Lee, team manager for South Central Accommodation, shares how his lived experience, resilience and understanding of homelessness help people in the criminal justice system secure stable housing and break the cycle of reoffending.
A career in criminal justice support can grow from unexpected beginnings and Lee’s story shows exactly that. It began with a childhood marked by instability and survival. Growing up in a northern town where, as he puts it, “there was nothing to do, so me and my mates became our own entertainment,” Lee was pulled into crime. “By the time I was seven or eight the police were already at the door,” he recalls.
With older brothers already involved in offending and a community offering few alternatives, Lee slipped into a cycle of drugs, violence and repeated prison sentences. He talks about those years plainly because they shaped everything that followed. “It means I understand why people do what they do,” he explains.
A turning point
Fatherhood arrived early and unexpectedly. At 17, Lee learned he had a son, and soon after, two more children followed. He describes the relationship he was in as volatile; his health was deteriorating and the lifestyle around him was becoming increasingly dangerous. He found himself targeted by drug dealers and caught in escalating violence. Lee told his children honestly that staying meant prison or death. Their response to look after himself gave him the push he needed.
Finding a way forward
Lee moved several times, trying to break old patterns. Nothing stuck until he settled in Derby around seventeen years ago. After another short prison sentence, he was offered the chance to become a peer mentor.
He was referred through probation to the Ingeus peer mentoring programme. At the same time, with Ingeus support, he began a diploma in drug and alcohol addiction studies, completing it with honours.
Peer mentoring became the foundation of his new direction. He helped to develop Transition and Hope, an Ingeus rehabilitation programme, and volunteered before securing his first formal role in community support. Ingeus recognised his potential early on, valuing his lived experience and giving him the space to put it to positive use.
Experience that shapes leadership
Lee’s progression from community support worker to senior advisor and now team manager for South Central Accommodation has been driven by his lived experience. Much of that progression has taken place within Ingeus, where he has built a longstanding career shaped by trust, belief and the organisation’s commitment to people with firsthand knowledge. He trains his team with the same ethos he carries – people are not numbers and change is possible for everyone.
“Anyone can change. Some people just need someone to believe in them,” he says. “’I believe in you’, is what I say. The least you can do is believe in yourself’.”
Housing, he says, is the foundation of rehabilitation. “You need a roof over your head before you can look for a job.” His own experience of homelessness fuels his determination to secure accommodation for people. Ingeus gives him the platform to use his insight to challenge barriers and advocate for people who often feel written off by society.
Making a difference
For Lee the impact is clear. Reducing crime, restoring stability and helping people rebuild their lives. “It gives you a good feeling, knowing you’ve helped someone.”
Today Lee is settled, thriving and driven by the belief that no one is beyond change. His journey from crime to leadership shows the value of lived experience in the criminal justice system: understanding, compassion, credibility and a deep sense of humanity – qualities Ingeus has championed throughout his career.
