Latest / Voices for Voices® / Breaking Barriers: How Reentry Support Changes Lives | Episode 219

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Breaking Barriers: How Reentry Support Changes Lives | Episode 219 · Voices for Voices®

• 0:01
  Justin Alan Hayes: Welcome to this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast.
• 0:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: I am your host, founder and executive director of Voices for Justin Alan Hayes.
• 0:10
  Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for joining us today.
• 0:12
  Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for your support for our organization.
• 0:15
  Justin Alan Hayes: If you could give us a big thumbs up like share comment, we would appreciate that, appreciate that and can't say enough about being able to share this content with you here in Northeast Ohio in the United States and 51 countries or 500 cities across the world.
• 0:36
  Justin Alan Hayes: So thank you for allowing us the opportunity to do that.
• 0:41
  Justin Alan Hayes: Very excited to have our guests here in studio today.
• 0:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: One of the areas that oftentimes gets overlooked for one reason or another are individuals who have been incarcerated.
• 0:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: They're getting close to getting out or they've been out for a period of time could be as little as a day or two and up to maybe it could be into the months, and so what we wanted to really talk about today is what we call reentry, and I was really educated at the beginning last year when I first attended, like what that all meant, and so in my in my head my faulted head was trying to think of what re-entry really is, and and so in my head I was thinking oh well, individuals, you know they, they get out and then things are set up for them.
• 1:50
  Justin Alan Hayes: You know housing and food and employment, transportation, among other things.
• 1:58
  Justin Alan Hayes: And I was definitely wrong and what my assumptions were, and I was greatly surprised with the individuals.
• 2:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: We're going to talk today about the organization, the Citizen Circle here in Summit County, because that is what opened my eyes to what reentry really is, because I think that's just key for us to understand, just like I was misunderstood, what actually reentry is.
• 2:35
  Justin Alan Hayes: You may be the same Friends, family, loved ones may think similar, and then also we look at we don't have to love the crime or crimes that individuals go through, but we can love the person.
• 2:56
  Justin Alan Hayes: And that's one aspect of the citizen circle that I noticed from the very first meeting that, okay, individuals are not going to come with a wide variety of backgrounds, but we want to do as much as we can and kind of treat others how we'd like to be treated if we were in that type of a situation.
• 3:20
  Justin Alan Hayes: So that long intro to bring you up to speed with our guests.
• 3:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: So in studio we have the co-leaders of the Citizen Circle here in Summit County, ohio, lisa Dolan and Sean Bonner.
• 3:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: So thank you both for joining us, thanks for having us Absolutely.
• 3:41
  Justin Alan Hayes: So, sean, we'll start with you what got you interested in reentry work and what you do at South Street, and just how the emotions really tie into the individual that there First of all, I myself am a justice involved adjusted impacted individual and I had a while in prison.
• 4:13
  Lisa Dolan: I had an opportunity to first of all reflect and then second of all understand how God wanted to use me to just have an impact on other individuals while in prison.
• 4:29
  Lisa Dolan: And then I knew I had to make a difference or a change in my life.
• 4:34
  Lisa Dolan: So one thing led to another as far as going to school and just rebuilding my life.
• 4:40
  Lisa Dolan: So I entered the School of Social Work.
• 4:42
  Lisa Dolan: That led to an internship.
• 4:45
  Lisa Dolan: The internship was only 300 hours and so I volunteered for about 13 more months in my internship and I understood and loved the spirit and powerfulness of just volunteering and giving your heart and, first of all, making diffe lives.
• 5:06
  Lisa Dolan: But then um under purpose in my life.
• 5:12
  Lisa Dolan: So th at the exit program in Ac, my internship in my volun led to employment at Acron UMADAP while still volunteering with the Summit County Reentry Coalition that responded over to South Street Ministries and I volunteered there facilitating the reentry.
• 5:38
  Lisa Dolan: It was a we call it a program but it's just a meeting the reentry meeting.
• 5:43
  Lisa Dolan: For about four years.
• 5:45
  Lisa Dolan: I moved to the Board of Directors for about two years, sat in on about three interviews and then I was asked why I had not applied for the job.
• 5:53
  Lisa Dolan: While all the time while at Akron UMADOP, lisa and I had already been trained by Ohio Department of Corrections for our Summit County Citizen Circle, by Ohio Department of Corrections for our Summit County Citizen Circle.
• 6:04
  Lisa Dolan: So it was a task up to us after we received the training to locate individuals with the same caring hearts.
