With our project brand and service developing strongly, the next stage focused on exploring the branding and how it can be translated into a physical, real-world setting. This involves considering how the service will exist beyond concept, through tangible touchpoints such as the environment, service experience, and resources provided to prisoners during their transition. This stage allows us to identify practical opportunities to apply our brand in a meaningful way, ensuring it supports users effectively throughout their journey.
As we have established a strong foundation for our support brand within prison systems across Northern Ireland, I wanted to focus on what meaningful support we can provide to prisoners. This includes areas such as mental health, personal relationships with partners and children, and developing confidence in fatherhood. I believe it is important that our service goes beyond simply instructing users, instead offering guidance, answering questions, and providing ongoing support. The aim is to help individuals feel more prepared and supported as they work towards reconnecting with their families and rebuilding where they left off.
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This approach ensures the service feels supportive, practical, and genuinely centred around the user’s needs.
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Based on this direction, I decided to carry out further research to explore what meaningful support could be provided beyond initial ideas. While I had considered basic outputs such as information sheets and essential resources, I wanted to understand how support could extend further, particularly in ways that benefit individuals on a deeper, more emotional level. This led me to focus on developing ideas that go beyond simply informing users, instead exploring how our service can provide reassurance, guidance, and ongoing support that helps individuals feel more prepared, confident, and connected as they transition back into family life and society.
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Magilligan prisoners supported to be better dads
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The Northern Ireland Prison Service delivers family-focused programmes aimed at strengthening relationships between prisoners and their children through methods of:
This reinforces the importance of family connection in reducing re-offending. Our project can enhance this by designing tools that support these interactions, both during and beyond these sessions.
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Family Links, delivered by NIACRO, supports families affected by imprisonment by providing guidance and practical resources to help maintain relationships during custody, including:
This shows the value of physical information packs, but also highlights a gap in support aimed directly at the individual. Our project can build on this by creating more personal, reflective resources tailored towards fathers themselves.