Although the story of intentional community reintegration for parolees includes a remarkable drop in recidivism (re-offending), it supports so much more than that.
For much of Todd Cawley’s life, he lived in cycles of addiction, crime and incarceration. However, today the trajectory of Todd’s life has been radically impacted by his faith, healthy relationships and practices, and giving back to the community as he invests in those whose lives have also been decimated by addiction and the pattern of crime that often follows.
Enjoy Todd’s story as he talks about not only walking free of crime and addiction, but reveals a life where he is once again a contributing member of our Canadian society:
As many of you know, Better Life has held the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) Faith Community Reintegration Contract (FCRP) for a number of years. Much to Better Life’s surprise, a Florida-based corporation undercut the financial bid of the most recent contract (without providing support in all the designated regions…), and consequently gained a number of the FCRP contracts across Canada, including ours.
While this came a quite a shock—particularly since Better Life has been recognized by CSC as a national leader in faith community reintegration best practices—after many conversations and much prayer, the Better Life team believes our future is as bright as ever.
We recognize this as a moment to reaffirm our identity and sense of mission as an organization.
From the very beginning, Better Life was shaped by what Christians call the gospel. The belief that our identity and very nature can be radically transformed by a Creator God who loves us so deeply He sacrificed Himself on our behalf. As the Gospel of John says so eloquently, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
As Better Life, we believe that the gospel compels us to look at every human as being created in the image of God, and therefore, having dignity and worth—no matter who they are, no matter what they’ve done.
I truly count it a privilege and an honour as Better Life’s executive director to have a front row seat to witness the actions of men and women who love and follow Jesus as they invest themselves in serving the ‘least of these.’
Moving forward, while Better Life no longer holds the CSC FCRP, our team are able to continue to provide faith community reintegration support by meeting with men and women within the Correctional Institutions and assisting them into church communities that provide life-changing and eternity-altering support.
We plan to continue to work closely with our wonderful network of church communities, Correctional Institution Chaplains, Institutional and Community Parole Officers, Halfway Homes, Substance Use Treatment Centres, and our friends through the community reintegration network.
That said, up to this point, Better Life’s funding was largely through the CSC contract, which is no longer the case. While we have reduced our organizational costs as quickly and substantially as we can, the fact is there are still many financial commitments that Better Life needs to continue in order to to facilitate healthy reintegration support.
For instance, some ongoing needs are our toll free number, that allows offenders and parolees to connect with their Better Life chaplain, our online presence that allows us to communicate the stories of transformation provided through church communities, and a reduced level of staffing retained to support the many actions that are need to connect men and women as they gain parole with a church community, and all the other services that are an essential part of a healthy reintegration experience.
In the midst of so many good and worthy requests for your financial support, you may ask, “why should I give to Better Life?”
Why?
Because this often overlooked ministry is a clear expression of Jesus’s ministry and mission. Jesus was clear that a commitment and investment in ‘the least of these’ (including those imprisoned—Matthew 25:39) is a clear expression of a genuine follower of Jesus (No, we don’t invest in the least of these to somehow earn God’s favour. But, as authentic followers of Jesus, our lives are invested in those who Jesus is committed to.)
Because supporting parolees through a church community of people who love and follow Jesus is both life-changing and eternity-altering. What Better Life has experienced over and over again is the transforming power of God through His people and church to give parolees a hope and a future.
Because supporting Parolees through church communities radically impacts our society for good. A former Correctional Service Canada (CSC) Regional Chaplain noted that recidivism (reoffending) drops by over 80% when parolees are reintegrated back into society through their church community.
Can you imagine the impact that has on our society as a whole?! We constantly read headlines about our broken prison system, the terrible consequences of untreated substance use and mental health, not to mention horrible examples of reoffending.
But what church community reintegration shows us is that when a man or woman with a criminal past is welcomed, supported, discipled, counselled, provided opportunities for employment and education, transformation is possible, and that individual can again become a contributing member of our Canadian society.
In our next Better Life post, I want to share one of the amazing stories of transformation with you. But for now, for the reasons listed above, would you consider an investment into the ministry of Better Life as together we join Jesus in His mission of ‘setting the prisoner free.’
TM tells of spiralling out of control, incarceration, a key turning point, & her path toward reintegration. A powerful story of a life transformed—in her own words:
As Better Life has worked together with faith communities across the Pacific Region, we hear many different responses to the invitation to provide reintegration support.
Some faith communities and their members feel that providing reintegration support is an important expression of their faith. They’re all in, and they want to provide support as effectively as possible.
Others respond with desire to get involved, but feel overwhelmed by questions.
