Pegasus Post: August 08, 2017

PEGASUS POST Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Tuesday August 8 2017 5
News
Long-serving probation officer retires
LINDA WINSKILL, a teacher
and then stay-at-home mother
with two small children had all
the makings of a Department
of Corrections staff member
without knowing it.
Thirty-two years on, Ms
Winskill retired last week from
her role as service manager in
Canterbury Corrections.
“A person working with offenders
needs to be able to connect
with people from all walks
of life,” says district manager
Lisa Joseph.
‘‘Being a mother, a teacher and
having a social conscience are
good places to start.”
“I wanted to work as a social
worker and had applied for a job
with the old Department of Social
Welfare,” Ms Winskill said.
“However, they required an assurance
that you were prepared
to go anywhere in the country to
work which I couldn’t do with a
young family.”
A friend was a manager at the
Department of Justice, as Corrections
was then, and suggested
she apply for a job as a probation
officer. She got the job and immediately
really loved it.
“There was no formal training
for the role of probation officer,
you learned on the job,” she said.
Ms Winskill’s first job was to
write reports before being given
a ‘nominal caseload’, working
with low risk offenders. This enabled
her to learn the sentencing
and offender management skills
that would become her craft.
“Working with people on
sentence is very challenging
and very rewarding,” she says.
“While a large proportion of the
people we work with we see only
once, there are those we get to
know far too well.
“Working with someone
to make change, through the
bumps they encounter along the
way, is incredibly rewarding. You
are changing what is sometimes
a lifelong behaviour and belief
system.”
Over the years, Ms Winskill
has worked with hundreds, even
REWARDING: Linda Winskill has retired after 32 years of public service.
thousands of people on sentence,
supporting them, holding them
to account for their offending
and working to help them make
changes in their lives.
“Linda has made a significant,
positive difference in the lives of
many people, offenders and colleagues,”
Mrs Joseph said.
“Being a probation officer can
be a tough job. Probation officers
find themselves being mentor,
support, parent, all rolled into
one. They need to be able to
effectively engage the offenders
they work with and to also hold
them to account. They need to
identify and act appropriately
to changes in behaviour, when
things are going well and when
they are going badly.”
Ms Winskill carried on her
Corrections career as a probation
officer until her appointment as
service manager in 1999 when
she took over the management of
a team of 13 probation staff.
There have been many significant
changes over the 30 years,
particularly in the number of
offenders in the community and
also the oversight required of
community offenders.
“While drug use has always
been a concern, the increased
use of methamphetamine has
been a growing challenge for
offenders, Corrections and the
community as a whole,” Ms
Winskill said.
“People start using drugs from
all sections of the community
and for a myriad of reasons,” she
says, “but many end up in the
same place; fighting an addiction
and with criminal charges.
“Seeing a person make a significant
change in their thinking
and behaviour; finishing a rehabilitation
programme, finding a
job, these are highly satisfying
parts of a probation staff members
job.”
New sentences and orders
introduced over the past 10 years
and new technology for managing
offenders in the community
have changed the role and community
expectations of the work
of Corrections and what can
be done to safeguard the community.
In 2003, Ms Winskill was seconded
to Wellington and worked
in Corrections’ National Office
for three months on developing
KPIs for probation staff. She was
also selected to be trained in a
cognitive skills course by two
Canadian criminologists, the
precursor to Straight Thinking
and MIRP.
“Attending the centennial
celebration for the probation
service in Wellington, representing
probation at a Corrections
conference in Brisbane, a
secondment to national office,
completing a diploma of social
work and my service manager
role were real career highlights
for me,” Ms Winskill said.
“It can be a hard job. It’s
particularly hard when we get
negative media. The Corrections
team do incredible work,
mentoring and supporting some
of our most difficult citizens and
it is great to see more about the
positive work Community Corrections
does.”
“Corrections is a really good
employer and there are lots of
opportunities to move to different
roles.
“The people who work for the
department are mostly great fun
to work with. The work is never
boring and time flies by. Look at
me, 32 years on.
“Most important to me are
the enduring friendships I have
made in my time here and the
wonderful Corrections’ staff,”
Ms Winskill said.
For her, and husband Alan,
who is also retiring from the
department after 17 years, retirement
includes “more time with
grandchildren, more time to
travel, garden, stained glass work
and sleeping in.”
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