This year has been a historic one at Spark Inside, seeing us reach more young people than ever before with our transformative coaching programmes.
We expanded beyond London & the South-East for the first time, thanks to the extraordinary support of The October Club and our wider community of funders, marking an important step in our development as an organisation.
We continue to innovate, with our first groupwork programme for women now in development. This is a huge milestone, and securing HMPPS funding means women at three prisons will be able to access our coaching across the next three years.
Check out our highlights below and read the full report here.
Individual Change
- 437 young people took part in coaching programmes
“I left every session feeling so much lighter… This has given me so much to think about in a positive way.”
- We provided more than 1,000 one-to-one coaching sessions.
“After coming out of prison, Spark Inside continued to support me. [My coach] has been a huge anchor, helping me to understand myself better and figure out my direction.”
- 115 young Black and Mixed Heritage men began their Black Hero’s Journey – a 50% increase on last year.
“The first session… I was locked in. Each session had a focus and it was enlightening… broadening my horizons. It showed me… I’m still capable of achieving great things.”
- 89% made change in at least one key area of their lives, with three-quarters increasingly staying out of trouble, making good and safe choices.
“My coach is really good… he allows me to vent and then gives me the stepping stones to make the right choices.”
- 34 women supported to build the confidence and clarity to tackle challenges like self-esteem, family, relationships and planning for release.
“I feel more confident, at peace, and much more positive about myself and the future.”
Institutional Change
- 39 prison staff members received coaching, supporting them in their wellbeing, to manage stress and build resilience in an environment that continues to be extremely challenging.
“My coach has been amazing. I found every session to have added value to both my personal and professional development whilst enabling me to create a toolkit of skills.”
- We began the second pilot of The Conversation, our systems coaching programme which brings together prison staff and residents, using Deep Democracy to enhance relationships, improve empathy, and support sustained, positive cultural change on prison wings.
“The wing should be a nice place to live and work. It’s nice to come here and discuss things with people who are on the same page as me. It makes me feel safer.”
Systemic Change
- Our Being Well Being Equal campaign has gone from strength to strength, resulting in a co-created Mental Wealth toolkit, offering practical tools to promote positive wellbeing for young Black men in prison.
- In the past year, our 8 Champions have made incredible contributions to Spark Inside, including delivering the keynote speech at The October Club Annual Dinner, supporting us in staff recruitment, providing training and guest talks with our Coaches, and shaping our programme content.
- We were proud to release a short film highlighting the story of one of our brilliant Champions, Donell; been featured on the hugely popular Life After Prison podcast, and covered in press and media across the coaching and criminal justice worlds.
Thank you for supporting us!