• 6:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: That's really I say it's real touching, but it really is, because it does really bring the emotional spirit into it.
• 6:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: We talk about being impacted as well, that when you know what it's like, so when you're sitting across the table or you're on the phone or email, you're able to relate to individuals.
• 6:43
  Justin Alan Hayes: And I think there might be some hesitation with some people that might not reach out for help because nobody cares, nobody wants to help.
• 6:54
  Justin Alan Hayes: I'm just going to wither away and end up in the same place.
• 6:58
  Justin Alan Hayes: Did you find that, and still probably find that today, to be the case?
• 7:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: Just a part of the ministry?
• 7:07
  Lisa Dolan: Well, you may have some individuals that don't really know how to ask for help, but at the most part everyone is looking for help.
• 7:17
  Lisa Dolan: Everyone is searching for some type of relief.
• 7:19
  Lisa Dolan: No one wants to feel bad.
• 7:21
  Lisa Dolan: Some people just don't know how or the avenues to search to actually find that help.
• 7:26
  Lisa Dolan: So we are broadcasted in most of the prisons and the orienters in Summit County and also in most recovery centers as well, because, as we define reentry, sometimes it don't mean just coming from prison.
• 7:43
  Lisa Dolan: Nowadays.
• 7:44
  Lisa Dolan: Sometimes it don't mean just coming from prison.
• 7:46
  Lisa Dolan: Nowadays it could be, you could be coming from a mental health facility, a recovery facility, and there's barriers to success in each situation and so there's no situation cookie cutter.
• 7:59
  Lisa Dolan: So we just meet folks where they are and assist them in whatever they needs to alleviate their own personal barriers.
• 8:06
  Justin Alan Hayes: Yeah, that's incredible, elisa.
• 8:08
  Justin Alan Hayes: How did you get started with reentry and just the line of work and what goes into it?
• 8:17
  Justin Alan Hayes: Because there's a lot of opportunities out there and some individuals might be like, oh, I never want to do something like that, but when they hear the stories and experiences, it may be an interest of individuals, whether they're here locally or and across the United States or and in their own country.
• 8:39
  Justin Alan Hayes: So you know what.
• 8:40
  Justin Alan Hayes: That gives me another perspective to look at things.
• 8:45
  Shawn Bonner: So for me, it was not with any intentionality, it was all I always say it's God puts you where you're supposed to be and what you're doing.
• 8:53
  Shawn Bonner: So my background basically I've been with Summit County government will be almost 25 years, but nearly 23 years of those I was child support.
• 9:12
  Shawn Bonner: So here I am as a child support worker and then in 2011, I got a promotion to become an outreach coordinator and develop a program.
• 9:22
  Shawn Bonner: The program was meant for individuals that were having difficulty paying their child support and the idea behind it was finding out why, identifying barriers, and then what could I do to assist.
• 9:37
  Shawn Bonner: Well, a lot of the people that I was seeing that were having difficulty was because they weren't working, because of criminal backgrounds.
• 9:47
  Shawn Bonner: So I started seeing more and more of the that criminal background element.
• 9:55
  Shawn Bonner: We now refer to justice impacted individuals.
• 9:59
  Shawn Bonner: Terminology changes with all things.
• 10:02
  Shawn Bonner: With that justice impacted, we're looking for people.
• 10:06
  Shawn Bonner: Our meaning of it is that were they ever in jail, prison, probation, parole, and so once I started doing that program, it started opening me up.
• 10:20
  Shawn Bonner: I was going into prisons the state prisons, stuff like that so I was really being more and more exposed to this population and then, as Sean said, in 2018, we were trained by the Ohio Department of Corrections for Citizens Circle.
• 10:37
  Shawn Bonner: They don't tell us what to do, they don't monitor us.
• 10:48
  Shawn Bonner: They just sort of gave us a training on sort of what to expect and maybe how to deal with this population.
• 10:52
  Shawn Bonner: So Sean and I started that in 2018.
• 10:54
  Shawn Bonner: We co-chaired it and we still co-chair and that's kind of how it was.
• 11:01
  Shawn Bonner: Just all by accident or God's planning.
• 11:04
  Shawn Bonner: It was never my intentions to say, hey, this is what I'm going to do, but I think Sean and I make we work 100%.
• 11:15
  Shawn Bonner: I'd be lying if I did, because I don't have the lived experiences, but together we are the yin and yang of making it all work.
