The story behind Exemplar Group cannot truthfully be presented as the achievement of one person. It is the product of years of sustained investment by prison staff, recovery professionals, counsellors, sponsors, friends, volunteers and community organisations—people who recognised potential even during periods when Adam struggled to recognise it within himself. Between 1997 and 2025, Exemplar Group founder Adam J. Robinson spent sixteen years across young offender institutions and adult prisons. In 2006, while homeless and dependent on heroin and crack cocaine, he received an IPP sentence with a two-year tariff following the robbery of a sandwich shop. From 2007 onwards, numerous prison officers, educators, support workers and other members of staff invested considerable time, patience and belief in Adam’s development. Their interventions created opportunities for reflection, learning and change within an environment that could also produce profound psychological harm.

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A defining turning point came in 2010, when Adam entered the RAPT programme—now delivered by The Forward Trust—and was introduced to Twelve-Step recovery. The RAPT counsellors challenged his thinking, helped him confront addiction and introduced principles of honesty, accountability, service and mutual support that would fundamentally change the direction of his life. Following release in 2012, Adam entered residential rehabilitation with StreetScene at Allington House in Bournemouth. Through Twelve-Step sponsorship and fellowship, he began constructing a life beyond addiction and imprisonment. Over the years that followed, he spent six years working within the restaurant industry while attending college, undertaking counselling training and serving in voluntary roles within rehabilitation services and hostels supporting young people. The concept of helping others became central to his recovery. Sponsors, colleagues and people who became close friends remained beside him for more than a decade—including throughout three difficult IPP recalls. Their consistency demonstrated that recovery is sustained through relationships, belonging and people who refuse to abandon one another when circumstances become difficult.

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During Adam’s final recall at HMP Holme House, prison officers, Safer Custody staff and the team working within the Psychologically Informed Planned Environment invested heavily in his safety, recovery and progression. Staff supported him through severe psychological distress while encouraging education, responsibility and service to others. Within the PIPE unit, Adam established and chaired NA and AA meetings, continued Twelve-Step work, practised prayer, meditation and journalling, and completed his BA (Hons) in Criminology and Psychology. During that same recall, New Connections Support CIC became another vital part of this network. Edward Baillie travelled considerable distances to visit Adam, prepared evidence for his parole dossier and worked alongside prison, probation, community and legal professionals to develop a recovery and release plan. Edward, Dean Louis and the wider New Connections team remained involved throughout repeated parole adjournments and some of the most difficult years of Adam’s life.

In January 2025, Edward gave evidence at Adam’s final parole hearing.

 

Adam was released on 10 February 2025 and progressed into independent living on 7 May. In June, he established the first Narcotics Anonymous meeting in Morpeth’s history. He subsequently completed an MA in Crime and Justice with Distinction and launched Exemplar Group at Alnwick Business Festival in February 2026. Exemplar Group therefore represents far more than one person’s journey. It carries forward the lessons, compassion and accumulated investment of everyone who contributed to that transformation. Its founding belief is simple: when people are met with sustained support, meaningful opportunity, appropriate challenge and genuine human connection, pain can be transformed into purpose—and previously dormant potential can become a source of leadership, service and wider social value.