Phones can be more scary than you think!

It's a pretty extreme way to sort your life out but, for me, going to prison allowed me to do just that. Really. Of course, the simple daily grind and routine, slamming doors, jangling keys and shouts of 'Get your hot water ladieeeeeeeeees' probably wouldn't be enough for anyone to turn the corner but mine was a sentence laden with opportunity; opportunity I seized with great relish.

It started with a course (sorry if a song just popped into your head), a BTEC in digital media. If I say so myself I did very well, getting an overall distinction and a massive boost to my confidence and self-esteem. And that led to the ultimate prize, a placement with IJP as their first ever Production Assistant, commuting daily from prison to their offices in London. An actual job! Like a normal person!

Obviously getting the job wasn't as simple as just doing well on the course and I'm not sure that was even a factor. The application process was like that of any job including an interview at which I was more than a little nervous. But I got through it and thanks to that and some serendipitous timing regarding eligibility for licenced release the first placement was mine. I'd have loved a glass of champers to celebrate but I was in prison so I had a cup of tea. Closely followed by another one. And then maybe one more. I do like tea.

The job itself was completely different from anything I'd ever done before. It wasn't mind-numbingly dull for a start. Every day offered me a new challenge, new people to meet, new things to arrange, the odd article to write. Before I hadn't even known I could write.

There were challenges I probably felt at the time I could have done without, for example approaching Monty Don and Grayson Perry with invitations for the company launch. They looked at me as though I was mad. Maybe it was my manic fixed grin? While in prison I had also inexplicably developed a phobia of using the telephone and looked for more creative ways of avoiding it ('No really, their preferred method of communication is morse code/semaphore/beacon lighting'), and I gave a speech at a conference which was the single most fear-inducing experience of my life, worse even than my trial (which was no picnic). I was rubbish too. I'd written it before I got there and simply read it out without looking up once.

Although I felt it was disastrous it hasn't stopped me from doing it since (similarly with me never looking up) and I have IJP to thank that I now have the confidence to put myself in that position despite being useless at it. Strangely enough the phone hasn't been ringing off the hook with offers of engagement as an after-dinner speaker. Just as well as I probably wouldn't answer the phone anyway.

Fiona writes a successful blog and is currently working on a book for publication. Prior to her placement at IJP Fiona completed her studies at the Media House, a project managed by Media for Development, IJP's founder organisation which runs various projects using media as a tool to re-engage and empower isolated communities.