Summary
User testing session for Anchor, a community center designed to support people leaving prison in reconnecting with their families. The team (Ava, Jacob, and Brady) presented three worksheets and the overall service blueprint to an expert for feedback.
What worked well:
Key concerns and suggestions:
Overall assessment:
Specific concerns:
Positive aspects:
Challenges:
Suggestion: Within sessions, may need to walk people through how to answer these questions initially
The expert reviewed the full service including: prison mentor introduction, bus transport, reception/tour, emergency accommodation, personal mentor assignment, peer mentors (people with lived experience), counseling sessions, activity workshops, personalized reintegration plan, supervised family visits, gradual reintegration to home, ongoing support, family counseling access, and path to becoming a peer mentor.
Expert assessment:
The team will compile this feedback into three main insights that will directly inform how they refine the service, to be presented in tomorrow's final presentation.
Notes
Transcript
Okay, that's fine. So, spring share.
So, I'm going to re-indigest myself as well, since you won't know who I am. So annoying, Ava can't behave. Is here. What day is it today? Twenty-nine. Try and get as much detail as possible, even though I suppose I'll be transcribing just in case, just try to get as much detail as possible.
Usually the transcript's awful if it can't pick up what you're saying.
Yeah.
You know, like if you mumble or if you... Yeah. But sometimes... My work bolts currently picking up everything we say now. Sorry. Sorry. I'll do this, I'll do this better. I'll just take that out of the fridge.
Tasked for 20 minutes? I really don't think this will be longer than half an hour to be honest.
I hope it's not. I just just in case like somebody stand in there and they're just like what are we supposed to do? I was gonna say if you wanted to go to the classroom but then they were already in there I was too late now, you're not. Yeah, I know, but I was going to say quarter past when I came in. Sorry, I was in from two o'clock. And I was gonna say if you wanted to, but then... The last thing I need is like Jared and stuff.
Pake it over if you take seconds. You know?
Just get tomorrow for a done with. Yeah.
And then Friday. It'd be like Friday's the easiest part.
Is it?
There's going to be a company coming in to watch it. Just people.
I'd see another friggin' presentation for it too.
Oh, please, she has locked her face. I hope so.
It'd make it a lot, lot easier.
Yeah, I know. It would.
I can't wear a leg. Focused and daunting, I wish it was in person to be like less stressful. Same calls are... Stressful.
Okay, it should be alright.
I really hope she's got the right time and day. Which group are we? Group two. Just thinking like I've got presentation okayOral group.
She said she might mix it up, I tried to ask, maybe... In advance.
Yep.
I wish you'd leave last time I got my work. It was like a minute. We won't know. if she can't access it because it's on eBay. Hmm.
Well, I mean... You can probably maybe screen share and then she could just You know, give us impressions from there, but... Would it be better if she's on a beforehand? Huh? Would it be better if she's on a beforehand?
No, I mean, is she... We don't know if she can access this actual call.
I mean, I checked it earlier, and like on like just different devices that work for me, but...
You're okay, don't worry about it. I'm with Jacob and Brady beside me here. Bye guys. Good to see you again. So I have a script I'm going off of beside me just in case I'm looking between yous. But just wanted to say thanks so much for taking the time to do this today. Today's really only just about getting your honest thoughts on what we've designed. It'd be really helpful if you could just act as a proxy for a user.
So it's kind of going to go so we got, for me, I like it. I like that it's about what matters to me. I like it's trying to help me focus about what do I want to get out of my time here. I like that question a lot. And you're also trying to work out for me what's the best way I can do something that I'm interested in. So I really like that. Um... About the... If it's just handed to me, I'm not sure I can fill that in because It's overwhelming around my literacy levels, you know what I mean?
So that might put me off. And it might be better for me if someone, if we had that as a conversation. And someone made the notes. Is that all right for other people that fill it out easily? And for others, but for others, there's also the question of what they want to get out of my time. Why am I here? Have I come because I want to be here? Is it being voluntary? Have I found that this is my next step?
Am I being made to come? Is this a tick for probation? You know, so I might be coming in here full of here's an opportunity for this, you know, to reconnect with my kid or whatever. Or I might be here under duress. So So then how I approach that first question might be radically different.
Okay, soI do like the questions you've asked. I guess if I just walked in through the door, when you're saying what kind of workshops are you interested in, I guess you guys need to have explained to me we're having workshops and what is there. I know you've got your family communication, wellbeing skills. What are skills? What's wellbeing? Do you know something, whether it's a video, it's a pyramid or someone in the mix that has given me a bit of an insight and maybe, sorry, I've missed this in your other slide, so forgive me if I have, but something that prepares me to answer that.
