Summary

It is incredible to think that Shine has entered its tenth year of service delivery! It has been a journey of learning and collaboration.

The past two years have been our most challenging, dealing with the pandemic, managing Shine as a national service, maintaining practice standards, and addressing the complex needs of women without face-to-face contact. Referral numbers have reduced in line with the change to the court business and as a result of the pandemic. We continue to monitor these changes and make improvements, especially for those women remanded in custody.

This report highlights the excellent work and tremendous effort of our mentors as well as the positive outcomes achieved for the women that we support. We have kept our development sessions going with both managers and mentors, in order to share our operational experience. Behind the scenes, the Shine administration team have provided their assistance and expertise, keeping us all on track- so thanks in particular to Andy, Anca and Robert. There has been much added value to the PSP, by our success with the Delivering Equally Safe and Digital Lifelines applications. This additional funding has allowed us to develop a role for volunteers and enhance re-integration while using digital technology to help women across Shine. Our appreciation goes to Rhona and to our funders for this support. Shine would not be successful without the collaboration and co-operation of all of our partners, so our thanks go to the Project and Programme Board members as well as community partners.

When looking forward, there are more challenges and opportunities to come as the Justice landscape continues to change. The establishment of community custody units and the review of voluntary through-care and mentoring are welcome, as we continually seek ways to deliver quality services to women. We want to adapt our practice in the light of any research findings to ensure that women’s needs are most appropriately addressed.

We look forward with eager anticipation of going from strength to strength and making a difference in the lives of vulnerable women during 2022/2023.