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I can't add much to what the people above me have. I can add my sympathy and I certainly empathise with the struggle.
I have the internal struggle of doing some courses only to be found I'll never get past a DBS even when spent. As Punter touched on, it's often about contacts, and I feel we're put in a difficult position, especially while unspent, because it feels like you have to hide/not be wholly truthful.
I'm self-employed and I started talking to a chap in a shop who was on his phone and I overheard he needed help with something, so I started chatting to him.
I did some work and invoiced him and it was all fine... but the guilt and paranoia, as I was/am Googlable, was a lot to deal with. I'd feel awful if his business was affected by being exposed to having links to the labels attached to my conviction. We got on well which increased the feeling of I had to make a decision whether to disclose or quit. Or maybe I could have carried on, who knows. But I chose to quit.
Imagine if it blew up, it's very easy to say afterward "you should have..." but maybe that's a ruthlessness versus conscience debate. Any input here is welcome!
I share this story because I didn't have anyone to ask about what to do, who would have the right answer anyway? I still wouldn't know what to suggest to someone who would find themself in this exact position because there are so many individualised circumstances to each of our situations. I feel these scenarios we find ourselves in, especially in terms of employment, can quite often feel like nobody else is going through this.
So while it's very easy for probation/groups helping ex-offenders to give advice about being self-employed, it's still tricky because the strength of character and confidence you need to build up clients is certainly not easy, especially when we've just taken a mental battering in the CJS and, as I've found, the fragility around an unwanted fallout without disclosure.
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Fighting or Accepting - its difficult to know which is right and when.
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