The Locked up Living Podcast: Surviving and thriving in prisons and other challenging environments

By Podcasters David Jones & Dr Naomi MurphySociety & Culture Health & Fitness Mental Health True Crime

The Locked up Living Podcast: Surviving and thriving in prisons and other challenging environments episodes

April 13, 2022 David Jones. Rewards and challenges of relational work in forensic settings. David Jones
Today our podcast is a little different. You’re used to hearing David Jones bring his experience and knowledge to light in asking questions and sharing anecdotes about his professional life. Today we thought we’d give you the chance to hear more about his many years of experience.

David Jones is a psychotherapist with extensive experience in clinical work specializing in working with offenders within a prison treatment and health setting, with a focus on groups. He has extensive experience in mental health and the voluntary sector. David has published a number of books and articles and we include their details below.
He has worked at the Phoenix Unit in Oxford, was Consultant Psychotherapist at Millfields in East London, was a clinical lead at HMP Grendon and with the new TC+ for men with learning difficulties, at HMP Gartree.

David likes to throw himself into everything he does and as well as being on the Board of the International Association for Forensic Psychotherapy for several years, he was also Secretary of this board for a period (2008 – 2010). He has also been a member of the Research Advisory Group at HMP Grendon. Since 2008, he has been the Prisons expert for the Community of Communities Prison Therapeutic Community at the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Lastly, David has been involved with the UK Personality Disorder Pathway project since 2002.
Selected books and papers.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Working-Dangerous-People-Psychotherapy-Violence/dp/1857758242
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Humane-Prisons-David-Jones/dp/1857757203
https://www.academia.edu/7572919/SHAME_DISGUST_ANGER_AND_REVENGE_HOMOSEXUALITY_AND_COUNTERTRANSFERENCE
https://www.academia.edu/12523921/The_Malign_Transference_Dealing_with_the_unbearable_in_the_internal_world_of_the_murderer
https://www.academia.edu/12322685/Therapy_in_Peversity

There is another unusual aspect to our podcast today. We thought it would be an idea to have a guest contribution to our discussion in a more novel way so we’ve invited along Des McVey to help out.

Naomi knows Des very well since she has worked with him in various locations since 1996. Des is a consultant nurse psychotherapist with 40 years experience of nursing in a variety of settings. They first worked together in a Medium Secure unit before setting up the first mental health in-reach team in an English prison. Eventually, they were approached to establish the first treatment service for people under the Labour Govts DSPD initiative. DSPD stood for Dangerous and Severe Personality Disorder and whilst it was awfully named it offered a chance to create treatment opportunities for people who were unable to access any mental health treatment in prisons. We’ve also edited a book together about creating services for people with a history of trauma. Des will no doubt be back to discuss his experience.
1 hr 9 min
April 06, 2022 Geoff Smith. What is the role of the Advocate in mental health settings. Geoff Smith describes the careful balance.
There are many people working in our services whose role may be overlooked but which is nevertheless valuable. The role of advocate is one such and has grown in significance as we have become more aware of the power imbalance between staff and service user and the importance of amplifying the service user voice.
Geoff Smith has been a qualified as an IMHA in 2011/2012 fairly soon after local authorities provided funding for the new role as set out in s130A through to s130L of the amended MHA 2007.
He has worked extensively in in-patient and community settings since 2008 and describes his work as “humbling”. Geoff has worked exclusively within a London Borough characterised by culturally diversity and socio-economic deprivation. I came across Geoff on social media when he was discussing a period of difficulty in his personal life and how that impacted on his ability to perform his role and this made me realise we hadn’t covered advocacy at all. Perhaps this is reflective of how much in the mind of service providers advocacy is? Advocates have to walk a difficult balance of organisations being aware of them but without belonging within services to the degree that their independence is compromised.
Geoff is also a talented singer and you will be really glad if you listen to him singing Metamorphosis here, https://soundcloud.com/user-847494429/metamorphosis?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
Geoff and colleagues are also raising money for the Disasters Emergency Committee and you can listen to the song War Child that they have released here, https://youtu.be/3QwCaTrIRWk
and find the link to donate to the DEC here, https://www.justgiving.com/dec
1 hr 17 min
March 30, 2022 Anna Kotova and Geraldine Ackerman. Can sexual offenders be helped? Anna Kotova and Geraldine Ackerman think they can.
Those who have commited sexual offences may be vilified, abused or physically beaten. Often they are regarded as untreatable as well. Anna Kotova and Geraldine Akerman take a different approach. Following their research with residents and staff they argue that a therapeutic community can provide a safe and effective environment. In this podcast they explain their findings. See free access to their paper via the link below.
Navigating moral dimensions and lateral power – The experiences of men with sexual convictions and histories of sexual abuse serving sentences in a therapeutic community
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/26326663221074263
Anna Kotova in a Lecturer in Criminology at Birmingham University. Her teaching and research interests are in prison sociology and the collateral impact of imprisonment on families of prisoners. She has researched the impact of long sentences on partners of prisoners in the UK, the experiences of prisoners serving sentences for sex offences in a therapeutic community and the use of video-call technology in prisons. She teaches Criminological Theory I and Punishment in a Global Context.

