Our Story

ID Essence is the young adult’s project of Imago Dei Prison Ministry. Formerly known as Kahaila-Reflex, our project began in 2012 when Kahaila, a café church based in East London, joined with national youth offending charity, Reflex, to have a positive impact on our local community by working with young adults in London women’s prisons. 

We started as a part-time project one day a week in HMP Holloway in 2012, and slowly grew over the next 4 years to become a full time project working not just in the prison, but also in the community with individuals after their release. HMP Holloway closed in 2016 and so our project relocated to another women’s prison in Greater London, where we have been based since then.

Since 2012, we have provided mentoring, outreach, chaplaincy support and innovative and accredited 'myLife' courses to over 800 people in prison. Each one vibrant, talented and unique, with a great deal to offer society. 

What We Do

MYLIFE

MyLife consists of 12 innovative education courses based on subjects and themes that young adults in prison themselves have expressed an interest in. For example, Managing Emotions; Relating to Others; Independent Living – Independent Growth; and Money.

The courses are accredited by OCR, which means the participant’s work can be recognised by potential employers upon release.

MyLife is different to other courses because its values are not only based around promoting the external development of life skills, but it also focuses on the internal growth of character that contributes to lifelong learning and stops offending behaviour. 

MyLife allows space for our beneficiaries to tell their story, share their experiences, and express how they hope to move forward with their life positively.

MENTORING & POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS

A study on Youth justice carried out in 2012 by the Centre for Social Justice found,
‘...many young people in custody do not have the stable and positive relationship with adults that are fundamental to successful rehabilitation. One-to-one voluntary support, such as mentoring, can help fill these gaps...’ 

We provide long-term mentoring or pastoral support for young adults in women’s prisons. Our mentoring and pastoral support sessions provide a safe space for individuals to speak through what is going on for them at that time and help them to develop skills such as the ability to self-reflect, invest in their own wellbeing or to think through any decisions they may need to make.

At ID Essence, everything we do is based upon building and sustaining positive relationships with those we work with. We want every woman+ we work with to know that we value them as an individual, and we are committed to supporting them in whatever way we can.

Through-the-Gate

Reintegrating back into the community after spending time in prison is a hugely difficult transition to make. The challenge is heightened if a person feels alone in this struggle, without positive people around them to support them and offer encouragement and help. Any skills learned and progress made in prison can seem a million miles away and no longer relevant.

Since January 2016, we have been providing Through-the-Gate support to young adults we work with. In this role we are able to provide practical support and assistance in tasks, alongside vital emotional and mentoring support. Practical support could include anything from form-filling, accompanying them to meetings and appointments, helping to access educational courses and signposting to relevant community agencies and employment and training opportunities. 

Chaplaincy support

ID Essence is a Christian project, which means that faith is an important part of who we are. Our base in the prison is with the chaplaincy department and a key part of our work is to support their work there.

We do this through assisting with chapel services and chaplaincy courses, offering a safe space for our beneficiaries who are wanting to explore questions of faith and by providing pastoral support to the prison community wherever needed. 

It is important to us as project that we are faith-based but not faith-biased, and we work with women from all faiths and none.