Post on 20-Feb-2017
Empowering, Educating, Employing
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
The Dream
Personal and Professional Empowerment for Offenders…
but why?2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
In many ways doing time was easy. For 13 years I never had to think, was always told how to walk, talk, eat, shower, go to commissary, and work. Getting out scared me more. How would I survive or suddenly think again? Who’ll give me a second chance or see the real me? Yeah, I dreamed. Dreamed all the time... And that’s what scared me the most.Duck
A Brief History of Time
Where did today come from?• History • Evolution
Tomorrow does not have to be just another day… • Breaking the chain• Creating a connection• Altering the mindset
• Society as a whole• Offender
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Homeless Generation, 60 Minutes Feature 2011
• “In Seminole County so many kids have lost their homes that school busses now stop at dozens of cheap motels where families crowd into rooms, living week to week.”
• Any County, USA
Fast ForwardSituation:
• Community degradation, crime, hopelessness
Task: • Educate, Employ, Empower
Action: • Intense / Customized
Cognitive Programs
Result: ?
Look around: The invisible have a face
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Seminole County is on the Rebound• 2012 : Just the beginning…• 2013, Seminole County, lift off• 2014, First branch serving Orange County, • 2014, Jewish Family Services• 2015, SafeHouse, Seminole County
Domestic Violence Shelter• 2015, Pathways to Home
Bringing us to today…
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
The Numbers
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Christian HELP / CFEC• Six book multi-layered empowerment series
– Creating Your Job Search Plan– Crafting Your Cover Letter
and Resume– Networking in the Digital Age– Job Search Tactics– Interviewing and Impressions– Performance Excellence
• Four week workshop
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Encompassing a sense of belonging
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Vicarious and Interactive
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Bridging Two Into One
What makes the programs successful?• Realism threaded by sound
cognitive and sociological applications.
• Riding over 75 cumulative years’ research and practice, a proven paradigm expands to support offender reintegration
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Welcome to 2nd Chance University
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
The foundation of change comes from the mind, not the body
Replicable, scalable, we rely on:– Participant commitment/willingness to
change– Consciousness Hierarchy– Affirmation, Visualization, and Journal
Reflection– Looking Glass Self-Theory– Relationship Education– Cognitive Behavioral
Applications
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Commitment to self and others
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Vicarious Learning
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Consciousness Hierarchy
Spirit
Thoughts
Feelings
Emotions
Actions/Reactions
Understanding our mind and how we interact with the world.
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Personal ResponsibilityWe are responsible for:• Our thoughts• Our feelings• Our emotions• Our actions Being consciously aware, we are responsible for our own journey and the reactions displayed on that journey, meaning we alone are our biggest obstacle and our biggest asset.
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Consciousness Hierarchy• Personal responsibility is awareness that we are
co-creators in our lives, choosing to accept our choices, actions, and reactions
• We are aware we have the power to react • We take personal responsibility for every aspect
of our lives before we can truly mature
From here, to there…
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
To the MountaintopThe power to move mountains (or at least climb them)
threads each workshop, page, and breath:
• Visualization• Affirmation• Acceptance• journal writing
Belief… forgiveness… attitude…desire to be free is a powerful tool; this is where the above concepts are reinforced and practiced page by page.
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Active is the Only Option• What legacy would you like to leave in your life?
• Looking glass: As an ex-felon, social impressions are rarely friendly.
Real or unreal, how can facing this as a reality guide YOUR behavior
and empowerment?
• Affirmation: Freedom, one day at a time (commit by writing on line below).
Felix:
“My father told me many years ago that you can polish shit and make it look all shiny
and nice but it will always be shit.”
• Visualization: Look in the mirror, look again. If you were an employer, who would you
see? Why?
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Acceptance, Journal Writing, and Attitude Merge into ONE
Each participant is required to draft, perfect, and express (verbally and in print) culpability, growth, and commitment to potential employers.
Letter of Explanation Value:
• Confidence (from whom?)• ?• ?
… Leading to the Looking Glass Self-Theory
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Looking Glass Self-Theory
How we see ourselves does not come from who we really are, but rather from how we believe others see us.
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Labeling Theory ExposedBeing prepared for a world beyond brogans
dominates our cognitive process.
Recognizing and respecting offender views begins with listening, by connecting.
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Relationship Education, Making a Connection
Facilitator training….enhancing respect, identity, and worth by developing the following skills• Listening• Speaking• Conflict Management• Apology and Forgiveness• Core conditions underlying
these skills– Empathy– Acceptance– Genuineness
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Acceptance and approval MUST come from yourself before anyone or anything else.
• For the record, do you want to change? Why?
• For the record, are you willing to change?
• For the record, what are you willing to do to change?
Daryl:
• “When I got out the first time, I gamed
myself into thinking I could go back to
the same things and would make it. I
was smarter out of prison. I didn’t
change the way I lived or how I looked
at myself.” 2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Taking advantage of CBT, 2nd Chance University assists individuals develop:
• Self-observation and personal change helping each maintain gains
• Realistic thoughts, emotions in proportion to events and circumstances
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Ego:• Emotional tension resulting from…• Looking to other people for... Discomfort :• Results from…
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
2nd CBT Characteristics
In the end, remember that tomorrow has a way of never catching up. I know my tomorrow’s caught up
and with the end here, I share one of my telling pieces, a sliver of who I am, a sliver no one else but you
could understand. Only those doing time could understand. While reading, think about your life and
what you’re trying to escape from, or to.
‘There floats an encompassing balance
beckoning good and evil within forces
forged not by winds of Fate
nor by chance. Within reach
each threading voyage guides destiny
sublime of heart and days before. Here
moments vibrate sheeting bumps
of discarded skin. Choice escapes,
bordering dimples and moonlight.’
Duck
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
Stick, The RealityThe gray mornings would rise with the bars partially obstructing the view from most of
their cells of the free world, just on the other side of the razor wire fence lines. Frigid
cement floors bit into their bare feet as most of them were making their bunks and
washing their faces, getting ready for another day in prison. The harsh, grating sounds of
the steel doors sliding open signal to the prisoners it was time for work. They stepped out
from what prisoners call their house, but most people would call a cell, into a condemned
miniature population. Some of them are inmates, some of them are convicts, but everyone
is wearing state issued clothing as well as state issued time.
Stick is a true example of a real person who, although labeled by society as a criminal and by
the prison system as number 653322, was able to break the cycle of recidivism. He believes
in 2nd Chance University and what it offers. It offers a chance to redeem, reclaim and
reinforce a positive outlook of ones future and the achievable goals one sets for that future.
2nd Chance University 321.972.8919
“Not every day is easy but I love my life, my new life.”
Hannah
Together we will build
a better tomorrow, today. 2nd Chance University 321.972.8919