Anglicare and churches in the South Coast and Illawarra are joining forces to establish a mentor program for men in the lead-up to and following their release from the local prison — the South Coast Correctional Centre, which opened late last year in South Nowra.

The post-prison release program, christened ReStart, will be run from Anglicare’s community care centre in Nowra by the family services manager, Marty Richardson.

“We want to connect in what [the Department of Corrective Services] calls ‘through care’,” he explains. “It’s working with services on the outside so we can help the inmates in the longer term once they’re back in the community. We’ll be working with Prison Fellowship in this program and they’ll provide part of the training for mentors, who will go in and connect with an inmate through the jail’s [Anglican] chaplain Ray Beckman.

“And because we’re in a regional area we have a network of churches that are already engaged with offenders and offenders’ families, such as Nowra Anglican and Berkeley Anglican, also the Shoalhaven Aboriginal Community Church. Figtree Anglican is also involved but this is cross-denominational, especially in the Nowra area — the Baptists, Church of Christ and Uniting churches have already expressed interest and other church groups want to provide support.” 

Mr Beckman says a “significant percentage” of the jail’s inmates are from the local area, adding that “if we get this [program] right, the Shoalhaven stands at the cusp of an awesome ministry opportunity to have a lasting impact upon the lives of people who live here”.

ReStart will be unashamedly Christian, with a focus on inmates already involved in chapel services. The mentor will come in regularly to visit during their last six months or so inside, taking part in services and getting to know them.

“Mentors will be the support person for these guys,” Mr Beckman says. “They’ll walk with them as they’re trying to find a job and all the stuff they need to do when they first get out, and they’ll encourage them to keep up with their faith commitment, because a lot of guys make a commitment inside and then drop off after they’re released.” 

The first gathering of potential mentors and support churches for the program took place at a chaplaincy expo run by Anglicare late last month at the Bomaderry Anglican Church. 

While the focus was on recruiting mentors for ReStart, the expo was also an information day for people interested in volunteering for different aspects of chaplaincy ministry — from hospitals to juvenile justice to mental health care.

On the back of this event Anglicare plans to run an introductory course in clinical pastoral education (CPE) in Nowra next month, with a component on mentoring people after their release from prison.