Our hope at Better Life is that having clarity around a REINTEGRATION STRUCTURE AND SYSTEM answers many of your questions and gives you confidence that you can help develop a healthy reintegration pathway that can literally be life changing for a parolee and an invaluable contribution toward them experiencing a better life.
However, we recognize that Structures and Systems only take us so far.
We experience this in our own life. At times we have great aspirations, sometimes expressed in New Year’s resolution. But living out our resolutions can be another thing entirely.
This leads us to acknowledge that we’re all individuals who are made up of many different influences—our families, our experiences, and our habits, to name a few.
What type of influence has each of these areas had on our life?
As human beings, we each respond to varied circumstances in different ways. Specifically, we experience and are impacted by trauma in very different ways.
In your own family, your experience growing up may have impacted you in a radically different way than a sibling. You could have experienced very similar circumstances, but how you experienced those circumstances and integrated them may have been very different for each of you.
The same is true for a parolee.
You’ve listened to their story, you’ve created a pathway together that you hope will lead to a healthy reintegration experience, but so much of an individual’s experience, their growth, their ability to overcome painful experiences and trauma, and to believe that they can live a different and better life, rests with them.
With this understanding, we want to assure you that not only is Better Life made up of an experienced team of Reintegration Chaplains, but that we are a part of an invaluable network of organizations and caregivers committed to healthy reintegration.
The Better Life Reintegration Chaplain who, in many cases, has provided an inmate support for a year within the prison, who has worked with the inmate’s Correctional Team and has supported them to complete the recommended steps so that they can have a positive parole hearing outcome, is now available to support you as you support that parolee.
While the Better Life reintegration chaplain doesn’t remove their support from the inmate as they enter parole, they shift their primary support to you as a caregiver.
When you have questions, when you wonder what healthy next steps should be, when you’re concerned about certain patterns of thinking, or behaviour, and wonder what to do next, the Better Life Reintegration chaplain is available to provide you with support.
This is also true of the connections Better Life can provide you with various reintegration partners—often beginning with the parolee’s Parole Officer. Through the Parole Officer you can gain a clear understanding of what the parolee’s conditions are, as well as specific areas that may need attention (work, education, therapy, certain thought patterns, etc.)
Beyond a connection with a parolee’s Parole Officer, Better Life has close relationships with many Reintegration Partners operating in various regions and areas of specialization.
At Better Life we are here to support you. We believe that you can make a life changing difference in providing reintegration support, and we want to support you to do that effectively.
Thank you for joining us for this series on providing healthy reintegration. We’re grateful to be on this journey with you.
In the current Better Life Integration and Support series, we’re looking at the ingredients of healthy reintegration.
In the previous edition, we addressed the importance of mentors and volunteers understanding the Reintegration Structure.
We picture this Structure as a bridge that begins in the Correctional Institution and extends into the community. We envision the four essential components of the bridge as the support, the onramp, the main body of the bridge, and the offramp or exit. Each one of these stages requires specific types of support.
In this edition, we will look at SYSTEM. In other words, what works within the STRUCTURE of Reintegration to make the process function effectively?
Specifically, what can a mentor, volunteer, and community of faith provide to help a parolee have a healthy reintegration experience and move towards becoming a contributing member of their society?
At Better Life, we believe that a clear and healthy pathway can be created to support the the best possible outcomes for an individual’s reintegration.
We’d like to suggest a System that develops through three invaluable questions.
Let me underline that these questions are ones you can ask in conversation together with the parolee during the first month of parole.
In other words, everything that you and the parolee experience together is a product of developing a trusting relationship, which the reintegration pathway is built on.
So let me encourage you—don’t feel like you have to rush. Let the relationship develop, and out of the relationship, ask these three questions that allow a pathway to be created.
This is such an invaluable question. It’s obvious that a parolee has been places that have had a serious impact on their life.
It’s a question that addresses their crime, and in relationship to their crime, the conditions that they now have for their parole.
It’s also a question that address an individual’s challenges in life. For instance, a therapist once asked a group of men in a high security prison how many of them dreamed as little boys that they would be in the place where they are now? Of course, not one of them raised their hand. No one dreams of being incarcerated as a young boy, or young girl.
What we know is that a parolee has had certain experiences and responded to those experiences in a way that wasn’t healthy, wasn’t contributing to society.
On one hand, we don’t enter the work of providing reintegration support as a therapist, a psychologist, or psychiatrist. It’s not our role to provide professional therapy. But knowing a person’s story not only makes a caregiver aware of the comprehensive help that a parolee needs, but also recognizes the importance and supports the fundamental and life-giving experience of being known.
