Are you aged 16 – 25 years old?

Do you have lived experience of accessing services in the areas of homelessness, addiction, reoffending and mental health?

Would you like to join a free, creative project with Leeds-based Life Experience this Winter?…

To sign up, or find out more, drop Life Experience an email at phil@mylifeexperience.co.uk.

Check this trailer out for more info!

Today we’ve released our second podcast of WY-FI Year 7.

The podcast supports the release of our latest report for the West Yorkshire Office of Police and Crime Commissioner – called ‘Surviving in a Revolving Door’.

Mark Crowe, Research and Evaluation Lead, is joined by report co-author Eve, and Co-Production Support Worker Mez, to discuss the findings and recommendations.

Without the right support, people with multiple needs are likely to recirculate from custody to crisis and back to custody, trapped in a revolving door.

‘Surviving in a Revolving Door’ is the second report from year seven of West Yorkshire Finding Independence. The report focuses on how people experiencing multiple needs are high intensity users of the criminal justice system, and that without the right support, they will potentially recirculate from custody to crisis and back to custody.  

The report recommends improvements to direct support for people with multiple needs, including consistent risk assessments, community-based alternatives to custody and sustainable accommodation.

It also calls for more strategic leadership, at a West Yorkshire level through the Integrated Care Strategy, Public Health Directors, the West Yorkshire Housing Network and the Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner. This leadership should include the voice of lived experience.

Finally, the report asks for a public health approach, incorporating planned pathways through multiple services and the development of trauma informed practice across services.

Mark Burns-Williamson, the Office of Police and Crime Commissioner in West Yorkshire says, “This report makes for impactful reading, however, it does more than simply reinforce  what we already know about the way we continue to fail those with multiple and complex needs. Instead it offers practical ways we can take this cohort off the “too hard to do” pile, and reverse the status quo by putting them at the top of our list of priorities”.

Mark goes onto say, “working together to provide bespoke, integrated and timely support which is based on individual need can be efficient and effective, keep people out of the Criminal Justice Process, and of course ultimately, make a real and lasting positive difference to many lives.”

WY-FI has based its report on detailed analysis of the experiences of beneficiaries whilst they were on caseload with the project. This analysis has looked in detail at their reoffending and other needs on entry into WY-FI, how long they were on caseload, the services they used in relation to their needs and their outcomes and exits.

The data and evidence used was gathered by WY-FI between June 2014 – May 2020, when it was providing direct support to more than 820 people with multiple needs from across West Yorkshire.

The report also includes peer research, with focus groups taking place across West Yorkshire to gather insight on multiple needs, and in particular reoffending.

‘Surviving in a Revolving Door’ is the second in a series of reports that WY-FI s producing for the National Lottery Community Fund Fulfilling Lives Programme and the West Yorkshire Office of Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC).