About Dr Junior Smart OBE FCGI
From a prison cell to a doctorate, my story is one of transformation, purpose, and belief that no one is beyond change.
After receiving a twelve-year sentence for a serious drug-related offence, I made a decision that would redefine my life: to use my experience to help others avoid the same path. Prison exposed me to fear, isolation, and regret, but also to possibility.
While serving my sentence, I trained as a Samaritans Listener, supporting people in prison at their lowest moments, and set up a literacy scheme Toe By Toe there for those who could not read or write.
Those small acts of service gave me something I had not felt in years: hope.
By the time I left prison, I knew I wanted to dedicate my life to helping others find their way back from the edge. That determination led to the creation of the SOS Project, an ex-offender-led initiative offering practical support and mentoring to young people involved in gangs, crime, and exploitation. What began as a small South London pilot quickly grew into one of the United Kingdom’s leading violence-intervention programmes, supporting hundreds of young people each year to break free from gangs and build better futures.
The SOS Project did more than change lives. It changed perceptions. It showed what happens when lived experience is recognised as expertise. Over the years, it became a blueprint for others, winning multiple national awards and influencing practice across London and beyond.
Since then, I have continued to work at the intersection of practice, policy, and lived experience, shaping national and local responses to serious youth violence and child criminal exploitation. I have advised the Home Office, police forces, safeguarding boards, and local authorities, helping to embed more compassionate and context-led approaches to intervention.
Education has been central to my journey. I hold a First Class BA (Hons) in Youth Work, a Distinction MA in Applied Criminology and Youth Justice, and a Doctorate in Policing, Crime and Security from the University of West London. My doctoral study, “Ties That Bind,” explored the hidden harms faced by families whose children become entangled in county lines and criminal networks, a perspective too often overlooked in national debate.
I am also an Honorary Doctor of Education, a Fellow of the City and Guilds Institute, and recipient of an OBE for services to young people and the community. Each of these recognitions reminds me that even from the most difficult beginnings, extraordinary things can grow when people are given belief and opportunity.
Through Smart Training & Consultancy, I now channel nearly two decades of frontline and policy experience into training, research, and storytelling that challenges systems and empowers professionals. My work bridges the gap between theory and lived experience, equipping practitioners, educators, and leaders to see beyond behaviour and into context. It encourages them to ask not only what is wrong with you? but what happened to you?
I have seen firsthand that every act of support has the power to change a life. When we listen, believe, and act with compassion, we can interrupt cycles of harm before they become legacies.
Every life can be rebuilt.
Every system can do better.
And no one is beyond change.