Sean takes his chance of new start after jail
AN EX-offender who served time in jail for violent offences has turned his life around. Sean Williams, 27, has become a supervisor in charge of a 10-strong team for a recycling company in Abergele.
Thorncliffe Building Supplies’ waste management team takes on former prisoners in a North Wales Police and probation service-backed scheme called 8 Ways. And this week it won an award. Sean, 27, of St Asaph, was referred by the probation service to 8 Ways - the term refers to the eight categories where help can be provided: drugs and alcohol support, accommodation, children and families, finance benefit and debt, mental and physical health, attitudes, thinking and behaviour, and education training and employment.
He said: “I went through the care system, left school at 14 and started drinking and taking drugs. I was fighting in pubs every weekend and first went to prison when I was 17.
“I served four years for a section 18 assault and was back and forth to prison after that, always for drinking and fighting.”
Sean, who left prison for the last time in 2013, added: “I started as a volunteer for a month, working two days a week, then I was offered a job and within three months, I’d been promoted to supervisor.
“It gave me the chance to change, gave me my first job and put me around employers who believed in me and wanted me to do well.”
Now he’s a father to a 15-monthold daughter with partner Leanne and has completed his level two apprenticeship in Sustainable Resource Management.
He’s working towards his level three Apprenticeship and hopes to one day become a Site Manager.
“I left school with no qualifications and watched people who’d gone to my school have a nice life, have a car and a home, things I wanted,” he said.
“Learning has changed my life and I’m proof it’s never too late.
“The more you learn, the better your chances.”
Thorncliffe has nine former prisoners on its books.
Steve Harper, site manager, said: “The project has improved their confidence and self-esteem, and motivated the learners, both to stay on the right side of the law but also academically to improve their literacy skills and gain qualifications.
“There’s a stigma attached to exoffenders, which means that not many people are prepared to take them on, which obviously means the cycle continues as somebody who has just left prison finds it difficult to get a job.”
Last week, the 8Ways to Change Your Life scheme took the project award at the Inspire! Awards as part of Adult Learners’ Week 2015.