• 11:25
  Shawn Bonner: I think back to the story of the first time we met.
• 11:32
  Shawn Bonner: I was in the hospital and I was in the hospital for a long time Together.
• 11:37
  Justin Alan Hayes: We kind of are the yin and yang of making it all work.
• 11:41
  Justin Alan Hayes: Oh yeah, and I think back to education.
• 11:46
  Justin Alan Hayes: You have your textbooks and then you have clinicals or experience.
• 11:53
  Justin Alan Hayes: I remember a market research class I had.
• 11:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: There were exams over different principles and words and definitions, but then there was, okay, now go out and do it.
• 12:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: And when you go out and do it, there might be some principles, kind of at the beginning and some training that actually are the case, and then there might be some that once you get into it, it's like, okay, I'm starting to see this trend and I think that's helpful for individuals, no matter what career they're really looking at, that it's good to have that textbook education, but when you're really in that with the lived experience and sitting across the table or an email or on the phone, that over the course of time there are things that you've picked up, that you're able to pick them up and then run with that and not be like, oh, hold on, I gotta, I gotta go check the train, I gotta go check the book.
• 12:57
  Justin Alan Hayes: It's okay, here's what's happening.
• 12:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: So I need to continue down this road until there's a shift in that.
• 13:07
  Shawn Bonner: I think you know you talked about whether it's people in the United States, other countries, whatever.
• 13:12
  Shawn Bonner: If a person's sitting there saying to themselves boy, I'd like to do something like that.
• 13:18
  Shawn Bonner: If a person's sitting there saying to themselves, boy, I'd like to do something like that.
• 13:21
  Shawn Bonner: It doesn't take a lot of training or a lot of education.
• 13:23
  Shawn Bonner: There's something really simple about it, and that is do you have the heart for it?
• 13:29
  Shawn Bonner: Do you have the capacity to be nonjudgmental and you were talking at the very beginning about loving the person you don't have to love the crime that they may have committed.
• 13:44
  Shawn Bonner: So it's really something that is more about who somebody is than what they display on paper with PhDs or anything like that.
• 13:58
  Shawn Bonner: It's just good hearted people that care about their fellow man.
• 14:04
  Lisa Dolan: So, and just as that, justin, as you have witnessed that citizen circle, the first thing we do before we do anything else is listen, open our hearts, erase from the last person and just listen to what the other person is conveying and then, one by one, address each situation simultaneously with the best care that we can give them and the best referral that we can give them.
• 14:37
  Lisa Dolan: And so I think with that, just by that, that's kind of our secret ingredient right there.
• 14:45
  Lisa Dolan: There's no schooling or anything, no textbook can tell you how to listen, but sometimes we listen so deep that before we respond to anything, we go into prayer and ask God to kind of direct our conversation so that it's really hitting on the points that it needs to hit on and not the points that we want it to hit on.
• 15:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: That's important.
• 15:14
  Justin Alan Hayes: And I think another key is, while there are individuals where you try to vet ahead of time to get scheduled and that doesn't always necessarily mean that that individual is going to come and there could be a variety of reasons why they may not have made it.
• 15:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: But we also accept walk-ins or off-camera or just chatting about, just want to experience, not getting into specifics, but an individual that hey, stop by and we'll get you in.
• 15:53
  Shawn Bonner: We try not to turn anyone away because if they are there, they are saying I'm here, I'm here right now because wait an hour or two.
• 16:04
  Shawn Bonner: They may change their minds when they don't know what to expect or they're not used to receiving the kind of help and just support from total strangers that we don't ask anything in return.
• 16:17
  Shawn Bonner: That's kind of unique for most people.
• 16:21
  Shawn Bonner: So yeah, we try not to turn anyone away.
• 16:32
  Lisa Dolan: Well, I spoke about the spirit before we started, and the circle has a spirit, and that spirit is felt by individuals sitting outside of our conference room.
• 16:46
  Lisa Dolan: I remember even one day a guy left and he felt so overwhelmed.
• 16:52
  Lisa Dolan: He brought back about two or three people to our citizen circle and about two or three people to our citizen circle, and he spoke so highly of us.
• 17:02
  Lisa Dolan: They wanted the same thing that he received.
• 17:03
  Lisa Dolan: They didn't understand and it was a scheduled event, but, like Lisa said, we don't turn anyone away, and so we just simultaneously made efforts to do something for those individuals as well, just so their time mattered and the energy for them to just come and look for hope mattered, and so, like she said, we don't turn anyone away.
