New Connections is an organisation providing support for prisoners and ex-offenders with addiction and mental health challenges who are preparing for parole or release after a substantial period of imprisonment.
They provide guidance in prison through individual and group sessions and the agreement of individual recovery plans, giving the ex-offender the opportunity to recover from addiction and change the direction of their life away from drugs and crime. New Connections works primarily with Lifers and IPP Prisoners, supporting them to build a plan that will help them succeed on licence and avoid recall.
The challenge was twofold. First, to build an organisation capable of delivering at a professional level: governance, systems, staffing, and operational infrastructure. Second, to create a communications system that could speak credibly to commissioners, funders, and prison-service partners, while never reducing the people they support to a statistic. The work demanded honesty about what life looks like for Lifers and IPP prisoners coming out on licence, communicated with restraint and respect.
"We needed people to take us, and our clients, seriously, without resorting to fear, pity or jargon."
The scope began with transforming the organisation itself: converting from a sole trader operation to a limited company, then to a Community Interest Company in 2023, and building the operational infrastructure to match. Alongside that, the communications ecosystem needed to be built from scratch: visual identity, website, impact reporting, and funding application strategy. Each piece needed to do real work: opening doors with commissioners, securing funding, and giving prison staff and partners confidence in the programme.
As a Director, I was brought in to help transform New Connections from a sole trader operation into a fully structured limited company, later converted to a Community Interest Company in 2023. That process involved building the operational infrastructure from the ground up (systems, recruitment, staffing, training, and governance) alongside driving new project development and providing ongoing strategic direction. The creative and communications work sits within a much longer and deeper organisational partnership.
A serious, calm visual identity that signals professionalism and dignity, credible with commissioners and funders, accessible to clients and their families.
A clear, restrained website explaining the programme to multiple audiences at once: prison staff, parole boards, funders, and the people New Connections supports.
Annual and project-level impact reports that translate complex outcome data into a confident, evidenced narrative for stakeholders.
Strategy and writing support for grant and commissioning applications, sharpening the case for support and aligning bids with funder priorities.
Hands-on support shaping new projects from concept to delivery-ready proposal: costing, partner engagement, and outcome design.
Ongoing partnership on growth: commissioner outreach, stakeholder communications, and a marketing approach calibrated to a sensitive sector.
Day-to-day management of the operational team: recruitment, line management, performance, and the routines that keep a small organisation running well.
Working alongside the founders on the future direction of the organisation: long-term planning, priorities, and the decisions that shape what New Connections becomes.
Designing and delivering training for staff, volunteers and partners, building the capability the organisation needs to deliver consistently as it grows.
Systems for running the company: process, governance, reporting and the day-to-day infrastructure that makes the work repeatable, accountable, and fundable.
Building business partners across every area of the work. And the collaborative relationships with delivery partners, peer organisations, and stakeholders that the programme depends on.
Partnerships with universities to secure high-calibre internships, bringing in fresh thinking, supporting capacity, and creating real-world experience for emerging researchers and practitioners.
Design and delivery of training programmes for internal teams and external partners, including local authority staff, equipping people at every level to understand and support the New Connections model. Ongoing development as the programme expands into new settings.
New Connections communicates with the clarity and credibility its work deserves, across web, impact reporting and funding applications. The visual and verbal identity holds steady across every audience the organisation needs to convince.
Funding bids land with a sharper narrative; impact reports give commissioners and partners genuine confidence in the programme; and the website provides a single, dignified front door for staff, families, and partners.
The foundation is in place to grow, developing support services shaped by the lived experience of those who know what actually makes the difference, and building the capacity to deliver it.
Christina has been an integral part of the growth and development of New Connections. I have worked with her on various projects for over 16 years, and building New Connections with her at the forefront of many of our decisions has been easy, productive and enjoyable.
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