HMPPS - CFO Veterans in Custody Support Officer Awards - Your Winners!
Creating Future Opportunities
Projects aimed at reducing reoffending for the hardest-to-help, through tailored support packages across England.
Last week we hosted the first ever HMPPS - CFO Veterans in Custody Support Officer Awards! The purpose of the evening was to celebrate the amazing work being done by ViCSOs around the country, and to reward them for their efforts.
What is a ViCSO?
A ViCSO is a Veteran in Custody Support Officer.
The work ViCSOs do with veterans goes far beyond what would be expected of them as standard.
ViCSOs are constantly innovating and developing new way of identifying veterans, and providing a service that is completely tailored to the needs of this cohort. They also do a tremendous amount of work with the families of veterans, to help reassure them and provide a pathway to the future which is far less stressful and daunting.
The ViCSO network helps those who work with veterans across the country, be it in custody, community or as part of a charitable organisation, to communicate with their peers in order to ensure that veterans needs are felt and met across the country.
If you work with veterans in custody and are not part of the ViCSO network, please get in touch via: [email protected] and we will be happy to introduce you.
How many veterans does the ViCSO network support?
As of 30th June 2022, the figures for those who answered “yes” to being a veteran at the Basic Custody Screening Questions (BCS) was 1,768.
By identifying Veterans in our care, their background and other relevant information we can help to support (and even inform) a tailored delivery of services that resonate best with these specific participants.
领英推荐
Award Winners!
Hosted by Carrie Rogers, the awards were presented by Rt Hon Johnny Mercer, Alice Adamson, Nick Wood, Peter Fletcher and Mark Nickson.
Award winners were thrilled to be recognised by CFO, with the full list of winners being as follows:
?
Speaking on the evening, Alice Adamson , Deputy Director RRPA, said: "I think it's really important to take the time to recognise people who are essentially on a voluntary basis giving up their time to support veterans. We all know its relationships that make the biggest difference to people's rehabilitation and this a prime example of how we can make that difference."
Award winner Tracy O'Keefe (HMP Holme House) spoke about the impact of the ViCSO network too, and stated: "The network has been invaluable for all of the veterans staff. It gives us someone we can call on if we need advice of support, including Carrie. It helps us transfer the men around the country so we can get them where they need to be, with what support they need."
Nick Wood MSc FHEA from The Military Human also added: "Evenings like this bring like-minded people together to have a conversation and share ideas and all of a sudden everybody is realising they are not on their own, they are part of a big group of people making a positive difference."
There has been a lot of positive feeling and impact being spread as a result of the evening and we look forward to sharing even more from it in the very near future!
?
If you would like to learn more about how CFO and the ViCSO network support veterans, please get in touch with our expert team via: [email protected]
Armed Forces & Uniformed Services Manager YSJU - Created the Military Human?: Understanding Military Culture & Transition CPD. Soldiering On Awards judge. Created HMPPS Veterans in Custody Support - RN Veteran
1 年It was an amazing and personally moving night. It all started on a piece of A4 on my desk in 2008 when I wrote “Ask the Question have you served in the armed forces as a regular or reservist?” and record the data. I don’t do rocket science so it seemed an obvious solution at the time but one that wasn’t universally used. Since then it is generally common place to ask. When I shared the story with the amazing VICSO’s at the awards I intentionally took a second to create a picture memory as I didn’t want to ever forget it. It was at that very moment I felt very proud and humbled to have been part of group of highly motivated people dedicated to change veterans lives for the better. Thank you all for making a magical and momentous picture memory for me that I will always cherish. You are all amazing people led by the incredible Carrie Ashley-Rogers .Now, onwards and upwards ??????
Excellent evening showcasing the amazing work by Veterans in Custody Support Officers (ViCSO's) BZ' to all nominees and organisers. ??
What’s next ????
Director HMPPS Armed Forces & Veterans Breakfast Clubs, Diversity and Inclusion, Veterans Support, Chair Leicestershire GATE.
1 年Amazing night and amazing people! Pretty good pic too!
It was a great night.