Working as a probation services officer
A varied and rewarding life in probation.
Sian Waters (pictured) was an experienced trainer when she joined the probation service and is a great example of someone who has been able to use skills and experience from other jobs in her probation work.
Her training knowledge has helped her work on programmes – a range of courses designed to help offenders think about their behaviour and change it for the better.
And it was her experience of spending 17 years as a Festival Samaritan providing confidential support at music festivals, that gave her an interest in moving into the area of drug treatment.
She is currently responsible for offenders on the Drug Rehabilitation Requirement, a community based sentence designed to help those whose offences are connected to problematic drug use.
Offenders are regularly tested to ensure they stay off illegal drugs, are prescribed with substitutes and provided with diversionary activities including basic literacy and numeracy.
Sian’s job certainly has plenty of variety. “I run a women’s group, service users’ group, relapse prevention/harm reduction group and the Building Skills for Recovery Programme,” she said.
Sian is also part of the Integrated Offender Management team, a multi-agency approach to reducing reoffending.
She also does a lot of one-to-one, motivational work with those who have relapsed into drug taking. “It’s about finding out what is going on in people’s lives which keeps them using.
“In probation work you need patience and you have to be able to challenge people and motivate them to move on so they can reintegrate into their community.
“To see someone moving on, starting a family life and not using drugs anymore is our reward. I’m now working alongside someone who was on the other side of the service seven or eight years ago. Someone else who was with me five years ago is now working with a partner agency. To see them flourish is the best incentive you could ever ask for.”
If you like to be challenged and believe people can change, a career in probation could be for you