We are Trail-Blazers in name and in deed!

We were the very first charity to ‘blaze a trail’ and provide a mentoring service to young offenders in prison and ‘through the gate’ into the community upon release.

We solely concentrate on what we set out to do in 1998 when our charity first started - mentoring young offenders. We have a unique product and we aim to offer this to as many young offenders as we can reach. 

We are currently established in three Young Offender Institutions (YOIs) and expect to expand in to two further ones this year. Through our committed and dedicated team of almost 100 volunteers, Trail-Blazers works in close partnership with YOIs, prison staff and other stakeholders to prevent re-offending. Volunteers will work with young people up to six months prior to release to aid successful resettlement through intensive mentoring, support and signposting to specialist agencies. This support is then continued in the community by volunteers for up to nine months.

Of the young people Trail-Blazers worked with in 2010; 29 have been released and of those only four have re-offended, corresponding to 14% re-offending rate measured over a one year period. This is increadible as the national re-offending average is 74 % over the same period of time.