Crest has worked in partnership with the Ministry of Justice and the Probation Service for over 20 years, providing a supervised and fulfilling space for people to complete their Community Payback hours (CP).
Although these individuals have come to Crest to complete a court order we believe that every person should be given the chance to turn their lives around. In fact, it is a source of pride that on several occasions, following the completion of their Community Payback hours individuals have come back to volunteer or work at Crest or with the support of our organisation found alternative employment.
Diogo is one such individual who came to Crest to complete his CP hours and has gone on to turn his life around with support from Crest.
After completing his CP hours he continued volunteering at Crest for a 2 month period before being accepted onto the Kickstart programme to help him develop and re-enter the workforce, finding suitable and long-term employment. Given Diogo’s hard work, commitment to improve and willingness to learn it was with great pride that Crest offered him a permanent position as a retail assistant at the end of his time with Kickstart.
Commenting on how his time at Crest has changed him Diogo said:
“I was unemployed, always getting into trouble, drinking all the time I wasn’t in a good point in my life. I didn’t really care about anything or anyone.
“I found myself at Crest through Community Service. I decided at that point that I was going to better my life. This was the first time that I wanted to get up in the morning and go to work. They (Crest) has completely changed my mind set towards work.
“We are like a family here and that is really one of the things that I love here, it is the people. I haven’t known them for long, but I feel like I have known them years because they treat you like family and make you feel at home.
“Being here being around these people they have sort of rebuilt me… I am really thankful for changing me into the person I am now.”
Also commenting on Diogo’s incredible journey with Crest, Mr Rod Williams, Managing Director, said:
“We are all incredibly proud of Diogo and the huge steps forward that he has taken while with us.
“People are at the heart of everything that we do at Crest and we always look to give people, traditionally overlooked or left behind, every opportunity possible to develop and improve their life chances. This can include offering formal training in a range of area, providing work experience or just being a supportive colleague and friend that they can rely on during times of trouble.
“It is clear that Diogo has grabbed hold of all we have to offer with both hands and together with Crest he has turned his life around and he has done this in such a relatively short time.
“I can not wait to see what the future holds for the kind, conscientious and hard working young man, but in the meantime, on behalf of the Crest family I just want to say well done Diogo!”
Crest continues to host individuals completing their Community Payback as well and numerous volunteers who have come to our organisation for a range of different reasons. However, each and everyone of them are offered the same opportunities to develop and grow while with Crest.
We will continue to work to unlock people’s potential through inclusion, innovation and enterprise for the benefit of our community.