To emphasize this point, a parolee may not believe this is true. They may experience shame, or guilt and may have had their desire for secrecy reinforced over and over again within the context of a prison. Sharing their past may not come easily. However, we understand that hiddenness and secrecy do not bring about healing and growth into our life.
Our starting point on the road to a healthy reintegration is a person’s story.
Listening to their story (not judging or questioning, but listening), communicates the value you place on them and the care you desire to give them. The details of an individual’s story may come out over time, but as trust is built, this will be the outcome.
Before we move onto the second question, let me circle back to the connection between a parolee’s story and their conditions of parole. This is important because the most often asked questions by faith communities are, “Will we be safe? Will our community be safe? Will our children be safe?”
In response, there are a number of conditions that a parolee must follow.Some conditions are general and will apply to all parolees, and some are very specific, depending on the parolee’s crimes.
For instance, an individual who has had a sexually related offence, or an offence against a minor, will have very clear conditions restricting them from settings where there are minors present.
So, in summary, through a parolee’s story, we also learn of their parole conditions and supervision and can understand how best to provide safety for our faith community and for the offender. (Parole conditions also will be proactively shared with the faith community representative supporting reintegration.)
Through listening to the parolee’s story and offering support we begin the journey of providing a trusted relationship foundation that healthy reintegration is build upon.
The importance of this question may not be so obvious.
But a Better Life board member, a criminal law lawyer, puts the question into perspective like this:
What would it be like for you to be judged every day of your life for the worst day or moment of your life?
It’s hard to even envision, isn’t it?
What the question illustrates are the challenges that a criminal history and incarceration bring.
For instance, one ‘lifer’ who went on to experience faith and become a prison chaplain himself, tells of his experience on the day that he was released for parole. The prison guard looked at him and said, “See you back soon!”
Often this is the sentiment communicated. It’s informed by the way many inmates become institutionalized, and can sometimes begin to feel it’s easier to stay incarcerated than to face the many challenges reintegrating back into the community will bring.
As we ask a parolee the question “Where are you going?”, we are inviting the parolee into the experience of envisioning their life in a new way.
A way that is often impacted by the hope of their faith, and how their faith practices can allow them to see both themselves, and life around them in a new way. In many respects, this is one of the most important areas of support a caregiver can provide.
While the diversity of faith beliefs envision hope, love, forgiveness, grace differently, I was impacted through my conversation with an Imam who asked, “Adam, how can we hold an individual’s past and crime over them for the rest of their life, when God tells us that he forgives those who earnestly repent? If God can forgive, why don’t we?”
Again, there are distinctions between the many different faiths, but the Imam’s question was an important one to answer and have clarity on for any caregiver who is providing reintegration support.
We could ask, and answer, what elements of my faith can enable the parolee I’m working with to both envision and experience a life of forgiveness and contribution within our faith tradition?
In many respects the answer to this question will be informed by the parolee’s answer to question number one, Where Have You Been?
Through listening to the parolee’s story certain elements, specific needs, come to light.
It may be, on one hand, that the parolee is very mature in their faith. In fact, they may be at a place in their faith that they can provide support and help for others. We have seen numerous parolees use their incarceration as a ‘wake up call,’ where they either come to faith, or become serious/committed in their faith.
There are also Prison Chaplains who do an amazing job of helping inmates grow in their faith so that they are actually more mature in their faith practices when they reach parole than many in their faith community. In other words, we shouldn’t assume that all parolees are in need of others to teach and train them.
On the other hand, most, if not all faiths, recognize that we ‘never arrive.’ There is always a deeper experience of our faith that we can enter into.
Again, this is why the first question, ‘Where have you Been’ is so important. Through your conversation with a parolee, you will recognize the level of experience they have had in their faith practices and engagement, and whether or not they are in need of professional therapy, or education, or housing, etc. Their story, their needs, their path forward will be distinct and unique to them.
Better Life’s recommendation is that through the first month, or even first quarter of relationship building, you create and make an agreement of what the next period of time together will look like.
For instance, you may agree to a six month period of studying or practicing an element of your faith together.
The agreement may also include intentional conversations about other critical areas. Perhaps, the parolee is also undergoing addiction treatment, or mental healthy therapy, for instance. A part of your regular time together may be to incorporate space to talk about how they are feeling as they address their challenges of addiction.
You’re not engaging with the parolee as a therapist, but you are giving opportunity for them to talk about their experience.
What we call a Commitment of Trust Agreement can be invaluable because it specifies healthy relationship boundaries, the expected frequency of meeting, the duration of support (e.g., We will meet for six months and then we will evaluate), and even what you will focus on in your time together.
