At CLI we draw upon our lived experience of transformation to INSPIRE those we support to envisage a different life beyond the criminal justice system, addiction and homelessness. As a lived experience organisation, we provide hope that change can be achieved.

Our lived experience provides us with important insights into the practical, emotional and psychological barriers which people tend to face and how best to prepare and overcome those barriers. Through inspiration and hope change becomes both desirable and possible for our clients.

At the outset of our mentoring relationship we co-produce an action plan tailored according to the actual needs of the people we support and this orients the work we do together.

Within that action plan is a schedule of goals which will help our clients to develop their human, community and social capital and when achieved this will reduce their risk of reoffending or relapse back into addiction.

92% reported improved sense of hope as a direct result of working with CLI

At CLI we understand how hard it can be to TRANSFORM your life and the scale of change involved. We have experienced it. Sharing our knowledge helps ensure the people we support are better prepared for the challenge that is involved in leaving their past behind – physically, psychologically and emotionally.

We understand that achieving long-term goals is either more difficult or perhaps impossible without the basics in place. For example, without formal ID people are unable to apply for benefits, register with a doctor or open a bank account. We believe that achieving these practical outcomes is a move towards inclusivity, and a key pre-requisite for a life beyond criminality and addiction.

However, for us transformation is much more than this. It’s also about supporting our clients to step out of their comfort zone and try new things and helping them to develop internally so that their view of themselves, the wider world and their place in it is much more positive and aligned with pro-social living. As a result we help them to develop the skills and confidence so that they can live meaningful and fulfilling lives.

76.2% reported that as a direct result of working with CLI, they made life improvements that reduced their propensity to relapse in their recovery or reoffend.

Whilst we set out primarily to help the people we work with overcome addiction and desist from crime, our overarching objective is to support them to live more fulfilling, and healthy lives – to FLOURISH.

Much of the work we do centres upon advocacy and empowerment, helping our clients to overcome barriers and equipping them with the skills and resilience necessary for them to succeed in their lives. Our ultimate goal is to prepare our clients for independent living and so we begin to taper off the level of support as progression is made within the mentoring relationship.

Towards the end of the relationship many of our clients will show a desire to want to give back (typically through volunteering) and develop an appetite for entering into education, employment or training.

They may well have got to a place where they have worked intently on understanding (and potentially overcoming) the issues which underpinned their offending behaviour or addiction, and they have begun to take accountability for their past mistakes. This often acts as a catalyst in repairing broken relationships with family members. Importantly, all of these positive outcomes allow for a change in personal and social identity.

Community Led Initiative’s Impact Research Team is lead by Dr Craig Fletcher, Director of Impact, Research and Evaluation. Our annual survey is co-produced with staff and service users to ensure that we are ask the right questions, capture the true impact of the work that we do and provide us with actionable insights which enable us to continue to improve service delivery.

We are working hard to address the structural barriers in society by advocating on behalf of the people we work with and positively challenging the negative perceptions of ex-offenders and people in recovery. We want to make recovery and desistance visible and do so in a way which enables the public to be better informed about what is achievable for those who have been in addiction and/or transgressed the law.

The data from our annual impact survey 2025 overwhelmingly demonstrates that we are having a positive IMPACT upon the lives of the people we work with and, as a result, we would confidently assert that the rippling effect upon their local communities and the wider society is equally positive.

As our 2025 survey findings are largely in line with previous years survey findings, we are assured that the quality of work we are delivered is consistently excellent.

As an organisation we constantly strive for excellence. Our plan is to use this data and feedback to identify any opportunities for improvement in the support we provide for our service users and the skills of our outstanding team.