Mum who lost son is helping people out of life of crime.

Enterprise offers skills to young people involved in life of crime

A Fife mum who lost her teenage son is on a mission to help pull people out of a life of crime.

Josee Scott, who lives in Dalgety Bay, established Freedom Unlimited Enterprises six years ago to offer employability skills to ex-offenders.

So far Freedom Unlimited Enterprises has helped more than 100 people but Josee hopes to expand the charity, and is reaching out to other organisations and groups to see how best to help vulnerable young people.

As well as employability skills, the charity also works with inmates at Glenochil Prison and Polmont young offenders institution by delivering a life coaching course to try to help people rehabilitate and stop reoffending.

The campaign was borne out of personal sadness for Josee, who lost her son Bobby 13 years ago aged 17.

“We had moved to Leith and he fell in with a ‘wrong’ crowd, stole a bike and crashed it,” she said. “When Bobby died these boys and girls rallied to support our family, shattering any preconceptions I had of them.

“I didn’t understand before then but quickly learned that the vast majority of people who become involved in criminal justice services typically come from impoverished backgrounds,” she said.

In recent years Josee started to think of ways she could actively help people caught up in a cycle of reoffending.

In a move she has described as a “leap of faith” she gave up a career in retail management to establish Freedom Unlimited Enterprises.

“The benefits of what I provide through wood workshops here in Dalgety Bay and art therapy in prisons is a change of attitude which helps people on to a positive path.

“Giving them hope for their future, especially repeat offenders who have been in and out of prison all their lives.

MP Lesley Laird said: “It can be so easy for people to become trapped in a cycle of crime but Freedom Unlimited Enterprises offers people a vital opportunity to build the confidence to break that pattern and pursue a different future.”

Josee is looking to create links with various organisations in Fife, including schools, and would welcome inquiries at josee@freedomue.org

leclark@thecourier.co.uk

From left: Volunteer Kim McKenzie, MP Lesley Laird, session worker Mark Douglas and Josee Scott, who set up Freedom Unlimited Enterprises.

Bobby died when he became mixed up with the “wrong” crowd and stole and crashed a bike.