In July 2019, Recoop was contacted by The Society of Rehabilitation and Crime Prevention in Hong Kong (SRACP), a government recognised charitable organisation established in 1957. SRACP provides a rehabilitation service for offenders and discharged prisoners in Hong Kong (HK) and, in recent years, has developed a social enterprise to support their service-users and families in order to start a new life.
Having heard about Recoop’s work and with a growing older prisoner population in HK, they were keen to visit us whilst in the UK to learn about international models of support for the service users they are working with. They were also keen to meet up with our parent company, BCHA, as HK faces severe accommodation issues.
Paul Grainge, Recoop’s Chief Officer, met with the delegates in Bournemouth to talk about our work with the older prisoner cohort and also visited Millennium House, an assisted living facility in Poole and St Paul’s Hostel in Bournemouth.
Paul said:
“It was really interesting being able to host some international delegates and hear about the differing challenges and interventions being used to support service-users overseas. We shared information about our work and services developed specifically to help the growing older prison population showcasing our Buddy Support work. Recoop hopes that it can continue to build on this relationship to share good practice and ideas into the future.”
SRACP Delegate’s said:
“Thank you so much for the staff ‘s insightful sharing and visit arranged by RECOOP. We are impressed on the impactful and meaningful service of The Buddy Support Programme which develops strengths and rebuilds the positive identity of the inmates to support the hidden and fastest growing population, older prisoners.” Priscilla Ko – SRACP Delegate Lead
“Really thanks for your hearty hospitality. The development of the Buddy Programme behind bars inspired and enlightened my view on a service perspective. It has a powerful and stark impact for those prisoners and buddies. Your services show a great humanised and realistic operation as well as professional management for homeless people.” Katherine Chung – SRACP Social Worker Delegate
