In light of Covid-19 and the ongoing restrictions in prisons, Trailblazers has not been able to offering mentoring inside the prisons since mid March. It is unclear when it might be possible for our volunteers to start mentoring again, so we have devised an adapted mentoring service to offer young men as they approach their release.

Since mid-July, all of our Project Managers have had permission from the prisons (Brinsford, ISIS, Wandsworth and Aylesbury) to go in once a week. This has allowed them to re-engage with the men we are currently involved with mentoring, as well as identify men who have 2-4 weeks left of their sentence who may wish to have support from a mentor on their release.

For men who wish to have this support, Project Managers conduct risk assessments and work remotely with them to identify their support needs prior to release. The adapted mentoring service is a temporary change, but there are currently fewer services available to the men and there was a need for very practical support for many of those being released.

The key aspects of the adapted mentoring service are:

• Support will only start when the men are released from prison.
• Mentors will ideally be introduced to the young men they will be working with on the day of their release.
• Support will be weekly and will largely be offered remotely by phone or a videocall.
• Focus will be on practical support and could include assistance with benefits, ID, setting up bank accounts, accommodation support, appointments, exploring education and training opportunities.
• Provision of a basic mobile phone, food voucher, transport home/to an appointment and care package on release (if required).

Trailblazers recognises the loss of the invaluable time usually spent engaging and establishing relationships with men while they are in prison. As this is not currently possible, we needed to adapt to the current situation as mentees still need support on their release – many even more so at the moment.

We have also been providing additional training to mentors in light of the adapted service and ongoing support is also being offered to those volunteers involved. We will continue to monitor the situation and will resume our full mentoring service in the prisons as soon as it is advised it is safe and appropriate to do so.