Cannock Soroptimists were delighted to welcome Jan Burns as their July speaker. She gave the club fascinating insights into her long and varied career culminating in her ground breaking work at Drake Hall prison. Drake Hall is a closed prison near Eccleshall where 345 women are held. The prison holds both adult women and young offenders.
Jan designed and initiated a pilot scheme designed to give the women involved confidence and to help them to move on to possibly gain employment in social care when they finish their sentence. She explained that many women in the prison had problems with low self-esteem, a number had little formal education while others had mental health issues, often stemming from their troubled backgrounds. The women chosen to take part in the pilot all completed the course and all of them gained a formal qualification at the end. They also became ‘Dignity Champions’ and received a badge and certificate. The course equipped them to work in the prison in a variety of roles. Completing the course meant that they were able to help and support other prisoners within the prison, for instance they helped if they thought that someone was being discriminated against or treated unfairly; they carried food to those who needed help; assisted in cell cleaning; accompanied prisoners on medical appointments and, equally importantly, acted as a listening ear for those who needed support.
The women who completed the course all reported that they felt they had built real friendships through the course and it had helped them to overcome their own problems by helping others and they now felt able to face the future and cope with the challenges that they knew they would face when leaving prison.
Jan Burns is also the Chair of the National Dignity Council. There are now 74,000 ‘Dignity Champions’. Her aim is to enrol 100,000 people in the scheme by the end of the year. If anyone would like to know more about becoming a ‘Dignity Champion’ there is a website giving details of how the scheme runs and how to join, at:
http://www.dignityincare.org.uk/Dignity-Champions/Becoming_a_Dignity_Champion/
When giving the vote of thanks, Lakhwinder Thompson echoed the feelings of everyone at the meeting when she thanked Jan for her outstanding talk, praised her inspiring work and hoped that the pilot scheme would be rolled out nationally.
Photo: l to r: Jan Burns MBE; Carole Holdcroft [President, SI Cannock & District]