In partnership with the Probation Board for Northern Ireland, Aspire works with marginalised young men (aged 16-30), who are risk of becoming involved or further involved in criminality. It aims to prevent and reduce offending and enable young men to develop their full capacity and to resist negative influences.
Niacro delivers two parts of Aspire + a new service called Transitions:
A mentoring programme for young men, under PBNI supervision, leaving prison or in the early stages of their community sentence.
Please refer me to Aspire Mentoring
A range of community based interventions, including restorative justice approaches, for young men who are not in the criminal justice system (and thereby not subject to statutory supervision).
Please refer me to Aspire Community Engagement
Mentoring support for PBNI referrals (men and women) on post custody supervision
(not fitting Aspire criteria)
I would like to know more about Transitions
APAC is Niacro’s family of Floating Support services. Floating Support is a flexible, free service that provides housing related support. It aims to help people who are experiencing difficulties in maintaining their tenancy. APAC works to prevent people becoming homeless as a result of anti-social behaviour.
As well as the main Floating Support service, APAC also works with communities experiencing anti-social behaviour in Banbridge in a project funded by the Banbridge Policing and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP). Base2, STEM and Welfare Advice are all part of the APAC family.
APAC is funded by the Supporting People fund through the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
I would like a referral to APAC
Base2 is a crisis intervention project which offers clarification, support and mediation services to individuals and families at risk of violence or exclusion from their community. It is currently funded by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
What does it offer?
The project works directly with people to support them to deal with conflict or difficulties they are experiencing within their local community or with paramilitary organisations.
The project offers a verification and mediation service to assist individuals to remain within their homes or give practical support to safely relocate out of the area.
I would like more info about Base2
Providing trauma counselling and support for victims of paramilitary style attacks run by Niacro to support people who have been directly affected by paramilitary-style attacks. The project will offer a synchronised approach using trauma counselling and practical mentoring support.
Both these services will run parallel so those who use the programme will benefit from a holistic package. The service is available to anyone who has been a victim of paramilitary violence regardless of age or gender.
I would like know more about how Insync can help me
STEM is a floating support service within Niacro’s APAC programme. STEM provides support and assistance to people whose tenancy may be at risk due to harassment or intimidation because of their ethnicity.
The project works to improve the social inclusion of people from ethnic minority backgrounds, removing barriers to integration and encouraging participation in society. It promotes positive community responses to dealing with incidents of intimidation and works alongside other organisations which seek to promote community integration. The team also provide practical advice, support and assistance on a range of issues, including:
STEM is funded by the Supporting People fund through the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.
Tell me more about how STEM can help me
Niacro's Women’s Project works with women in the community who have been in contact with the criminal justice system. The Niacro staff are placed within the Inspire team in Belfast as well as rural teams, delivering services to women in the community, those under probation supervision and those in prison who are due to be released soon. Another strand of our specialist work supports women leaving custody or in the community who have no statutory supervision but need help to link into services in their local community. NIACRO also works with ethnic minority women in custody and upon release within the community to identify support within their local community for individual cultural needs.
Tell me more about the Women's Group
Staff from Niacro involved in this project work closely with statutory agencies to deliver individual and group interventions to women who have been in contact with the criminal justice system. It takes into account the unique and often complex circumstances of women who offend. This work supports the Niacro mission statement to reduce crime and its impact on people and communities. The Niacro Women's Group meets every Thursday between 10.30 and 12.30.
Connections is a strengths-based and people led programme aiming to prepare women with experience in the Criminal Justice System for active roles/ sharing skills within their communities. Connections workers will walk alongside women on their journey through and beyond the Justice System, providing one to one support, empowering women to make changes to their lives, build upon their strengths and reduce reoffending. Connections also run a Women’s Group every Thursday from the Niacro Amelia Street office that provides a safe space for women to engage in interactive and educational activities and the opportunity to share their experiences through peer mentoring with other women. Additionally, Connections workers deliver training ‘Supporting Women Through and Beyond the Criminal Justice System’ (SFJ Award) to community, voluntary and statutory based service providers.
Tell me more about Connections
Niacro provides a specialist Welfare Advice service to meet the particular needs of people in contact with the criminal justice system.
The aim of the service is to provide accurate, up-to-date and relevant advice which will help people in prison and their families break the cycle of debt, benefit dependency, poverty and to help them move into employment.
Referral – Tell me more about welfare advice
The Welfare Advice service is unique. It is the only service offering advice and support right across Northern Ireland to people in prison, their families, people who have been released from prison and adults in the community who have offended. We provide information, advice and representation on subjects like benefits, housing and debt.
As part of this service, we also offer Managing Money Matters courses to enhance financial capability amongst individuals and families.
Staff offer a professional advice service adhering to the following principles:
TBC Name is Niacro’s employment support programme for people with convictions, in the community and in prison. With nearly 50 years’ experience of offering services to people who have convictions, Niacro understands that supporting people into employment or employment-related training significantly helps to reduce reoffending and build positive futures.
Tell me more about employability help.
