Breaking The Cycle
Breaking the Cycle’ is an intervention, prevention and diversion program that has been designed by Aboriginal people with both lived and professional experience in the justice system to work with Aboriginal young people and adults at any stage of their justice involvement including those ‘at risk’ of involvement.
Breaking the Cycle provides culturally responsive services and support whilst addressing criminogenic risk factors, criminal behaviours and other challenges that direct and entrench people into the child protection and/or justice system/s.
We provide specialist interventions and support to divert participants at any stage of their involvement with the child protection and/or justice system by;
- providing community based, diversionary options/alternatives to justice
- facilitating behaviour change programs (including CBT)
- reducing recidivism/reoffending
- promoting healing/rehabilitation
- increasing positive outcomes and opportunities
- providing the Courts with culturally competent sentencing reports
- Strengthening connection to culture, family and community
- enhancing social functioning and
- improving community safety.
Breaking the Cycle diverts participants from the justice system (at any stage of their involvement or risk of involvement) by promoting reintegration, reducing isolation, increasing and strengthening connection to culture/family/community, improving behaviours, increasing skills/capacity, challenging anti- social behaviours and negative peer associations, improving social and emotional well-being, addressing trauma and substance misuse, improving socialfunctioning, economic independence and improving access to accommodation, education and employment.
The program can be accessed at multiple points during the potential participants child protection and/or justice involvement (police, court, within correctional settings, on remand, pre/post release, during his/her sentence or in community settings).
In addition, this project serves as an alternative to incarceration, diverting offenders into culturally responsive services and programs in the community rather than into sentences of full-time imprisonment (where appropriate).
BREAKING THE CYCLE CONSISTS OF TWO KEY COMPONENTS;
- Intensive, holistic, practical, individualised and targeted support will be provided through specialist, culturally responsive intensive model of service deliver.
- Multimodal programs that address a multitude of risk factors commonly associated with offending Programs include (but are not limited to) healing, cultural activities, living skills, counselling (group, individual, mentoring), group work, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or CBT-like components (thinking skills, relapse prevention, or anger management); educational support programs, employment-related (work-release, job placement, vocational training); AOD, mixed treatments (individual case management) and/or restorative justice interventions (mediation, community service, volunteering, victim-offender conferencing).
Breaking the Cycle takes a strength-based approach when supporting people transition out of prison teaching people how to change unhealthy behaviours and patterns. We do this by modelling the behaviour we expect from our participants, allowing staff to utilise the value of their lived experience. We aim to increase capacity of program participants, while appropriately addressing the underlying factors that drive antisocial behaviours and justice involvement.
