Business success for former HMP Styal learner

A former learner from HMP Styal, who served a 3-year sentence managed to turn her life around for the better, thanks to the education and employability support she received whilst in prison. When the learner first arrived at Styal in 2022, she struggled with adapting and quickly fell into depression, worrying about whether she'd get her children back upon release.

Spending her first month mainly in her prison cell and rapidly going downhill, the learner realised she needed to do something to occupy her mind, which is when her pad mate suggested taking part in an English class with Novus. 

The learner was sceptical at first, but after attending classes found that it was nice to get out of her cell and talk to peers. She started enjoying going to lessons and socialising and forgot why she shut herself away in the first place, which is when she met Julie from Novus Works. They spoke about the learner's future and employment prospects, where the learner expressed an interest in becoming a beautician upon release. 

Shortly after her initial discussion with Julie, the learner asked if she could go into the Novus beauty salon, which meant the learner could be out of her cell most of the day, everyday working towards her future career. 

Once being allowed onto the beauty course; the learner made excellent progress and really enjoyed the course as well as socialising with the other learners in the salon. She managed to get her Level 2 in beauty course, a couple of months before she was released and started to seriously see beauty as her future career. 

Finding employment opportunities upon release

However, upon release the learner didn't really know how to get into the beauty industry and didn't have enough confidence to apply for jobs in a proper salon. So, she decided to do some part-time work elsewhere whilst figuring out what to do, but still practicing beauty treatments on her friends and family. 

On the way to her part-time job, the former learner had to walk past a beauty salon everyday which advertised botox and filler treatments. Intrigued by the treatments advertised, she decided to look into further training to be able to do those kind of treatments, and saved up enough money to be able to take part in the training. Her motivation was her children, as she knew if she did well in the training, she'd make good money from the treatments and hopefully get her children back. 

Business success for former learner 

Once she'd completed the training, the former learner started to do treatments from the comfort of her own home. She advertised to people locally and bookings came in fast! Within 12 months, the learner rented a new house which had enough room for her to have her own beauty room, where she could do the treatments. 

Due to her being able to afford a new home with a seperate beauty room, the learner started her own business and managed to get her children back. The former learner now runs a successful beauty and aesthetics business and has finally got back on her feet and can spend time with her children. 

Thanks to the education and employability support, the learner received from Novus and colleagues from Novus Works, the learner has been able to achieve her goal and get her family back. 

Education and employability support is fundamental to the successful rehabilitation of offenders. To learn more about our employment support and how to get involved, head over to our employment section on the website.