Tag: trauma

‘Working with the police wasn’t something I imagined I’d do’

Author: | 7 Jan 2026

Gaining a degree is a mighty achievement. Taking that next step into graduate work is another. Our scholar Alicia has just completed a month-long, paid placement with the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office, organised through our Employability project. Here she reflects on what that experience has given her above and beyond her expectations.

During my placement, I worked on a project to make more trauma-informed the rooms in police stations where witnesses and victims are interviewed. The focus was on creating safer, more supportive spaces where victims of serious crimes would feel more at ease and willing to discuss often distressing and overwhelming matters with police officers. There were various aspects of the spaces urgently in need of an overhaul: to name a few, the colour scheme; the furnishings; the lighting; the temperature control; and the signage. Changing these items, I believed, would really get the spaces where they needed to be fit for purpose.

‘It helped me rebuild trust, both in myself and in the systems around me’

Working with the police had never been something I imagined myself doing, so the prospect felt daunting. I was unaware of what to expect, or how challenging it would be. I worried that I wouldn’t feel part of the team. And I hadn’t ever thought I would be given such an opportunity, particularly given my past experiences and the reality of having a criminal record.

Disclosure had always felt like a barrier, something I approached with fear and hesitation. However, this placement completely shifted my perspective. Over time, it helped me rebuild trust, both in myself and in the systems around me. It showed me that meaningful relationships between the police and people with lived experience of the criminal justice system can be restored, that reform, trust and opportunity can genuinely coexist. I gained confidence in disclosing my background and no longer seeing it as something that defines or limits me.

‘I was going outside my comfort zone’

Throughout the placement, the support I received was invaluable. Colleagues from varying departments consistently provided ongoing encouragement and guidance, helping me navigate both professional and personal challenges along the way. These included delving into subjects that were completely unknown to me, such as when researching colour theory. It was a steep learning curve.

Colour theory, I now know, is the study of how different colours influence human emotions, perceptions, and behaviour. It is based on the psychological responses colours can evoke, such as calm, energy, trust, or comfort, and how these responses can be intentionally used to shape mood, communicate meaning, and promote positive emotional experiences.

Another challenge was having to arrange meetings where I was discussing issues involved in my research with outside foundations and experts. The oral presentation exams I had done as part of my law course at university did give me some confidence in such situations, but again I was going outside my comfort zone.

One of my proudest moments came when I presented my research findings to the senior leadership, including the Chief Executive and the Crime Commissioner himself. That was something I never thought I would be given the opportunity to do – to have my findings genuinely valued by them and the rest of the commissioner’s team

‘I am definitely going to be more inclined to put forward my ideas’

As an intern I learnt about being part of a working environment, being part of a team, and a variety of research techniques. I have gained a lot of confidence as a result in my own ideas and abilities. The feedback I received solidified for me that I do not need to question myself as much as I did before. Moving forward I am definitely going to be more inclined to put forward my ideas.

Now I am looking forward to hearing what changes are put in place as a result of my work. I’d love to see that the spaces I worked on have been improved, and that the people using those spaces are feeling the benefit of something I played a part in creating. It would make me immensely proud.

The experience has also had tangible impacts on my future. Since completing my time with the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office, I have secured three job interviews, with my placement there playing a key role in strengthening my CV. It has built my confidence, developed my skills. That is what is possible when trust and opportunity are extended.

Roxanne Foster, our Employability Manager, who helped set up the placement, adds: ‘Alicia’s experience goes to the heart of what employability means to me. It’s not just about CVs, interviews, or job outcomes, important as those things are, but about creating opportunities that genuinely shift how people see themselves and what they believe is possible. When the opportunity arose to work on a research placement with Simon Foster, the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner and his team, our intention was always twofold, to contribute to important work around trauma-aware practice, and to create a space where lived experience was not just acknowledged but valued. What made this placement particularly powerful was the focus on trust, offering a supported environment where honest conversations could take place and where growth, learning and confidence were actively encouraged. We extend our sincere thanks to Simon and his colleagues Lucy Naylor and Andrea Gabbitas.’

