“Amier immediately stood out as a great Peer Mentor because of his kind and compassionate nature” – Kasey, Senior Switchback Mentor.
At Switchback we’re always looking for ways to reach more young men in prison, which is why we’re thrilled to announce our first-ever Peer Mentor – a new paid role for a young man currently serving a prison sentence.
Amier is currently in prison at HMP Isis and will use his experience and position to talk to his peers about Switchback and refer potential Trainees to our full time Switchback Mentors. Normally, Switchback Mentors spend at least one day a week in prison and the remainder in the community – the Peer Mentor role will allow us to have a constant presence inside the prison walls.
The Peer Mentor role aims to both widen Switchback’s reach in prisons, while also boosting lived experience representation within our team and offering new routes for serving prisoners to gain experience of mentoring. The position also builds on learning from the pandemic, meaning that if prisons were to ever close again, we’ll have a staff member on the inside regardless.
Thank you to the team at HMP Isis for supporting us to launch this initiative, and especially the Learning and Development team who have helped with referring people for the role and advertising the position.
Senior Switchback Mentor Kasey, who led the initiative, says: “Amier immediately stood out as a great Peer Mentor because of his kind and compassionate nature and the work he is already doing to support people on his wing. He is innately living the values Switchback encourages and is keen to support people to get there on their own, with the right support.”
“I’m looking forward to being a Switchback Peer Mentor and most of all I’m excited to help people,” Amier says. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for him.