As an example, the invaluable organization (CoSA – Circles of Support and Accountability) uses a very similar agreement that is phenomenally effective in reducing recidivism (reoffending) with parolees who have a sexual offence history.
What Better Life has discovered is that the benefit of a parolee engaging in the practices of their faith community—prayers, services, etc.—are enormous. Many faith communities are welcoming and supportive to parolees attending their community.
However, what often provides the highest impact is the individual’s experience of relationship. This may be in the context of a member of the faith community regularly meeting with the parolee for coffee and conversation. It may be inviting the parolee into a small group that engages in providing support together, or having the parolee experience an existing small group as a means of experiencing healthy relationship.
Let me encourage you, use these three questions like tools in your tool box to help you provide support that leads to a parolee’s healthy reintegration.
2023 has been a year of growth and development for Better Life Integration and Support as we continue to refine our process for providing a healthy reintegration experience for offenders and parolees who ask for faith community reintegration.
While Better Life recognizes that each individual is unique (has a distinct story and experience), we also understand that healthy reintegration requires specific structure, system, and support.
In fact, this past summer (2023), we developed a new set of Faith Community Reintegration videos for individuals and faith communities providing reintegration support to access online. These short videos are built around:
Reintegration Structure
Reintegration System
Reintegration Support
To access this free online training resource, please email adam.betterlife@gmail.com for the link and password.
Over the next three blogs/newsletters, we’ll also look in more detail at the three components of healthy reintegration, as outlined above.
We begin with having a clear understanding of Reintegration Structure.
We picture Reintegration Structure as a Bridge. In fact, you’ll often hear us refer to the “Reintegration Bridge.”
The Reintegration Bridge is composed of four parts:
The Support holds the weight and stress of the bridge
The Onramp is where the bridge is entered
The main Body of the bridge
The Offramp is the exit from the bridge
1. The SUPPORT
We all recognize how essential support is for a (structural) bridge. Comprehensive support is just as essential for Reintegration, and not just in the sense of providing support to the parolee, but also in giving a mentor or volunteer the capacity and strength to provide reintegration support.
On one hand, providing reintegration support isn’t for the faint of heart. Every experience of providing support is unique, ranging from parolees that need intensive support, to those who require little support, but the experience can often be intense.
At the same time, there is such an opportunity for mentors and volunteers of faith to experience life transformation, both in themselves and in the individual they are supporting.
As you consider providing reintegration support, you can ask yourself the following questions:
How would you rate yourself in terms of your personal health, your emotional health, your relational health, your self-awareness?
How clear is your practice of personal boundaries? (If you’re unclear about the idea of boundaries, Drs. Cloud and Townsend wrote an excellent book on boundaries.)
Where do you get your support from?
How do your faith and faith practices provide you with clarity and strength when you are investing in others?
Of course these aren’t questions solely for providing reintegration support, but healthy life principles for each of us.
As you invest yourself in providing reintegration support, you need to be clear on where you gain your support to enable you to support another. As you enter into providing reintegration support, have a plan of what you are proactively doing so that you are and remain healthy.
Identify the people you can go to if you are feeling challenged, or discouraged, or in need of direction. It may be a group of close friends, a spiritual leader, or mentor from your faith community. We encourage you to identify those people in your life that can support you and pray for you as you begin this journey.
Without question, the experience of providing a parolee with reintegration support can be one of the greatest opportunities for you to grow in your own spiritual life.
2. The ONRAMP
The Onramp is well defined for Better Life. It illustrates what is normally a period of up to 12 months where support is offered to an offender in the Correctional Institution.
An inmate contacts Better Life, either through a prison chaplain, through their Institutional Parole Officer, or personally through the Better Life toll free number.
A Better Life staff member dedicated to that inmate’s specific prison meets with them and undertakes an intake interview.
During the interview there are specific questions that we ask, but in general, we are seeking to understand an inmate’s motivation and the degree of interest they have in seeking reintegration support from a faith community.
One of Better Life’s non-negotiables is the willingness of an inmate to provide full disclosure.
We take a faith community’s trust very seriously, and therefore, view an inmate’s willingness to provide full disclosure an essential for their healthy reintegration experience and for the potential of their relationship with the faith community, mentors and volunteers.
What’s significant for mentors and volunteers to understand is during that 12 month period, a Better Life staff member is working closely with the inmate to develop a relationship of trust with them, to understand their correctional management plan and team, and to begin building a connection with a potential faith community for when they achieve a positive parole hearing outcome.
