RECONNECT North East: working in partnership to reduce reoffending and improve outcomes for prison-leavers

Context

Introduced in 2019, RECONNECT is a Care Navigation service which provides support for adults with health and wellbeing needs both before and after their release from prison. RECONNECT supports service users for up to three months pre-release and up to six months post release, helping them plan for release and make links with important services such as GP practices, mental health services, drug and alcohol services and probation.

Across the North East Prisons, RECONNECT is led by the Reconnected to Health partnership of four organisations:

• Spectrum Community Health CIC
• Rethink Mental Illness
• Tees, Esk and Wear Valley (TEWV) NHS Foundation Trust
• Humankind

RECONNECT staff work with prison and healthcare teams to identify people with health and wellbeing needs who will benefit from extra support in the community. Our aim is to reconnect people with the community and services, to reduce health inequalities often faced by people leaving prison and ultimately support a reduction in reoffending.

Referrals to RECONNECT can be made by anyone or service users can self refer. We offer

• 1:1 support from a Care Navigator, who works to understand their health needs and any potential concerns about release
• Support to identify key priorities (eg. mental health support, continuing on methadone treatment, accessing a GP) and set goals for the future
• Wrap around support, to help to make links with support services
• Opportunities to gain skills after release by becoming a RECONNECT volunteer
• Help to access benefits, financial support and inclusive work programmes
• Practical support through our hub (eg. Referral into RECONNECT, access to a phone to make calls, clothing, information about food banks)

When RECONNECT began, it focused on three key cohorts: under-25s, women, and those serving short sentences. It was recognised that these cohorts were at greater risk of poorer outcomes after release. Each year, we expanded Reconnect to include more vulnerabilities. In 2022, we opened the service to anyone being released with a health or wellbeing vulnerability

Key Results

• Since 2019, Reconnect has supported 1,292 prison-leavers across the North East. Referrals into the service soared 176% between 2020-22, from 276 to 488 per year
  
  
• In 2021, Reconnect was granted £150,000 of additional funding to develop a new community hub for prison-leavers in Durham. This hub collects together resources and support from a wide network of partners including HMP Durham, Durham Constabulary, Durham County Council, JobcentrePlus and others.
  
  
• The project expanded via Enhanced Reconnect, a linked service which targets the most complex and high-risk service users who are not ready to be discharged after six months in the main programme
  
  
• In 2023, Reconnect achieved the Gold standard of the NHS Lived Experience Charter for its work improving opportunities for staff with lived experience of the care or justice system. Many former service users now work for Reconnect as Health and Wellbeing Coaches
  
  
• The North East is now the top-performing region for wellbeing outcomes in prisoners with drug or alcohol issues - 59% of prison-leavers successfully engage with services within three weeks, compared to only 34% nationally
  
  
• After engaging with Reconnect, prison-leavers scored an average of 6 points higher in the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale than they had before the project

Service User Testimonials

“I’ve been out of prison a year now. Life still has its ups and downs, especially in that first six months when your anxiety is at its highest. I’ve had to leave some people behind but I have been abstinent from drugs since 2016, six years and counting!

I reconnected with my family. I have a new career. I even work with some of the people that I've been inside with, supporting them when they come out of prison. Sometimes I feel like an imposter, I feel unworthy of everything I have. But I keep trying, I will never give up.”

Kevin, Care Navigator, Reconnect