One year on: Kay’s journey with Working Chance

Working Chance supports women with convictions to find the right employment opportunities that suit their skills and aspirations. Last year, 86% of the women we supported into jobs were still in that role after a year (where we could elicit that information).

Kay’s journey shows that with consistent, tailored support, women can rebuild their lives after a conviction. She had been working as a lawyer for over twenty years, but her life changed suddenly when she received a conviction and found herself in prison.

The impact of a criminal record

Following the conviction, Kay was advised that she could be sent to prison, but this didn’t make it any easier when she was sentenced, “I was in shock, and when I heard it was going to be a prison sentence, that was pretty daunting,” she recalls.

“My family and friends were in the public gallery, and it was just screams of shock and horror, there were lots of tears that evening.”

She had visited prisons to meet with clients during her career as a lawyer, but says that being on the other side as a resident was completely different.

“I was bullied for the first two months. I've never been in a fight or taken drugs. I was alien to that environment.” Kay struggled with the prison environment.

She felt that having Asperger’s heightened these challenges.

“I'm a strong character but it was still a horrifying ordeal. Had it not been for access to a phone, and the financial support from my partner, family, and friends to make calls, I don't know if I'd have survived.”

After leaving prison, Kay couldn’t return to her career as a lawyer. An unsuccessful appeal against her conviction meant she had to step away from her long-standing career for good. This was devastating for her.

Once that decision was final, she began looking for jobs in other sectors but found that having a conviction was still a barrier to finding work. Despite these challenges, Kay was determined that her conviction would not stop her from rebuilding her life.

Turning things around with Working Chance

“When people leave prison, they've lost everything. The first thing they want to do is rebuild themselves, and one of the things they need obviously is income.”

Kay found had heard about Working Chance from while researching organisations that could help her rebuild her career. She got in touch for support, and that’s when things started to turn around.

"When I got to Working Chance, I found continuity. They were non-judgmental, patient and supportive. I was delighted because I needed that support.”

With consistent one-to-one support from Working Chance, Kay was able to plan, practise, and perfect how she would explain her past to employers and show all she had done since to rebuild her life.

“I struggled with how to go about explaining what happened during interviews, but my Employment Advisor was very supportive. We worked on it until we found a way I could disclose my conviction concisely. I was very tearful, there were a lot of tears." she recalls.

With Working Chance’s support, Kay had someone to keep her motivated with job searching. She was able to focus on finding an employer willing to recognise her skills and give her a fair chance at finding work.

Finding the right job and influencing change

Working Chance supported Kay in exploring roles where she could apply the transferable skills from her previous career as a lawyer. She was persistent in her job search, applying for roles with employers partnered with Working Chance and independently.

"I applied for several jobs but didn’t get past the application stage, it was mostly rejections."

Throughout the process, Working Chance provided support and helped Kay navigate the disappointment of unsuccessful applications. She soon found the role that was right for her.

“When I got the interview for my current job, I thought, ‘Here we go, it’s going to be another rejection.’ But instead, they asked, ‘When can you start?’ and ‘What salary do you want?’ It was a good salary as well!”

Kay has now been in a senior management role at a training and development organisation for just over a year and continues to engage with Working Chance as a member of the advisory panel, bringing her lived experience to help drive change for women leaving the justice system.

“The support Working Chance provides is invaluable. Their work deserves more funding and support.”

Women like Kay face barriers to finding work because of their conviction. With your support, we can help them overcome these barriers and rebuild their lives through employment.