The Beth Centre
The Beth Centre
The Beth Centre is a partnership between Women in Prison and Eaves providing women in Lambeth who are at risk of being affected by, or who have been affected by, the criminal justice system with a holistic set of support services delivered from a safe, comfortable, woman only space, centrally situated in the borough. We work in female prisons in England and in the community offering one-to-one support, in person or via letter, telephone or email to women residing in Lambeth.
We personally tailor our advice and signposting for each service user identifying appropriate services; for example substance misuse, Through the Gate (TTG), women exiting prostitution and young women involved in gangs. The Beth Centre assists women to access accommodation, training and education, employment, health, benefits advice and support with families and relationships. We provide support to all women who have been touched by the criminal justice system as well as women who are or have been involved in prostitution. Women are encouraged to attend our drop in services and various group based workshops both in prisons and in the community, to address their support needs and to increase effective social and creative skills development; leading to empowerment and diverting women out of the criminal justice system.
We offer support, advocacy and assistance to women in the community, pre-release, serving sentences in the community or released on temporary license. The Beth Centre has on site access to probation reporting services. The overall aim of the Beth Centre is to provide women with support to reduce social exclusion and increase self-esteem. Central to our approach is that we work in partnership with voluntary and statutory sector agencies in order to promote joint working and offer complimentary support services for women affected by the criminal justice system.
All referrals are assessed in respect of meeting the service’s criteria, capacity of team, risk assessment amongst other considerations in line with Beth Centre policy.
Who can make a Referral?
Referrals to the project can be made in one of the following ways:
Via a number of statuary and non-statuary services such as:
- Community Groups
- Treatment Agency
- NHS
- Young Offending Team
- Social Service
- Police
- DIP team
- DV
- VAWG
- Lambeth College
- Spires
- Trust
- Legal Service
- Hostel
- Healthcare
- Probation
- Housing Officer
- Counsellor
- Psychotherapist
- CARATs Mental Health Team
- Resettlement
- Psychology
- Prison Officer
- Chaplaincy
- Self Referral
This list is by no means exhaustive.
How to Make a Referral
The referral process is very simple. This can be a letter, email, telephone call from either a professional or the service user herself. In addition a referral form needs to be completed and sent via email or fax to the following email address: or
Tel: 0207 840 6700
Fax: 0207 820 8907
We have regular referral meetings in which we review applications and if agreed the service user will be allocated to the appropriate key worker and a meeting will be arranged to carry out an initial assessment shortly afterwards.
The key worker will liaise with other services (both internally/externally) to ensure the individual has the right support plan in place on release or when they are in the community. This may include one off support and advice, ongoing community outreach support, signposting and/or referral to other agencies (based on individual needs).
The key worker will identify with the service user the frequency of the support required, including service user reviews (based on progress and identified need).
Exit planning will include a full risk assessment of service user, review of progress and access to mainstream services where considered appropriate.