Geraldine Akerman is a Forensic Psychologist who has worked HMP Grendon for many years and now works for the NHS.
57 min
March 23, 2022 Phil Mitchell. How do we work with sexually abused men? Phil Mitchell challenges prejudices around male sexuality and therapy.
Phil is a senior accredited counsellor and psychotherapist specialising in working with boys and men who have experienced recent and/or historic sexual abuse. Since 2004 Phil has worked therapeutically with males affected by rape, sexual abuse, sexual violence and sexual exploitation. Phil experienced sexual exploitation as a child, and rape as a young adult. He is an experienced public speaker and has trained thousands of professionals across the country on male sexual abuse/exploitation addressing how masculinity can play a part and help boys and men deal with abuse. Between 2009 and 2018 Phil was the Project Coordinator of a male only child sexual exploitation (CSE) service. Here, Phil was instrumental in the development of nationally recognised male CSE resources and in the support provided to a sexually exploited boy highlighted in Jack CSE serious case review. Phil also managed the national male CSE development project 'Excellence for Boys' which saw male referrals to 20 CSE services increase from 91 to 249. Phil has appeared on TV and in the media on numerous occasions highlighting the abuse of boys and men, and has contributed to various research and publications addressing male CSE. Phil is also a qualified supervisor and supervises trainee and qualified practitioners working with vulnerable children and adults. Phil is passionate about ensuring boys and men at risk of, or who have experienced abuse are appropriately identified and supported in a way that promotes gender equality and combats misandry and gender biased practice, ensuring services are appropriately accessible to and inclusive of males. Further details can be found at the website: www.counsellingwithphil.co.uk