Face of older woman, Audrey Edwards

Audrey Edwards (1934-2025): the first Longford Prize winner

Author: | 19 Jan 2025

In 2002 the first-ever recipient of our Longford Prize was Audrey Edwards, whose campaign with her husband Paul to improve mental health provision in prisons was prompted by the death in jail of their son. The trust’s director, Peter Stanford, and others reflect on what an impact she made on them and the prison system.

Audrey Edwards was a remarkably-effective campaigner who stuck in the memory, but also an unlikely one, as her husband Paul acknowledges.  Audrey was, Paul says, ‘not one to fight on the barricades. By nature she was a sensitive and reserved individual.’  Yet together they sustained a decade-long battle following the death in Chelmsford Prison of their 30-year-old son, Christopher. They wanted to see better and better-informed treatment for those in jail with mental illness. Or, better still, for them not to be held in prisons.

Christopher was mentally-ill when he was detained for breach of the peace in November 1994. At Chelmsford, he was put in a cell with a paranoid schizophrenic who murdered him.  The Edwards’ brave and tenacious fight was to hold to account the public bodies who had contributed to their son’s death, and to make sure that no other parents would suffer the same appalling loss in such avoidable circumstances as they had.

The courage to move forward from personal tragedy

In 2002, our judging panel on which I sat offered this citation when awarding Audrey the Longford Prize. ‘Audrey and her husband Paul began a quest to find out what happened to their son that has developed into a campaign to improve mental health care for offenders.  The judges were greatly impressed by the courage with which Audrey Edwards had moved forward from personal tragedy to focus public attention on mental health and prisons.’

Remembering her today, another member of that panel, Juliet Lyon CBE, the long-serving director of our partner organisation, the Prison Reform Trust, writes: ‘it takes such courage and generosity of spirit to turn a terrible tragedy into something which could save the lives of others. Audrey’s work with Paul inspired some important changes in prisons from the introduction of basic mental health training for prison staff to assessment of people’s mental health prior to cell-sharing. Sadly the misuse of prison as a place of safety for people who are mentally ill continues to this day.’

David versus Goliath

Audrey received her award on stage in November 2002 from our first Longford Lecturer, Cherie Booth, celebrated human rights lawyer who was also the wife of Prime Minister, Tony Blair.  In the same year, Audrey published a memoir, No Truth, No Justice, which described what she characterised as a David versus Goliath struggle to get the police, the NHS and the prison service to address the failures that had led to Christopher’s death.

And in what proved a significant year in her battle, 2002 also saw a case the couple had taken to the European Court of Human Rights upheld. It ruled that Christopher’s right to life had been denied by his treatment after his arrest. Their campaign continued in the years that followed and they worked closely with Martin Narey who ran the Prison Service from 1998 to 2005. He was determined like them to improve treatment of those with mental illness in prisons and, to that end, commissioned a film featuring Audrey which was shown to all new prison officers during their training.

Disappointingly, it ceased to be used after Narey moved on, but the Edwards’ work did not stop, though Paul’s diagnosis with cancer saw it scaled back. They would comfort and advise other families who found themselves in the same dreadful circumstances that they had experienced.

‘Her strength and determination,’ says Paul, who survives Audrey along with their daughter Clare, ‘came from a mother’s devotion to her son, and from her Christian faith. She really believed that we must all try and do good in this world.’  Her example will live on. RIP

photo by Dom Fou Unsplash

Turning a sentence into a degree: one scholar’s remarkable story

Author: | 9 Mar 2022

Turning a prison sentence into a university degree is what Longford scholars do. Second chances and a personal approach are at the heart of what we at Longford Trust do. A scholar is supported both financially and with a one-to-one trained mentor to help achieve their potential.  

More than 80% of scholars successfully graduate and get a degree-level job. Increasingly, scholars take advantage of Longford employability training and support. 

