News

Ingeus Justice team recognised at New Leaf Awards

13 Dec 2023

Congratulations are in order as we celebrate our two winners and two finalists at the New Leaf Awards 2023.

The New Leaf Initiative is a community interest company that provides support to those with experience of the justice system, to enable them to improve their lives and progress positively into stable employment. Helping individuals to overcome barriers such as homelessness, mental health, and addiction. 

Our justice services team are committed to supporting the employment of people with lived experience to help others with their own journey, whether that’s progressing into work with Ingeus or with other employers. 

Leonie Plumtree was presented with the Employee of the Year Award; one that recognises an individual with lived experience who has used this to support others. Leonie is one of our Personal Wellbeing Advisors who joined following release from prison after 13 months. She works passionately to deliver a mentoring service to people in prison or on probation, who often face barriers to reintegrating into society. 

Suzanne Hunt received the Network Ally of the Year award after consistently going the extra mile in her work to support those with lived experience. Suzanne is a true champion of our peer mentor scheme and dedicated Ingeus Academy, even helping to design it. She said: “I’ve seen so many people turn their lives around, and the most rewarding thing for me is seeing them into employment. When I first started that was almost unheard of. Now a lot of my colleagues are former peer mentors.”

Ingeus was also shortlisted for Employer of the Year, for demonstrating the value of lived experience across our organisation, and Stuart McCarren, Finance Benefit and Debt Advisor, was shortlisted for Employee of the Year. Starting off as a Personal Wellbeing Mentor in May 2022, Stuart has moved to different roles to share his experiences to support others, like himself, that have spent time in prison. 

Bearing witness to the impact that lived experience can have on shaping and improving other people’s lives, and being a part of it, makes receiving these awards for our team’s hard work even more meaningful. 

You can read more about our approach to Lived Experience in our report.

For more information about New Leaf.