In the light of recent comments made in the media in response to the Venables recall, it feels like a good time to share the following quote from Russell Haynes, one of the people we interviewed for a film we made for Off the Streets and into Work:

Coming out of prison and trying to decide what I want to do with my life - I’m trying to basically get myself together. I’ve always worked on my own and before I got myself into trouble I was always very happy doing things by myself.

Now, I find myself in this situation, you’re obviously surrounded by a lot of negativity, a lot of hostility, a lot of unsureness. You doubt yourself, your self-esteem is totally destroyed. So, when I came out of prison….I was really unsure what it is I was able to do, or whether I would be employable because… you have such a negative view of yourself.

You keep saying to yourself, no one’s going to want anything to do with you and no one’s going to want to help you because all anyone’s going to focus on is what you’ve done and not who you are as a person. And what Transitional Spaces Project (TSP) does is say, well actually no, we’re going to focus on you. We don’t care about what you’ve done, we only care about where you’re going.

TSP is like a life belt. Basically you’re in deep water and you’re drowning and TSP will offer you a life belt that you hold on to and they will drag you across until you get into shallow waters and you’re able to go off on your own.

Russell Haynes

Russell is an intelligent, energetic, compassionate person who now wants to volunteer in prisons to help others move on in their lives. Working with his coach at the excellent Transitional Spaces Project, run by Off the Streets and into Work, he’s been able to rebuild his self-esteem and he is working hard to create a new, positive life for himself. He wants to contribute positively to society, to work, to give back.

Do we encourage this? Or do we refuse to let him move on, focus on the events of his past and force him onto the margins of society and a life on benefits?

More information:

Off the Streets and into Work

About the Transitional Spaces Project