If you would like an in-depth version of Andy and Jay's Story and more about Foundations To Change Click Here

Jay & Andy are raising money to pay for two prisoners to get the opportunity to go straight from prison release into rehab for the first time in almost 9 years.

Jay was one of the last prisoners offered a direct route from HMP Birmingham's Winson Green to a rehab facility almost 9 years ago. If you would like to be a part of changing someone's life by making this opportunity available again, please keep reading.

In the UK, the latest MOJ statistics report states that adults released from custodial sentences of less than 12 months (most common in petty crime, most commonly committed by addicts) had a proven reoffending rate of 61.0%.

Young offenders, 15 to 17-years-old have the highest reoffending rate, closely followed by the 10 to 14-year-old offenders. The proven reoffending rate for juveniles is higher than adults.

Andy and Jay were these statistics once. Some poor choices from at an early age resulted in them entering the criminal justice system at just 14 years old.

Jays Story:

“When I met that professional in prison with whom I had so much identification, for the first time in years, I believed change was possible for me. I dared to feel a little bit of hope and it made me ask him - What did you do to change?"

"This person in front of me had the knowledge I needed to get me out of the hole I was in. At the end of that jail sentence with the support he put in place, I had the opportunity to turn left when those gates opened and go to treatment instead of turning right to the Off Licence. A choice that was all too familiar because there was nothing to look forward to when you left jail. No direction or a place to land. Maybe a bail hostel full of using addicts or the streets."

Andy's Story:

“I was able to secure a place in rehab whilst on bail but upon leaving I received a two and a half year jail sentence during which I went straight back to using drugs again. Thankfully, the drug worker I met never lost touch with me and when I was released from prison seven and a half years ago, he supported me back into rehab."

"My path to recovery wasn't a straight one, I had to visit several detox units but I made it in the end and the professionals with lived experience of addiction understood and never gave up on me. They were right not to. I am now a dedicated family man, with a promising career as a local manager of a Charity for vulnerable people with complex needs. I am now four and a half years clean”

Once young people enter into the prison system and drugs are often involved, it starts a cycle of reoffending. Once they are in prison enough times it becomes a struggle to know how to live on the outside. Without the right people around you, the tools and the knowledge to recover from addiction, very often it can seem like there is nothing else to life.

The fact that the pathway to services is longer funded means that the fight to change the lives of young and adult offenders so they can be supported to live a positive, independent and responsible life, is made almost impossible.

No prisoner has had a straight pathway into rehab from Winson Green since the year Jay changed his life, and now both Jay and Andy are in the privileged position to help people who are just where they were. They want 2021 to be the year this changes for good. But they need your support!

Along with Co-Founder Andy, who is also in recovery now and has been for four and a half years, Jay created 'Foundations To Change'.

Delivering these groups to professionals and prisoners, we believe that if the prisoner gets an understanding of the barriers/triggers within themselves, by giving them the basic tools to stop them making the same mistakes, delivered with the message of hope, that change is possible. We are proof of that.”

“We believe strongly that with the right intervention, working with a multi-agency approach and offering a secure treatment pathway, we can offer the most marginalised young offenders and adults the chance of change."

If they can make a success of this, then they can prove this is worth the financial backing it deserves for the next generation of Jays and Andys that need support with their problem and not more prison sentences.

So, how can Foundations To Change make a difference today?

They will be jumping on their bikes to cycle 100 miles from Cambridge back to Birmingham in 10hrs. If you would like to help the lads raise the funds needed to pay for two places in rehab, please click on DONATE to give as much or as little as you can afford. Please be a part of making us a success.