https://counsellorinleeds.co.uk/boys-cse-training/
1 hr 1 min
March 16, 2022 Roma Hooper. Who started prison service radio? Roma Hooper that’s who!
Roma got the idea to start Prison Service Radio while volunteering in Feltham Young Offenders prison. This is a remarkable story of determination, charm and persistence as working in this tough extablishment and in collaboration with others, Roma set up a radio service which spread throughout the whole system.
1 hr 3 min
March 08, 2022 Tammi Walker . International Women’s Day 2022: Why do women in prison self harm? Professor Tammi Walker
Tammi Walker is Principal of St Cuthbert’s Society and Professor of Forensic Psychology at Durham University. She is a Chartered Psychologist and Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Registered Senior Fellow with Advance HE and a mental health nurse by clinical background. Tammi has a visiting position at the Manchester University.
She has spent extensive experience of researching and working in prison and secure care settings, including maximum security prisons for recidivistic sexual and violent offenders. She has completed work in this profession for over 17 years and has an advanced level of knowledge in forensic mental health, forensic psychiatry and forensic psychology.
She is currently working as a series editor with Graham Towl (Durham University) on a new series entitied: New Frontiers in Forensic Psychology for Routledge. These short, co-authored books over the next two years will provide insight into new areas of investigation in forensic psychology, or new perspectives on existing topics of enquiry. Tammi currently collaborates with a number of prison and secure care services. She co-authored 'Tackling Sexual Violence at Universities: An International Perspective' (2019: Routledge Press) and was the lead author of 'Preventing Self-injury and Suicide in Women's Prisons' (2016: Waterside Press) with Professor Graham Towl, which won the national British Psychological Society Book Award 2017 for Best Practitioner Text.
57 min
March 02, 2022 Ari Schonbrun reflects upon the transformational effects of having a saved life after being caught in the tower on 9/11/2001
Ari Schonbrun is an author, speaker and 9/11 survivor. He was the Chief Administrative Officer of Cantor Fitzgerald and Co., one of the world’s leading financial services firms.
Mr. Schonbrun was on the 78th floor of Tower One when the first plane hit on September 11, 2001. He helped a colleague suffering third degree burns to safety and was thrown into the national spotlight thereafter. His miraculous first-hand account about survival has been retold in newspapers, magazines, broadcast outlets, and books.
Mr. Schonbrun is a renowned inspirational speaker and the author of Miracles & Fate on 78. He draws from the personal heartbreak he endured during the devastation of 9/11 and has inspired audiences worldwide.
He is also the host of Whispers & Bricks Podcast and the creator of Whispers & Bricks Academy, a 7 week program focusing on “your personal breakthrough”.
Mr. Schonbrun is a native New Yorker. He is passionate about philanthropy and serves as a board member of Strength to Strength, a global non-profit organization that works with victims of terror across the world. Mr. Schonbrun and his wife, Joyce, live in New York. They have five children and several grandchildren.
42 min
February 23, 2022 Kevin Leggett. Being a prison governor. Kevin Leggett, a personal journey.
This is one of our favorite conversations. Kevin Leggett spent many years working with young offenders at Aylesbury and Huntercombe, and he was deputy governor at HMP Grendon during a period of great change when there was a serious escape. Kevin talks about these times with great warmth and humour and his descriptions of connection with his charges provide a real insight into the meaning of relational working.

Kevin Leggett is a now retired prison governor with over thirty years service. Although originally from Durham he began his career as a prison officer at the young offenders establishment Aylesbury and subsequently worked at the prisons Bullingdon, The Mount, Grendon (where I first met Kevin) and Huntercombe as well as having execurive roles for the implementation of policies in the south of England.’
1 hr 21 min
February 16, 2022 Ariel Garten, psychotherapist, neuroscientist, focusses on meditation and the importance of sleep for calming the amygdala
Ariel is is a Canadian artist, scientist and intellectual known for her work in integrating art and science. She is a neuroscientist and psychotherapist and here she talks about many things but including the importance of sleep and meditation to effective brain functioning. She is the Co-Founder of InteraXon makers of Muse (an award-winning brain sensing headband that we will hear more about during the conversation). Ariel studied neuroscience in Toronto and researched Parkinson’s Disease and hippocampal neurogenesis. However, alongside this she is also a fashion designer and has had her work displayed at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Whilst InteraXon is a very successful company we haven’t just invited Ariel on to promote her products but because she is a really inspirational woman with divergent interests.
41 min
February 09, 2022 Jacqueline McCloy. The history of Chaplains and the British Penitentiary system.
Our second episode considering the place of faith and religion in a prison system, this time in the UK. As well as reminding us how big a part transportation played in our criminal justice system, Jacqueline looks at the meaning and role of pastoral care and how faith provides a direction and an opportunity for many.
Having graduated from the University of Aberdeen with a first class honours Masters of Art in Theology & Religious Studies (2021), Jacqueline is now further researching the effect of religion/spirituality on the posttraumatic growth of criminal offenders in the U.K and their desistance from crime.
47 min

About The Locked up Living Podcast: Surviving and thriving in prisons and other challenging environments

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