Alana House shares award-winning work at Enriching Lives conference

On 25th November 2022, Alana House came together with other organisations to speak about its Enrich programme and demonstrate the importance of women’s centres in supporting women who come into contact with the criminal justice system. It was recently announced that Alana House, in partnership with NHS Liaison and Diversion and Thames Valley Police, has won the national Howard League for Penal Reform Award in the Women’s category for the vital work of their Enrich programme and the holistic, trauma-informed support it provides to women to help them turn their lives around.

The conference, ‘Enriching Lives’ to support women out of the criminal justice system, focused on the unique challenges faced by women in the criminal justice pathway and considered alternative ways of resolving crime and reducing re-offending, including community resolutions such as Alana House. Speakers included representatives from the Prison Reform Trust, the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit, the Probation Service, professors in Criminology and Education from the University of Reading and several representatives from Alana House.

Alana House provides support services for women who face multiple disadvantages in their lives including domestic abuse, homelessness, financial difficulty, isolation, unemployment and other vulnerabilities which can contribute to their involvement in criminal activity. Working alongside their local NHS Liaison and Diversion team and Thames Valley Police, Alana House enables women with complex needs to be diverted to their team of support workers instead of going to court. Through their Enrich programme, Alana House then works one-to-one with these women, providing holistic, trauma-informed support to empower them to make positive choices in their lives and reduce their risk of re-offending.

The full conference is available to watch online. Please click below to view the recording on the University of Reading’s website.

The report about Alana House’s Enrich programme which was shared at the conference can be downloaded and read in full here.

If you feel inspired by the work of Alana House and would like to show your support, please consider making a donation to help keep our services open.