic services for women and reduce re-offending.

The Community Keyworker – Minerva WA main duties will be:

To provide an in-reach service to women at HMP Bronzefield, HMP Downview and HMP Send in the 12 weeks prior to leaving custody to assist in preparing them for release and supporting their resettlement;

To meet women returning to a London address on the day of their release if required, escort to meet CRC staff in compliance with their licence and provide intensive support to assist clients in the first 48 hours (minimum) of release;

To regularly review the Individual Support Plan with clients returning to London on release from custody that seeks to address issues leading to offending such as their mental/physical health, housing, substance misuse, relationship, education/training/employment, parenting, financial and cultural needs, and support them in line with this plan;

To undertake an assessment and develop an Individual Support Plan with clients subject to community disposals that seeks to address their mental/physical and sexual health, housing, substance misuse, relationship, education/training/employment, parenting, financial and cultural needs, and support them in line with this plan;

To work intensively with a selected cohort of women to offer a specialist service focussing  on their particular needs, and addressing priorities of partner agencies in reducing local re-offending;

To meet women face-to-face based on the support target of weekly for the 3 months, fortnightly for 3 to 6 months and monthly thereafter up to 18 months from referral, providing emotional and practical support, aiming to reduce re-offending and encourage desistance for the women.

To advise on referral options, arrange for the referral of women to appropriate local agencies based upon their identified needs and in consultation with the client, and advocate with local agencies on their behalf to support their identified needs with a solution-focused approach;

To deliver a range of group-based interventions with women where necessary in order to improve their self-esteem, take responsibility for their licence/Order and/or offence, and move forward with their lives;

During the Post-Sentence Supervision period of a woman’s licence, in partnership with London CRC / NPS , to monitor the client’s attendance, engagement, progress with objectives, risk of harm and risk of re-offending, and inform relevant authorities of any risk escalation or breach action within 24hrs;

Obtain feedback from the client regarding their experience of the Minerva service on exit from the service and use this feedback to inform the development of our services;

Develop and maintain information and resource materials to provide a full range of support;

Develop and maintain professional relationships with all partner agencies including the Prison Service, National Probation Service (NPS), Probation (CRC), Youth Offenders teams (YOTs), Courts, Police, Health, Housing and Local Authority, and work appropriately within local Integrated Offender Management (IOM), MARAC and Safeguarding Adults and Children frameworks to identify and manage risk;

To attend the different hubs/women-only spaces in the boroughs you cover and to be part of the inductions facilitated by statutory and other agencies, to introduce the Minerva services to the client obtaining referrals and establish positive relationships;

Work as part of a team, communicating effectively within a team environment and ensure a high quality service for women;

Complete work of a high standard, ensuring that Advance meets the KPIs and outcome measures agreed with MOPAC;

General duties include:-

Maintain accurate records in keeping with Data Protection Act and Advance policies;

Participate in multi-agency working parties and focus groups when requested to do so in your boroughs and represent Advance at a range of external meetings in a professional and appropriate manner, ensuring the reputation of Advance remains one of a quality provider of innovative services to women;

Keep up to date with relevant legislation, research and policy developments; Attend relevant training, conferences and seminars on behalf of the project and take responsibility for self-development on a continuous basis;

Undertake all necessary administration relating to both client and yourself as an employee;

Where requested, work with the Team Manager, Programme Manager and Director of Criminal Justice Services to conduct regular reviews of the project and compile reports as required;

Prepare reports on the work of the centre for the Director, CEO and Trustee Board and other agencies when requested;

Work within the organisation’s Health and Safety, Confidentiality, Equal Opportunities and all other relevant policies;

Demonstrate a willingness to work at and across any of Advance’s sites and on occasion attend evening or weekend meetings;

Undertake any other reasonable duties as requested by the Director, CEO and Board of Trustees.