• 17:28
  Justin Alan Hayes: And that's incredibly important.
• 17:29
  Justin Alan Hayes: I mean we can think about ourselves that if we show up somewhere, we do something.
• 17:34
  Justin Alan Hayes: There's an intentionality there and an individual.
• 17:39
  Justin Alan Hayes: And again, I don't know from my experience, but I can just imagine that it takes even more guts and bravery to come and talk about maybe some of the worst times of their lives, worst things that they potentially did, and then again talk about it in front of strangers and going okay, like what's this going to do?
• 18:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: And then once they and I noticed it, just I mean it almost brings.
• 18:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: I mean it brought me a little bit to tears the first time because to see how that love and just connecting on a human level like hey, are you hungry or where are you going to get dinner from, and what do you got going on today and and just offering what we, we have to offer, and then to see so many other organizations and community members be part of that, I don't want to want to want to be there and they could be doing anything.
• 18:41
  Justin Alan Hayes: We could be doing anything in the world, but if we're here, we're here for a reason and and so that's, I think, very important that we don't, you don't turn anybody away because it might've took that person that I know from my, my depression, that there's times where you don't want to get out of bed.
• 18:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: There's times, oh, I don't want to brush my teeth Like just little stuff.
• 19:02
  Justin Alan Hayes: So for a person to, if they don't have transportation, to like find out, like the bus schedule and what stop it is, if they've been impacted, you know, in 20, 30 years, and even seeing where, you know smart, having an iPhone is like something that's brand new, like how do I operate this?
• 19:23
  Justin Alan Hayes: They didn't have these when I went for my time and those are things that I think we just take I know I do, I take for granted.
• 19:35
  Lisa Dolan: Even you mentioned the iPhone.
• 19:38
  Lisa Dolan: Yes, Even you mentioned the iPhone.
• 19:39
  Lisa Dolan: Something as small as a birth certificate is a barrier to not having an ID.
• 19:46
  Lisa Dolan: Something as small as a wallet is a barrier to not being able to retain your birth certificate and ID.
• 19:53
  Lisa Dolan: So, like you said, a lot of things we take for granted are barriers for others' individual successes.
• 20:02
  Lisa Dolan: There are two things that trumps everything, and that's addiction and mental health.
• 20:07
  Lisa Dolan: When we talk to individuals in our circle and we indicate that those two are issues, we stop everything and we make sure that we address mental health concerns and addiction concerns first.
• 20:26
  Shawn Bonner: Right, because we can assist someone with gaining employment, but if they're actively using things that they're not going to maintain.
• 20:34
  Shawn Bonner: So we, in a sense, we also prioritize the barriers and how.
• 20:41
  Shawn Bonner: You know which ones to tackle first.
• 20:44
  Shawn Bonner: What do we need to do?
• 20:45
  Shawn Bonner: Because we want to continue somebody being successful.
• 20:49
  Shawn Bonner: A lot of times they don't know how to prioritize it and we don't tell them.
• 20:55
  Shawn Bonner: We offer suggestions, because bottom line is I wouldn't want to go somewhere and somebody tell me you've got to do this, you've got to do that, give me some stuff and let me make my own choices.
• 21:08
  Shawn Bonner: So you know, we try to do that.
• 21:10
  Shawn Bonner: We don't want to overwhelm Sometimes we start with a little bit because it is overwhelming the amount of resources and providers.
• 21:20
  Shawn Bonner: Circle has over 50 different providers now, everybody kind of specializing, some overlapping, as you've been to the meetings.
• 21:29
  Shawn Bonner: We may have, let's say, three or four different places that help with the resume per se and we let that individual choose who they want to go to.
• 21:39
  Shawn Bonner: They like you better than me.
• 21:41
  Shawn Bonner: Sean is more conveniently located than I am, you know.
• 21:45
  Shawn Bonner: Whatever it may be, so it's offering them options and letting them make those choices.
• 21:52
  Shawn Bonner: If they want more input from us, you know we can say well, here's how I think you might want to consider doing it.
• 22:00
  Shawn Bonner: So it's really understanding.
• 22:04
  Shawn Bonner: It is the life of that individual that is before us.
• 22:08
  Justin Alan Hayes: And I even think to my mental health and my therapy appointments and in the like, where the very first therapist I had when I was in the hospital for seven days got diagnosed, and so that was one of the worst days of my life at the time.
