As we in the recovery college embark on bringing our brand emancipatory recovery education into the Irish Prison Service, Aaron Prison Recovery Lead Coordinator writes a reflection at the beginning of this exciting project.

Sitting just inside the main gate of Mountjoy, at the prison guards station, the noise of gates and keys very much to the fore. I am waiting for a prison guard to escort me further beyond
the walls; it is my first local implementation meeting. I take a breath; a moment to check in with myself – my heart is with the human experience, the men, the women, who have
passed this threshold to not pass back for months or possibly years. The families, the children, cross this threshold weekly to visit their loved ones. The many stories of people I
have worked with over the years, suddenly present in my heart.

My mind, ever the logical friend, is with the current task at hand; implementing a Recovery Education Framework in a number of prison sites. The challenge for a Project Coordinator is
how to weave together the ideas, needs and often differing systematic pressures that exist for each of the stakeholders. Discovering where edges can move, even if only slightly.
Where differing cultures can listen, without feeling threatened. Where change can begin to diffuse and soften, allowing the possibility of something new to emerge.
Finding common ground is always the best foundation from which to begin. Overwhelmingly the common ground for all the stakeholders in this project is the wish to provide the best
possible service to those they serve. Care and rehabilitation that is meaningful for those it wishes to support. As I move beyond the project's working group and begin to meet those
working operationally on the ground, the sense of wanting to do things the right way has not faltered.

Of course I do not want to paint an unrealistic picture. I have been a manager within people services for long enough to know that systems tasked with care and support can be places
of further trauma. That not all staff working with vulnerable people embody principles of trauma informed practice. That many people have been disempowered by policy and
procedure that speaks of doing the very opposite. I have no doubt that change is needed here also.

Practically, I have been working on the first phase of the project. Ensuring the core working group, made up of the various stakeholders, are in agreement of the strategic and
operational goals. I have been on the ground meeting with individuals already working in this space, having conversations and developing relationships to ensure the right people are in
place. We have agreed membership of the national steering group and national advisory group, both are planned to meet for the first time in early November. We now have a national
facilitation team, all of whom are experienced facilitators. Many are already bringing community development projects into the prison system. The scene is set, the curtain ready
to be lifted, the possibilities yet to unfold.