One of the greatest challenges people face coming out of prison, is staying out.

Our Straight4Work program, in Penrith NSW, provides support for adults leading up to and after their release from prison, by preparing them for employment and helping them to access essential support services.

An innovative feature of the Straight4Work program is that it also provides participants with personal support through mentorship.

In this way the program not only addresses barriers to vocational and/or educational progress, but also offers individual support at a personal level through a positive and beneficial relationship with a volunteer mentor.

As a volunteer mentor in our Straight4Work program, you can offer support, encouragement, and a positive role model for ex-offenders, as they adjust to life on the outside.

Of course helping someone who genuinely wants to make a go of it is also very rewarding.

Straight4Work Case Manager, Renate Reimann-Walker believes that mentors are the key ingredient of this program.

“Each participant is paired with a volunteer mentor, who will assist them to feel a sense of support and normality as they start to rebuild their lives and get back into the community.”

“Their mentor is a person they can talk to, meet for a coffee and go to the football with – someone to talk to when there is no one else. This can play a critical part in helping someone to get that job and keep it.”

The Straight4Work program will be running free information sessions about becoming a volunteer mentor. Please contact the Straight4Work Program Manager on 02 4721 8100 for more information.