Applications for 2022 scholarships are open for 2022/23 academic year (see below for more). 

One scholar who joined last year has written for Longford Blog about her journey to university….

There’s plenty written about what people lose when they go to prison. We lose our homes, our jobs, our families, every bit of normality that we may have ever had. Coming to prison at the age of 19 changed everything for me. Alongside the crushing realisation that I’d lost everything, I distinctly remember thinking about something else on my first night in a prison cell – what could I possibly do with my life in a new world void of opportunity?

Fast forward to the age of 20, I was working on the induction unit. A group of fresh-faced criminology students from a local university entered the wing as part of a prison tour.

I remember that feeling – the feeling that they were just like me but were totally different. All the doors that were closed to me were wide open for them.

They asked me questions about my time in prison, eager to know what life was like in our hidden world. When they left, I couldn’t shake the realisation that I would never have that kind of opportunity again. That feeling stayed in my head for months, serving as a constant reminder that my life had finished before it had started.

A year later, I was working as a Peer Advisor in the same prison. I was asked to conduct a talk for a group of first-year criminology students in the visits hall. I was immediately reluctant as I was sick and tired of being wheeled out as a reliable performer, ready to speak highly of the prison to any visitor in a suit at the drop of a hat. Persuaded by the promise of a sausage roll and a biscuit, I gave in and delivered the talk.

For once, I was honest about prison.

Honest about the inequality and deprivation that has filled our prison system to the rafters. I was honest about the reality that prison is a profitable method for throwing away everyone that society doesn’t want to see. For every ‘proper criminal’, there are another 50 women with the type of trauma histories that could keep you awake at night for the rest of your days. New to the world of criminal justice, the group of students were blown away by my stories and the simple fact that our prison system does not work.

The head lecturer of the group approached me just as the students were leaving. He asked about my release date, insisting that I should be at university. I still had three years to serve, so he suggested that I should start university as soon as I was eligible for open conditions. There was a continuous trail of communications between myself, the university, my family and the prison. There were so many challenges from every direction, and so much red tape that I never believed it would come to fruition.

I was given my ‘open status’ (where I could leave the prison on day release for study or work) in September 2020, just one week before the start of the course.

Walking into the lecture theatre for the first time….

felt just as unfamiliar and frightening as walking onto the wing for the first time. As terrifying as it was, I somehow felt like I was at home. I started to relax as soon as I realised that I wasn’t really that different from everyone else in the room.

I would learn that my experience would end up being an asset instead of holding me back.

I came across The Longford Trust whilst trying to find financial support during my first year of university. Though I was too late to apply for that year, I became a Longford scholar in my second year at university. It was incredible to know that there were other people on the same exciting journey as me. The Longford Trust partnered me with the perfect mentor. We now meet every two weeks and discuss all things criminal justice.

There have been plenty of challenges.

I often say that studying at university whilst in prison is akin to climbing Mount Everest whilst walking backwards and wearing flip flops.

Though this is the case, I’d recommend my journey to every single person in my situation. The opportunities that have been available to me since the start of my university experience are beyond what I ever thought possible. Alongside my studies and research, I work as a part-time lecturer. I am fortunate enough to be able to offer a rare insight into our world and educate prison staff about the important things that you’d never find in a textbook. To even consider what my life was like four years ago is truly unimaginable now.

I’ll end this blog with a short message of advice to every single person in prison. There are people waiting to hear your story. There are opportunities out there that are beyond the reach of the prison education department. There are people out there that are waiting to support you at every stage of your journey.

Believe in what you want to do, whatever that is, and stay tremendously interested in it.

It is only by running head-first at your passion that you’ll make your future what you want.

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Have you got plans to study a uni degree? Are you close to release or recently released? preferably in your 20s/30s, check out our 2022 application here: https://www.longfordtrust.org/scholarships/the-longford-scholarships/ 

 The closing date is 5th June 2022.