The majority of the men who had taken part in the five week Fathers Inside course at HMP Stocken were reunited with their families for the first time in months, maybe even years. The presentation was made up of an array of performances, jokes, games and heart-warming stories and poems, written by the men themselves. […] … more »

Taking up temporary residency at the National Theatre (Dorfman Theatre), Southbank again this year, somewhat ironically it hosted our discussions around MOVING. HOME. The symposium was the last in a trilogy of events spread throughout 2016 that celebrate Safe Ground’s 21st birthday. We used this important milestone in our unfolding history to take a moment […] … more »

On 22nd September I was lucky enough to attend the most recent Koestler Trust exhibition, ‘We Are All Human’. This year I was part of a walking tour around the exhibition, looking at the artwork in more depth, gaining insight into each piece. The tour was hosted by Koestler’s very own Hosts, who enthusiastically gave us a […] … more »

As a result of our successful participation in the Essex Book Festival last year, as part of Freedom and Expression at the Free Word Centre, we were invited to participate again in March 2016, this time as part of its Thinking Home strand of events at the Firstsite art gallery in Colchester. One of our […] … more »

On Wednesday 2nd December, an event celebrating the work undertaken on the Pilot Parenting Programme, Father Figures, at HMYOI Brinsford was held at Staffordshire University. Father Figures is a unique and progressive thinking parenting programme funded by National Offender Management Service (NOMS). Young Fathers are encouraged by an experienced facilitator to consider their relationships with […] … more »

Between Monday 9th and Friday 13th November, Our Own Stories was piloted at HMP Low Newton. The delivery team were Kate McCoy from Safe Ground and Sarah Hartley from Novus who have commissioned the programme. They were also joined by Sarah Moat, a tutor from the education department in the prison. The team worked with nine women, nearly all who were serving very short prison […] … more »

Women’s Programme Development Coordinator, Kate McCoy, has recently written a guest blog post for the National Alliance for Arts in Criminal Justice. The blog post focuses on Kate’s experience of consulting and running creative personal development sessions with women in prison at HMPs East Sutton Park, Holloway, Low Newton, Send and Styal. The post describes […] … more »

Following on from the Koestler Gold Award our poetry anthology ‘Home’ has now been reviewed in the prestigious PN Review by our colleague at the University of Essex, Dr. Chris McCully. Entitled ‘Home in Wandsworth’, it is a substantial 1,500 words in PNR 225, September – October 2015, Volume 46:1, that explores the theme of […] … more »

In July, Safe Ground were invited to participate in ‘Freedom and Expression’ at the Freeword Centre. This event was organised by the University of Essex Human Rights Centre and Essex Book Festival. To read an overview of the day please click here. The afternoon saw Fundraising and Communications Director, Obinna Nwosu, present an overview of […] … more »

This year our annual Symposium took place at The Temporary Theatre, National Theatre, South Bank, London on Friday 20th February 2015. Entitled ‘Great Minds. (Think. Differently.)’, this year’s event continued the participatory debate we began last year with It’s a Man’s World. This year’s twist on the panel debate and key note speeches was facilitated by […] … more »