Story
We are a Christian faith-inspired international non-government organisation (INGO) with a heart for detainees of all faiths and none. And here are some snapshot stories about our first decade…
Birth
We started life in 2012 as the brainchild of Drs Mark and Rachael Pickering, two English family medicine specialists experienced in offender healthcare - that is, healthcare delivered behind bars to detained patients. They formed us as a non-profit corporation (known as a community interest company (CIC)) rather than a charity, in order to be able to deliver high quality, low cost healthcare to vulnerable patient groups, most especially those detained within the criminal justice system (CJS) - that’s prisons, police stations, forensic psychiatric units and other secure environments.
Heart
Healthcare professionals and researchers working hand-in-glove in the Philippines
The heart of our services - Healthcare, Expertise, Advocacy, Research and Training - developed over time. And in 2015 we started to use the profit from our commercial services within the UK and other High Income Countries (HICs) to deliver the same services either directly or indirectly within Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) on a pro bono or humanitarian basis.
Governance
Our UK Board chair, psychiatrist Dr Jeffrey Clarke had joined Drs Pickering in 2013. Drs Amy Watson & Melody Redman and Mrs Sarah Rhodes, our current UK Board Treasurer joined between 2016-2018. Then, in 2019-2020 as our operations extended into ever more complex territory, we added a third experienced secure environment specialist, Dr Alexander Bunn, two more junior doctors, Alexander Cary and Nandi Mnyama, and a consultant physician, Dr David Smithard.
Our UK Board in 2017 from left to right: Drs Rachael Pickering, Jeffrey Clarke, Amy Watson & Melody Redman, Mrs Sarah Rhodes and Dr Mark Pickering
migration
Within the UK we were based in Yorkshire until 2018 when we moved down to London, although we still provide research and training services in the North of England.
The special needs sensory room created at IHB in 2019 by UK medical students on elective with us
In 2017 we acquired our first non-UK operational base, Integritas House Baltao (IHB), which is near to a sex workers’ district on the western coast of the Philippine island of Luzon. And then in 2019 we expanded into a second Philippines base, Integritas House Olongapo (IHO), close to an ex-offenders’ residential area in the heart of the City of Olongapo.
growth
In 2020, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we released our Now we are 8: 2012-2020 Early years report, which summarises our activities since our conception.
A summary of our first decade will be out shortly.
Charity
Although at first our HIC income was able to support all of our LMIC activities, our humanitarian expenditure is now consistently outstripping our commercial activities. In common with many other non-government organisations (NGO), the pandemic caused the near collapse of our income base. And so we are in the process of applying to transform into a UK-registered charity so as to be able to access charitable grants and gift aid on individual donations.
child
And on 5th February 2021 we gave birth to our very own child. Integridad: Heart for Detainees Inc. is a SEC-registered Philippine NGO. Its board has the authority to administer our affairs in the Philippines, across the rest of the Western Pacific and in South-East Asia.
future
We go forwards, travelling along the route set out in our strategic plan, and helped around bumps in the road by our UK directors & Philippines trustees who, in turn, seek guidance from God.