Our Mentoring Service

Cambridge Mentoring Service (CMS) offers a comprehensive mentoring service for offenders.

CMS is underpinned by the core belief that offenders have the capacity to change. Our mentoring programme assists them in taking responsibility for making their lives better, increasing their social capital, and realising their potential. CMS is based in the heart of Cambridge and we believe that this localism is critical to success, both in terms of our understanding of our community and the importance of community safety, and for the success of the programme for offenders. 

We seek to close the divide between offenders, who are often found on the margins of society, and the community - offering them advice, assistance, and friendship - the original mission of the Probation Service.

CMS has been specifically designed to offer support to statutory agencies and other partners who facilitate offender recovery, particularly the newly formed Community Rehabilitation Companies. Our mission ties in with ‘Transforming Rehabilitation – A strategy for reform’, in which the government has championed the use of mentors as the basis of rehabilitation. This applies specifically to those 65% of low to medium risk of harm offenders, currently supervised by the Probation Service, that have been transferred to Community Rehabilitation Companies.

Cambridge Mentoring Services follows the principles set out by the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation and we are currently applying for the approved standard.