I'll be going, what are you talking about? But I like that you're then asking me, what is it? Why am I here? How do I want to interact? Is it better? You know, and you're going to very quickly. Like, I no more want to be in a group. stratifying me out, which is really good. Anything else you'd be unsure or worried about, I think is a good question. It'd be really interesting to see how people respond to it.
The one, is there anything else you'd like us to know? I guess I'm... I've come out of prison and I am very, very... There's a paranoid other system. hasn't really been very kind or done very well. So my question there is, why do you want to know that? That's a loaded question to me. Why would I like you to know something else? Or, you know, it's a wee bit. I think you guys are being open. but I'm reading it like what's going on here.
I'm reading it and go, why do you want to know? What is it that you want me to tell you and why do you want to know?
And if it's about... disclosing something that no one else knows. I'm not likely going to tell you guys on your first visit on paper, you know what I mean? It would make me more go, what are you going to do with that information? I'm in the mind of someone who's come out of prison and doesn't trust yet, doesn't trust the centre. to the point where they want to know why you want to know.
And I think about it. I don't know. I know the purpose of what you're trying to do there. I think it might be more At this point of entry, it might be more conversational with the mentor that they might... disclose something so maybe you want it you know this this the way that mentors notes like who keeps this who keeps this document is it me or is it you guysThe actual document I've sent across?
When I fill it in, is it mine or is it kept in the center? Who owns this information?
Well you could get a copy of it and then it'd go back to the centre. It'd go between the counsellor, so they have a, I'm not sure if you looked at the user journey and the blueprint, but they have a counsellor, a mentor and then a social worker if needed. So I think this would be a conversation that we need to have more backstage of this is what needs to be focused for this individual and these are the areas that you should target the most.
you know because you've already asked is there anything you feel unsure or worried about so there's my opportunity to say I don't want to meet my family yet if I want to say it I'd probably take that out but if the mentors if something comes up additional then between the mentor and the person firstly is it is it noted is it written down and if it is it could be in the mentor's notes or something to be then for a therapeutic conversation or something i i don't know yeah i'm only like if you gave me that i can say that's fine on another day i'd say it's not fine that's how your mind works whenever you're under pressure and you're not trusted really, really important in these scenarios because in a prison setting, You don't really feel trust for the authority on the whole.
Yeah, so that's what I was talking about earlier. I think for some people, this would be a real invitation for connection and for others, it's way too big a step to either be able to articulate and then the writing thing I was saying about visualising, it may not be writing for people as well, but... Um... It just depends on your story and how disconnected you are and how much trauma there is in that story.
and how connected you are to your own emotion. There's millions of things in that, but if you're doing that... activity within the confines of your therapeutic Try out of people. that activity will come at the right time. Do you know what I mean? It definitely wouldn't be for me to fill in tomorrow unless you guys have built up to it.
As a concept, it's pretty sweet. But it would only be for the right person at the right time. But I'm hoping that you guys have built in your program.
Okay, so definitely that ragging. Someone might want to write a message, someone else can't.
And so how are they going to communicate? So is it drawing? Is it something else? Is there another way to do this that isn't using words? Is it important or even the structure of that? I'm looking at that and if I sort of dropped out of school at 11 or 12, even a paragraph.
Even though for you and me, we can just, you know, sure, we can describe something, but that might be really off-putting for some people, not for everybody. So maybe that there's... There's a few. different models at the same workshop where you can You know, write one line.
Or you can stick in, you can pick a thing from a magazine that the kid might like, that you might like, like a car, stick it in, something that's, or draw, music, whatever, but...
I don't know. I don't know, you know, so I guess, I guess these are, you know, this is all you guys developing. And maybe you've had a conversation with someone who's, you know, a therapeutic practitioner. But I would be wanting a lens of that. And I'd also do it with co-designing it with people as well and go, you know, if we have a problem, one thing I want to say sorry for. That might be like liberation or that might actually be really, really detrimental to their own mental health, you know, to to be put in that place.
I'm not an expert in that at all, so I don't know. So I would be definitely spending more time Exterior news prompts both way. therapeutic practitioners and with people coming out of prison to see what they think. Yeah, definitely. But it's nice because You know, if I haven't. If I've been disconnected from someone and they have been growing up for six months or six years, Where do you start? So in a way you're trying to create something that might be useful for some people and I guess all of these things have to be really really optional.
for the people that use mine that's right for them to use. Definitely.
Okay, so the one to five. I think that's quite evolved. critique. So if you're in a session, I think you have to have the emotional intelligence and be able to articulate what you're feeling to be able to answer those things. So, Probably if you're in programs and you're doing it all the time, you will actually learn how to do that. But initially, that's going to be... Quite tricky to do so. It might be that. Within the session.
