Only Connect works to prevent crime by helping offenders restore their lives practically and emotionally. We assist our members in the "seven pathways to reducing re-offending" used by the National Offender Management Service.

Two actors crouching

"Only Connect is remarkable. Those engaged with their projects receive an extraordinarily high quality of both professional and personal support... Only Connect assists offenders' effective rehabilitation in ways that many organisations are unable to achieve"

Jacquie Harvey, Head of Learning and Skills, HMP Holloway

Housing

In January and February 2008 Only Connect leased a pilot half-way house for five ex-offenders in central London. The pilot was managed by Katie Pedder, former governor of prisoner safety at HMP Wormwood Scrubs. It formed part of a development project, funded by the Mercers Company, to establish a permanent short-stay house for newly-released ex-prisoners.

Employment

Only Connect helps ex-offenders into education, training and employment. We have recently taken on a full-time resettlement adviser who works with our members to find training and employment.

The Freedom Project

In August and September 2008 Only Connect delivered the pilot Freedom Project, a six-week comprehensive resettlement programme for 16 ex-offenders. Based around a theatre production, it involved a full day's work, five days a week, in activities designed to improve participants' outlooks and circumstances. See photos and reports from the project here.

The Freedom Project will run three times a year and is the principal 'point of entry' for Only Connect members.

Evaluation

Only Connect is ambitious to provide highly successful resettlement work with real value for money. Our performance is evaluated through the Stages of Progress and Achievement (SPA) index, developed by Only Connect to monitor members' individual and aggregate progress. The SPA index measures status and movement in each of the NOMS 'Seven Pathways to Reducing Re-Offending': accommodation; education; health; drugs and alcohol; finance, benefits and debt; children and families; attitudes, thinking and behaviour.