Junior

Hello and welcome to Can You Relate, my name is Junior McFarlane and I am a Director and Co-Founder of Can You Relate CIC.

Let me share my journey with you and give a bit of insight to my life experiences, and why I believe I am a great asset to the community and supporting young people in today's ever changing society.
As a young man who had problems in school I found it hard to communicate and instead displayed behaviours, this led to me eventually being permanently expelled from school and I never really looked back. As a young inexperienced teen, I thought I was ready for the 'road' lifestyle and what comes with it, or so I thought.

This led to my eventual Incarceration of a life sentence, of which I served 13 years. This experience gave me time to think, to look back and reflect on my life and the path I had chosen. I saw first hand how society had changed in my time the opportunities I had missed out on and how young people had began struggle with their moral compass.
I had a vision to try to heal the rifts of the Community I had grown up in and felt I no longer knew. To give something back to society and provide youths the support that I wished I had received whilst I was younger. My vision was to create something with the youths to help them achieve their full potential, and to not throw their lives away like I had.

My hope to support youths in my Community to choose a different path, a better path away from the road to the 'Criminal Justice Pipeline' our youths often get caught up in.

I decided I would bring my thoughts and experiences and collaborated with like minded colleagues that wanted change within our society too. Then in 2016 I began a project called 'Can You Relate.' Our project gives individuals an opportunity to 'relate' with others that may face similar issues in society, and are able to benfit from Peer support from each other without the fear of being judged.

To try and give the best of me to this project, I have reflected and built on my knowledge and personal experience, I recently completed two Academic courses which were 'Mentoring and Counselling Level 2' qualifications. I'm now expanding my knowledge and experience with a Specialist Level 3 Working with Youth & Gang Violence course created by the Pioneering Gangs Specialist Craig Pinkney.

What I have achieved so far;

 I have delivered numerous Motivational Speaking events in several universties through presentations, lectures and seminars about my journey through the criminal justice system

I have been previledged to going into HMP Feltham, HMP Wormwood Scrub, Hewell Grange Open and HMP Nottingham to give talks about my experiences

I have also received the 'Criminal Justice Aliance Award' for delievering Equality and Diversity within HMP establishments.

My life experiences this far have made me the man that I am today, It's a hard road when you don't have a helping hand or people that understand. I didn't always make the right decisions and follow the right pathways at times, but I am grabbing my second chance with both hands and have made changes in my own life that make me proud.

I think my contribution back to society is a life long project now, but it feels good contributing to society by giving other youths like me the support and guidance they need, to make a difference within their own lives and community. Positives changes don't come easy but we will support you no matter what your past entails.