You have to walk people through. How do you start to answer those questions? Um... And I guess it's the same. So after today, the pink one and then the green one, your progress so far. Yeah, so it's the same. I think you have to, you have to, be quite involved in how you Are therapeutically going through a program to be able to answer this stuff? But I think to be able to answer it is really helpful.
So, um... Probably again, Those are quite, that's quite a lot, you know, that's five. That's 10 quite meaty questions. So it's quite a lot of feedback. So that to me isn't like a...
That's a sitting down almost, maybe you planned it like this where you're doing an hour's reflection or something, do you know what I mean?
It's not like you would just be filling this out as an afterthought. And there's quite a lot in that with very little place to write if I really want to pour out what I've learnt. Do you know what I mean? But I like, I really, really like them. So as part of part of someone's journey of trying to work out what's working and what's not and what they need to focus on and how does they... The interaction, the team support them, I think they're really helpful.
They're good questions. And how proud you are is something I think that's brilliant because I thinkEats.
And all of this work is a step at a time, so if there's anything... that you can, you know, recognise as a bonus or something. To name it, to see it, to cling to it is really important.
I think you're doing a really good job. Um... But some of it would be, like sometimes it's the lens. So I could fill that in, but then I facilitate workshops night and day and change and da-da-da-da and the Amelia Masters and blah-de-da-dee and all that stuff. I think some of that is tricky, probably for the level of emotional connection people have had and education.
and vulnerability to maybe be able to navigate that but programs do help people like I was when I was in San Quentin and with people you know San Quentin because in San Francisco people who are you know locked up for 30 years and all they could speak this language because they had all been on different programs and they had evolved in their emotional sense you know they could I could have conversations with people that I couldn't dream of having conversations here not in a prison setting I mean in normal society so maybe the anchor centerEnable people.
to evolve to answer those questions in a meaningful way.
No, it's been really useful. The last thing that I want to do is just to walk you through the actual centre and see if there's anything else you think that would add. There's no visuals to this, it's just me explaining it really. So there is a blueprint, it's very detailed. You have the option to follow along if you want, but I will be explaining it. So the user is told in prison by their prison mentor about the community centre This is like a support for them. They are told by the mentor as well about the bus that would pick them up outside of prison and take them directly to the centre.
Once at the centre, they meet the reception and they get a tour and this particular user needs immediate accommodation. So Anchor provides that for people who are in that kind of need. They settle in and they meet their own mentor then. ...horses themselves within anchor are past people who have been convicted and are now have gone through the whole process so it feels like they have that relatability towards them.
They have counselling sessions, there's lots of different activity workshops within Anchor and it's really a place for them to connect and be able to rehabilitate with their family. The mentor themselves creates with them a reintegration plan so it's completely personal towards them and they have to explain their own goals and it's on their own timeline. Facing it off with he after a month in the centre is able to meet his daughter under conditions of being martyred and he's then able to progress after six weeks he's able to, I think six months he's able to go home to back into living with his family. He still has to come back to the centre, particular visits just to make sure he's still on the same timeline but it's a lot less.
It's all based on his wife as well. She also is allowed to have counselling sessions within Anchor as well as our family. And then for six months afterwards, he is then able to come back and he gets trained to be a peer mentor as well. So that's his timeline. Just from hearing that, it's very, very brief. But would there be anything else you would suggest to change or any opinions or thoughts on that?
Okay, I think it's super. I think it's really... Holistic. I love that the family is involved and that there's family therapy as well because it's wild, the disconnect. Obviously, you know, I'm a big, big proponent of peer mentor work and so that brings real value to it.
and the centre having a one-stop accommodation element for that. for that early stages, bring it to you. Like obviously how do you then move people?
You know, like, it's a tricky thing now, but the ambition is brilliant. On first hearing, I think it is brilliant and it is something that will be really, really useful for us to start to explore. I mean, as a region, when we talk about transition, I think you guys have captured lots of it. Obviously, is it tomorrow we're meeting? Tomorrow? So obviously tomorrow, you know, let me have a think and we'll hear more and I will be really interested in keeping your blueprint and using that as part of how we explore what's possible.
No, I was just going to say the next steps first, just so you're aware, what we'll put all of this here into the key insights and we'll put three main insights together, which will directly inform how we refine the service. So we'll present that then tomorrow as part of our final presentation. And thank you again for this. It's been really, really valuable. I really appreciate your time.
Well, thank you. Sorry that I was late and you're on the hoof, but I think you guys have captured the humanity and the complexity and how you are able to start to knit the things that really matter into a centre but with a programme. and with outcomes around people being connected with their families, getting to go home and then the feedback of the peer mentors back in you know that opportunity so well done honestly it's really really good Thank you so much. Okay, so I will see you tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to it. Can't wait to see how it all plays out. Me too. Okay, see you later.