CHAOS THEORY

CHAOS THEORY

At a glance

Causes

  • Black, asian and minority ethnic groups
  • Criminal justice
  • Local / community
  • Training / employment support
  • Young people

Other details

Geographical remit: 
Local

Objectives

Reducing violence , uniting communities and promoting peace.  Chaos Theory is a violence prevention charities working with those most disadvantaged community groups affected by gun/knife violence. Our ultimate aim is to reduce deaths across the UK of young men and women who have been shot or stabbed.  We work with those hardest to reach and have the ability to engage them at a grass roots level.  Our work is holistic and we offer community outreach and prison resettlement support for those of our participants in custody.  Our impact varies from imminently reducing a violent incident occurring, assisting others to change norms/behaviours and find alternative ways to address their conflict and achieve positive outcomes in their lives.

Activities

How we operate:

The Violence Interruption Project (VIP) is comprised of full-time /Part time Violence Interrupters and Outreach Workers. The staff team all have first-hand knowledge of ‘street life’ and offending behaviour.  They are credible individuals from within or near our operational areas. Members of the team use their credibility, influence and street relationships to detect brewing conflicts and de-escalate and mediate them before they erupt in violence.  The model is based on the US Cure Violence theory that violence is a disease in communities and if left untreated, will continue to exist.    In order to address violence, the new innovative way of working in the UK, we use those whom are the most ‘credible’ individuals within communities as trained Violence Interrupters.  They have the ability to reach the most- hardest, disadvantaged community groups and are highly trusted individuals.

Trained Violence Interrupters prevent violence by identifying and mediating potential conflicts in the community and continuously following up with individuals to ensure that the conflict does not recur.

Prevent Retaliations – Whenever a violent incident happens, the team immediately work in the community in order to attempt to ‘cool down’ emotions and prevent retaliations – working with the victims, friends and family of the victim, and anyone else is connected with the event.

Mediate Ongoing Conflicts – The team identify ongoing conflicts by engaging key people in the community about ongoing disputes and use mediation techniques to resolve them peacefully.  All conflicts and mediations have to be discussed with the team and strategies to address them are put in place.  Sometimes, this can take months, depending on the seriousness of the conflict.

Follow up on Conflicts – The team follow up with conflicts for as long as needed, sometimes for months, to ensure that the conflict does not become violent.  This may mean spending a great deal of time with individuals, mentoring and guiding them. 

Prison/Resettlement:

Taking a holistic approach to reduce violence and working with those most likely to become victims or perpetrators, our work reaches those in HMP’s across the Country.  Our resettlement/in reach support ensures our relationship with those at risk is maintained throughout their sentence/release.  We aim to provide real pathways out of reoffending and violence.  We will work with our participants addressing a whole host of needs including accommodation, education/training, employment, health, family relationships and other identified welfare issues.   We provide an open minded, non-judgemental service and will continue to work with our participants no matter how long it takes.  Our support is tailored to their individual’s needs.  Our work includes;

  • Working in partnership with HMP providers/Probation Services
  • Prison release /gate collection – imminent support i.e. benefits, housing welfare issues
  • Long term goal setting/support to achieve plan of support to prevent offending and achieve positive outcomes
  • Training/Education and employment, literacy skills, becoming job ready and searching for employment

 

‘I was released from prison 2 days before Christmas and left homeless sleeping in a car.  I had recently been shot with 2 bullets damaging my bladder meaning I was very unsafe and unhealthy. They team picked me up immediately and began the process of emergency housing and care.  I am now living in my own flat and working part time, without the team, I could be dead or back in prison’

 

Outreach/Family Support:

Community based outreach work is vital to engage not only young men and women however communities as a whole.  Our outreach work is about making support as accessible and relevant as possible.  WE use existing networks to reach families, running services from convenient local venues i.e. community centres, estates.  This is how we raise awareness of our anti-violence message and include the community to also share this vision and spread the message.  Our outreach work also includes community events such as family fun days, prayer vigils upon the death of a young person killed through gun and knife violence

Our Target Group:  We work with 16 –25 year olds involved in serious street violence.  Our client cohort is typically made up of high-risk individuals who are incarcerated, recently released from prison, have a history of violent behaviour or street violence and/or who have been the victim of a stabbing or shooting.

 

‘You have given me and my family so much support especially my son who is very grateful for all your hard work. I hope you can continue to help the community in such a wonderful way. My son doesn’t feel so alone and now he feels he knows someone who believes in him. I hope you can continue to help families in the community.’ 

 

 

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