• 22:29
  Justin Alan Hayes: But now I can look back and say, you know what, that was actually the best time because I was able to no phones, nothing, and it was just how can we help from the therapy side?
• 22:41
  Justin Alan Hayes: Do we need medication, do we not?
• 22:43
  Justin Alan Hayes: And all those things were being taken care of.
• 22:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: And I think, want to kind of lean into one of my first therapists, like I just didn't like him, like he was just very hard-nosed and well, why are you doing this?
• 23:00
  Justin Alan Hayes: And you know you're, you're, you've done this and you're not this type of person.
• 23:04
  Justin Alan Hayes: But now, to this day, he's retired.
• 23:07
  Justin Alan Hayes: But I look back, I'm like what and I haven't told him to do the face I was like at first I didn't like him.
• 23:13
  Justin Alan Hayes: I'm like it's probably not the first time that I've heard it, but there's just something about that just getting to the point but I didn't feel like, oh, we got to talk about, you know, these three things.
• 23:29
  Justin Alan Hayes: So when I get to the therapist side, from the psychiatrist and that they do a little bit of therapy there, but an actual, you know, license and social work and social work.
• 23:47
  Justin Alan Hayes: I told them that I like structure but there's times that I don't, and it was like it's hard to explain it.
• 23:56
  Justin Alan Hayes: But that same feeling comes to what you're talking here about the circle where there is structure.
• 24:05
  Justin Alan Hayes: But it's how you convey it that can make all the difference and that's, I think, huge because, yeah, nobody wants to come in and feel bossed around, especially if you're talking about some of the things.
• 24:21
  Shawn Bonner: What could be the worst times of their life.
• 24:23
  Shawn Bonner: Yes, one thing I do like to say, though, about the circle part of, I guess someone's journey to changing their lives and things like that is there also is that ownership of, and accountability of, what I have done.
• 24:44
  Shawn Bonner: We don't, like I said, we don't judge.
• 24:48
  Shawn Bonner: A lot of times as we ask the questions, it's because we strive to provide them with the best resources.
• 24:58
  Shawn Bonner: Now, we know some resources.
• 24:59
  Shawn Bonner: For instance, if you're a sex offender, some places just aren't able to assist.
• 25:04
  Shawn Bonner: We don't want to send someone to a place that the door is going to be closed.
• 25:09
  Shawn Bonner: So we do dig, you know, pretty deep and I always tell the person I'm asking those questions of it is because I want to help you to the best of my ability.
• 25:20
  Shawn Bonner: But at the same time, that accountability, it's like it's okay to say, yep, I made a mistake, I screwed up, whatever it was, but you know what that's behind me.
• 25:30
  Shawn Bonner: Let's keep it behind me so that person can continue to move forward and be successful, whatever their success means to them.
• 25:39
  Lisa Dolan: Yeah, yes, and I just want to hit on our referral process a little bit, because our referral process comes from comes from ODRC to parole, to probation, to some recovery centers and then other facilities across our Summit County area Can you just mention what ORDC means, that's from people that might not.
• 26:01
  Lisa Dolan: Yes, ODRC, Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations.
• 26:05
  Lisa Dolan: Thank you, yes and so say.
• 26:08
  Lisa Dolan: For instance, we get an individual that was referred by his parole officer.
• 26:13
  Lisa Dolan: They have one outlook on the relationship between the individual and the parole officer, but after the parole officer recommends the citizen circle, they accept, they show up when that person leaves.
• 26:31
  Lisa Dolan: The dynamics of the relationship between the parole officer and the individuals has suddenly changed because the caring in the spirit aspect of the circle has attached itself to the person and so they can actually see in real time just what has been exposed to them due to one particular person over here who they didn't know cared about them that much.
• 26:59
  Justin Alan Hayes: Thank you for going into depth and there's still a couple of topics I want want to ask about, but we're short on time, so would it be okay to stick around and we'll do another episode?
• 27:11
  Justin Alan Hayes: Sure, okay, so we're gonna come back, so be on the lookout for part two of our episode with Sean Bonner and Lisa Dolan representing the Summit County Citizen Circle.
• 27:26
  Justin Alan Hayes: It's just hugely important for anybody to just learn about what the Citizen Circle is and areas that you may be able to impact your own community that they might not have to have a specific name called a citizen circle.
• 27:45
  Justin Alan Hayes: So we're getting really short on time, so join us next time on the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast.
• 27:54
  Justin Alan Hayes: Until then, be a voice for you or somebody in need.