Our Impact
Outcomes for StandOut participants are well above the national average for prison leavers. StandOut participants who engage with our support on release are three times more likely to be in employment within six months, compared to the London average. Only 26% of participants are back in custody within 12 months of release (half the national average).
Our work also has a tangible impact on participant mental health and wellbeing. We use the internationally renowned Warwick and Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS) to understand the impact of our course on our participants. Over the past year we have seen an average overall increase on this scale of nine, with anything over four being ‘significant’.
StandOut’s impact evaluation
A key moment in the life of any charity is the opportunity to reflect on and evaluate its work. Five years into our journey we shared the first external evaluation of StandOut’s work, carried out by Russell Webster. Russell is an independent consultant in the fields of substance misuse and crime and a key voice on criminal justice matters - sharing his blog with the latest research, policy, practice and opinion to his 6,000+ subscribers.
“It is clear that StandOut has developed an effective holistic resettlement model which is valued by prisons, partner organisations and, most importantly, by the participants themselves.”
Russell Webster
“StandOut has developed an impressive and effective programme to help people in prison and on release maximise their chances of living a personally fulfilling and crime-free life."
Russell Webster
This review, appropriate to our stage of development, balances data and early stage quantitative analysis with in-depth qualitative work, underlining the value of the relationship-based approach that is so fundamental to StandOut. It is a key value of StandOut to reflect, learn and develop and part of our commitment to excellence - so we have used the evaluation to identify areas for adaptation and development.
We are pleased that the evaluation captures the key features of StandOut’s approach that we believe underpin the unique nature of our work.
We hope you enjoy reading the report. Please get in touch if you have any questions.
The StandOut helpline
The StandOut helpline was launched in May 2020 in response to the Covid-19 lockdown, which prevented delivery of all activities and programmes across the prison estate.
This affected everyone in prison. For prison leavers, it meant they were heading to the gate with no preparation, and in many cases no contact at all with services prior to release, and were therefore leaving with the discharge grant of £46 and often nowhere to go.
The StandOut helpline addressed critical needs by providing practical support and coaching for men leaving prison. This included access to housing, food and benefits as well as longer term coaching support and mindset work, based on the StandOut programme.
The helpline was offered to all, with no age restrictions and no offence exclusions.
After more than 4,000 calls providing support to 600 men from HMP Wandsworth and HMP Pentonville, the StandOut helpline was paused in July 2021. We've written a report to summarise our learning from the helpline and to give a voice to the people we worked with during the pandemic.
“I felt completely lost coming out of prison in the pandemic after being stuck in my cell for months. All the other agencies have let me down but you guys have been incredible. I didn’t expect anything like the support StandOut has given me. I now have a roof over my head & things to look forward to.”
STANDOUT PARTICIPANT
If you have recently been released from prison and need support, please visit standout.org.uk/support for details of organisations providing support and resources.
The StandOut Helpline was made possible by funding from grant-makers. On behalf of the men we were able to work with at a time of critical need, we are incredibly grateful for their support and thank the following:
London Community Response Fund
The Government Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund
HMPPS, administered through Clinks
The Grocers' Charity
StandOut stories
“I no longer feel alone, because I now have all the tools.”