Services should inject their work with as much love, kindness and compassion as possible.
That’s according to facilitator Carlus Grant, who works with support service Get Connected on Middlesbrough’s Hemlington Estate.
Carlus and Get Connected founder Joe Russo speak to Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Steve Turner in the latest edition of podcast Coffee with the Commissioner.
Get Connected works to safeguard some of the area’s most at-risk 11 to 25-year-olds from violent crime and exploitation.
Project Connect takes a focused deterrence approach by recognising that most serious violence is associated with a small group of people.
Those people are very likely to have been victims of violence, trauma, and challenging circumstances themselves.
Carlus said: “We try to challenge the way, in which services work with people. It’s a long process and it’s all about being present. It’s about being visible and reaching out.
“The wrong approach is to say “You know where we are.” You have to go out and find these people and show them that there is a better path than the one, which they have taken. You need to do that through love, kindness and compassion.”
Carlus first got to know Joe as a teenager when he went to a youth club in Derby, which Joe was running.
They re-connected when Carlus was serving a long prison sentence and Joe wanted to visit and support him.
Troubled youth
Both men experienced problems in their youth. Carlus came from a home, in which addiction featured heavily. Joe was excluded from school after getting into trouble as he struggled to read and write. It was only in his 30s that he was diagnosed with severe dyslexia.
The interview with Joe and Carlus will be the last podcast before the PCC elections on 2 May 2024.
The break gives everyone a chance to catch up on a year’s-worth of conversations as part of the Coffee with the Commissioner series.
To listen to the podcast go to:
https://coffee-with-the-commissioner.captivate.fm/listen
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Newsletters – Cleveland Police and Crime Commissioner (pcc.police.uk)