A fresh hope at faith conference in county
Faith groups throughout South Lanarkshire discussed drawing on the hope within people at a recent conference.
Organised by South Lanarkshire Community Justice Partnership and entitled Hope Within, the event heard from people working to help others to turn their lives around, both within the justice system and in its aftermath.
It brought together in discussion representatives of a variety of faiths, all working towards a similar goal.
Liam Purdie, chairman of the South Lanarkshire Community Justice Partnership, said: “There is a huge amount of work being done in this area to help people who have been through the justice system, or who are in danger of being drawn into it. But just as important as doing the work is letting people know about it and listening to them in return, so that everyone can learn and develop our work to be the best, and most effective, that it can be.
“The Hope Within conference brought together a range of people from all sorts of backgrounds and experience who are actively working in this field.
“They heard from those working at the top level in community justice in Scotland and those operating local projects, but the one thing that all of them had in common was a passion for helping those who need it in ways that make a meaningful difference.
“That is what must be remembered if we are to have success in Community Justice.
We need ideas, information and resources to let us help, but at its heart it is all about the people themselves: those needing helped and those helping.
“If both groups have the willingness to change things for the better, one person at a time, then we make great strides forward in so many ways.”
The aim of the Hope Within conference was to identify how best to support people in need to lead happy and fulfilled lives by drawing on the long history that faith and belief groups in this area have of supporting innovative approaches for many vulnerable people.
This work has included suicide prevention activities, tackling poverty and support for people with dementia, and it was hoped that the conference would encourage the same level of activity to help people to end offending or to never be involved.
Specific aspects that were highlighted included Youth engagement to prevent offending, helping women affected by the criminal justice system, supporting victims of crime and people returning to the area from prison.
As well as hearing from speakers, the delegates also split into groups to discuss and share their own knowledge and good practice with each other.
We need ideas, information and resources to let us help, but at its heart it is about people”