A four-day Risk Assessment and Management Workshop was held in Anguilla this week for personnel from the Probation Department and other related agencies. These included representatives from the Prison and the Education Department. There was also one day of training in Youth Facilitation.
The workshop was facilitated by Ms Kay Fielding, a qualified UK Probation Officer and a Social Worker. It was also arranged for her to meet with Magistrates and the Chairman of the Parole Board and Probation staff involved in the parole process. Ms Fielding worked in the community and the court system in England; served for five years as a Prison Adviser, and was seconded to the National Offender Management Service in the Public Protection Unit and later the Parole Board. She is now an independent Parole Board member for England and Wales.
Chief Probation Officer in Anguilla, Joycelyn Johnson, said part of the training was in relation to the parole of prisoners. “It is certainly related in terms of the demands on the officers and the skill set that would be required in addressing that particular area of work,” she stated. “The initial view of the training was to look at persons dealing with the writing of reports for parole licence. However, because we interface with so many other agencies, it was important not only to limit the training to ourselves but also to include partner agencies as the basis of risk assessment is cross-cutting.”
Ms Fielding thought the workshop was a wonderful opportunity for the participants to share their practice and refresh their knowledge. “I was very impressed to be in a room with a group of people who are clearly very skilled and very dedicated to the work that they do,” she stated. “It is an excellent opportunity to bring information and different ways of working, and share those with them, and see how they would assist practice and performance here in Anguilla.”
