“Our Mission Is To Inspire The Next Generation To Achieve Their Potential”
At Inside Out, our mission is to inspire the next generation to achieve their potential, as well as work within the corporate responsibility space, encouraging those in privileged positions to offer support and opportunities to those whose path is so often predetermined.
From honest storytelling and motivational speaking to empowering mentorship and life and mindset coaching, our services can help change the course of someone’s life, or influence others to use their privilege for good.
Meet Vernel Dolor, one of our volunteer speakers. As someone has been through prison, faced immense challenges and turned his life around in the most spectacular way, his story epitomises what Inside Out is all about - inspiring and empowering change.
Vernel’s Story
Vernel Dolor, has been on quite the journey to overcome negative role models, crime, prison sentences and reoffending. Creating a new path for himself and his family, when the odds were stacked against him, was no mean feat. However, he has turned his life around and hopes to use his experience to empower others.
Today Vernel is a Crime and Rehabilitation Consultant, an Emotional Resilience Caseworker and a Neuro Linguistics Coach Practitioner. Arriving from St. Lucia aged seven and growing up on a rough Hackney estate with no parents, Vernel describes himself as a product of his environment. He was recruited into crime at 11 years old, was involved in the 2011 London riots, and after stern judgement, was sentenced to his first time in prison.
On release, faced with deportation and unable to work, Vernel found himself involved in gang culture, resulting in more time behind bars. The wake-up call came in 2018 when his then 8-year-old daughter said she hated visiting him in prison and he finally felt determined to be the positive role model his daughter deserved.
Empowering Change
After meeting a friend who was involved with a charity working to reduce reoffending via work placements, Vernel embarked on its rehabilitation programme. Despite lucrative offers he resisted getting drawn back in to crime. On the program he learnt about meditation, breath work and the power of the mind. He was given a mentor - someone with a completely different lifestyle - who offered help and practical support.
Journey To Success
A placement turned into a job, and despite severe imposter syndrome and anxiety, Vernel found it an eye-opening and rewarding experience working on the shows he had watched in prison, and, for the first time, interacting in a work environment. Taking the opportunity to study, train and better himself, Vernel is now fully qualified to help others realise their potential and re-write their stories. Something he has done first-hand, he understands the challenges but knows what is possible when an individual seeks change and society embraces it.