Bedford College alumna, Carolyn Butlin (Medieval and Modern History, 1981), Service Delivery Manager at Essex Community Rehabilitation Company, was awarded an MBE for services to Probation and Community Safety in this year's New Year Honours list. She spoke to us about her time at Bedford College and her career journey.
Carolyn was drawn to study at Medieval and Modern History at Bedford College by the passion and enthusiasm of her lecturers (such as Professor Caroline Barron OBE and Professor Pamela Pilbeam). “I knew as soon as I attended the interview, that this was where I wanted to be,” she says. “Bedford taught me to think for myself, and to take a wider, questioning perspective of the world, two skills which I believe have led me to my current position.”
After graduating in 1981, unemployment was high and she had difficulty finding work so Carolyn filled her time with volunteering. She was also busy tracing her maternal family tree, and in the course of her research, she made contact with a relative who introduced her to the probation service and set her on her career path. “My Great Aunt was then working as a Probation Service Officer and she invited me to spend a day with her at Havering Magistrates’ Court,” Carolyn says. “From the moment I stepped through the doors, I was ‘hooked’ and thereafter decided that I would like to do this sort of work.”
Carolyn’s first post in the probation service was as Community Service Supervisor, before taking the role of Breach Officer. Having decided to then undertake further training, she applied for courses to train as a Probation Officer and, at the same time as undertaking a CQSW (Certificate of Qualification in Social Work), secured a place on the MSc Applied Social Studies Course at Green College, Oxford, and completed a placement with Essex Probation Service.
After qualifying and graduating in 1989, Carolyn spent her first year as a fully-fledged Probation Officer at the Grays Probation Office in Essex. After maternity leave, she ended up working as a part-time Probation Officer and then moved offices to Southend, where she was initially in a Court Team, writing pre-sentence reports to inform decisions made by Magistrates and Judges. “This was an extremely busy team, and the essay writing skills I had acquired at Bedford College certainly stood me in good stead!”
Following ten years as a main grade Probation Officer, Carolyn was encouraged to take a step up and became Senior Probation Officer with managerial responsibility. “This gave me a new platform to work as I was able to develop some of my more creative skills - I developed a programme called ‘Driving Ahead’ in Southend, which could be imposed by the Court as part of a Community Sentence. The programme was aimed at non-English speakers convicted of driving offences, to support them to not only improve their knowledge of the English language, but also in understanding the legal requirements of driving in the UK. The programme was a considerable success and ran for 2-3 years.”
In 2014/15, Essex Probation Service was part of the Government’s Transforming Rehabilitation process, and Carolyn was allocated to the Community Rehabilitation Company in Essex. “This was a challenge for myself and my staff, but I believe has given me a new perspective, having worked for the public sector previously for many years, and has certainly increased my opportunities for creativity.”
Currently, Carolyn is Manager - Service Delivery for the Basildon Team, with responsibility for 12 staff and approximately 550 cases across the Basildon and Brentwood areas of Essex. “I greatly enjoy multi-agency working, and am heavily involved with the Community Safety Partnership locally. The greatest reward for me is to see a Service User make changes to their lives, and break the cycle of offending. There are always new challenges in the wake of the increase in gang culture and knife crime, but throughout the 36 years I have now been working within the Criminal Justice System, I would say that crime changes as society changes, and that this is not a new phenomenon.
“I still love my job and find people and their behaviour fascinating - I can honestly say that I have never been bored at work!” Carolyn says, “I have been both thrilled and overwhelmed by being recognised in the Queen’s New Year Honours, but feel very much that this is a shared award. Without the hard work of my team and colleagues over the years, I could not have done what I have done. I see the time I now have left with the service to be very much about the learning and development of new staff coming through, and being able to share positively the experience that I have gained.”
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