Description of Organization

“New Life Stories (NLS) was established in 2014 to support children of incarcerated parents, the incarcerated and their families to help them create new life stories. NLS is an IPC (Institution of Public Character) non-profit organisation that aims to prevent intergenerational incarceration, reduce reoffending, and improve quality of life and increase community inclusion for the families.

Here at NLS, we strongly believe that familial relationships are essential to the reintegration of desistors. We encourage the building and rebuilding of connections between the incarcerated and their families to ensure that the bond between them is not lost in spite of their situation.

Our Family Strengthening Programme takes on a holistic approach to ensure that each child receives vital development and therapeutic services, while their parents are supported during their incarceration, and subsequently during their reintegration into society as desistors. The programme is supported by our Systemic Practice Pyramid comprising three pillars: Family Advocacy & Care, Befriending and Incare.

Our curriculum utilises a Family Systems approach to explore multiple-levels of interaction and relationships: the individual, their family, and community/ social systems. This enhanced Family Systems approach is a more robust system focusing on empowering every member of the family.”

Intended use of funds through the YFC 2023 programme

“We intend to use the funds raised to support our Family Strengthening Programme to benefit our families affected by incarceration through our following initiatives:
In-prison workshops for our incarcerated parents
Peer support groups for our desistors
Family play therapy
Counselling and therapy sessions
Weekly befriending sessions for our children, such as through the purchase of art materials, books and educational games
Run experiential learning journeys, events and activities for our children
Purchase of goodie bags for events such as our annual Children’s Day”

Engaging and involving the YFC participants

“To get to know our organisation and beneficiaries better, we would organise an introductory session by inviting them over to our community space, introducing them to our team, as well as sharing with them what we do at New Life Stories. We can support them further by inviting them to utilise our community space, should they require an area to conduct both their internal discussions and discussions with us. To get to know our beneficiaries better, they can also organise activities for our children and interact with them during the weekends or the school holidays. Some of the activities that the team can consider organising for our children include:
Educational related programmes focusing on various themes such as, music, arts, sports, and reading, or social and environmental issues, while ensuring a blend of play and learning through hands-on activities
Workshops aligned to the interests of our children such as through art, dance, music and sports
Experiential learning journeys to allow our children to learn from outside the classroom and home ”