The relationship of trust between the inmate and the Better Life staff member is invaluable for the faith community to understand the needs of the inmate and the faith community’s potential to support them.
3. The BODY of the Bridge
Best practice in healthy reintegration is, as an inmate enters into parole, they are quickly connected with their supportive faith community. This connection may have already been established while the inmate was within the Correctional Institution.
Better Life’s practice is that the week an individual enters parole, if not the day of, the parolee is introduced to a representative of their respective faith community.
At times, the individual’s community parole officer may request to be included in this meeting.
During the initial meeting the parolee will share their story. A Parolee’s willingness to share their story helps to ensure their safety and the safety of the faith community as well, and begins to create a healthy reintegration pathway.
The initial meeting is also an opportunity for the faith community representative to talk about the ways a parolee can access the community and experience their support.
While each of the four stages of the Reintegration Bridge are important, the contribution of Stage Three is invaluable. It is in and through the faith community that a parolee experiences:
The opportunity to experience trusted relationship(s)
Engagement in empowering faith practices
Support for the tangible needs that a parolee may have, including:
Employment
Housing
Education
Therapy, which may address areas of Trauma, Addiction and Mental Health
4. The OFFRAMP
The goal of reintegration is a healthy reintegration experience, with the ultimate outcome that a parolee becomes a contributing member of society.
However, it’s important to recognize that healthy reintegration isn’t always linear.
In other words, reintegration support doesn’t guarantee that the parolee will never again experience challenges with addiction, or mental health, certain temptations or unhealthy behaviours.
A Parolee’s experiences along the reintegration pathway are always informing those that provide support with a clearer picture of what is going to help the parolee move forward in their reintegration.
For instance, an offender enters parole and is provided with reintegration support by loving, wise caregivers. But the offender cannot overcome the temptations of their addiction, and by giving into their addiction, has parole revoked because they breached their conditions.
It may be easy to believe that the caregivers failed to provide healthy reintegration support. However, instead of a sense of failure, such experiences are invaluable in helping provide a more holistic, comprehensive pathway for the parolee.
The parolee’s challenges with addiction, or any challenges for that matter, alert us to the specifics of what the individual needs to move forward.
For example:
For an individual that struggles with challenges with alcohol or drug addiction, the new plan will include the individual going into addiction treatment.
For those who are challenged by sexual addiction, the new plan will include becoming a member of a CoSA group that specifically provides structure and accountability for sexual addiction.
For those who are overwhelmed by trauma, or are challenged by other issues of mental health/illness, the new plan will include being under the care of a therapist, or a psychiatrist, if medication is required for treatment.
The point is, we use the awareness that comes from the parolee’s experience to inform what a healthy reintegration pathway will look like for the individual.
In conclusion, the support and development of trusted relationships that come from members of a parolee’s faith community are invaluable for their healthy reintegration.
While a parolee’s reintegration may not always be linear, the development of trusted relationships with faith community caregivers can be life changing.
In the next Better Life Newsletter we will look at the importance of having a clear REINTEGRATION SYSTEM.
At Better Life Integration & Support, we are committed to providing resources and support so that individuals who have experienced incarceration can have a healthy reintegration back into the community.
As we continue in our series on the impact of trauma, we recognize, by virtue of being human beings, we have all experienced varying degrees of trauma.
We also understand that the men and women we love and support through their community reintegration have often both inflicted trauma through their crime, but also been radically impacted by trauma, generally through difficult childhood experiences, as well as during their incarceration.
This month, Better Life highlights the invaluable Smart Family Podcast episode “SFP 083 How Developmental Trauma Shows Up in Your Family Relationships with Dr. Kathleen Murphy; Using Polyvagal Theory to Understand the Impacts of Childhood Trauma in Adulthood; How to Promote Healing.”
SFP 083 How Developmental Trauma Shows Up in Your Family Relationships with Dr. Kathleen Murphy; Using Polyvagal Theory to Understand the Impacts of Childhood Trauma in Adulthood; How to Promote Healing –
Smart Family Podcast
Ever wondered about why it's sometimes hard to sync up your intentions for your relationships, and the ways you actually show up? Childhood trauma isn't necessarily what you think it is – we tend to think of the death of a parent or being involved in a life-threatening incident or being sexually abused when we talk about the lasting impacts of trauma (and rightfully so), but sometimes the sources of trauma are not obviously recognized. Trauma expert Dr. Kathleen Murphy joins us for an in-depth exploration of the ways developmental or complex trauma experienced before adulthood may manifest in words and behaviours in our couple relationships and parenting. If you've been treated abusively in your past, you may want to invite a friend to listen along with you and be there, for support. What Dr. Murphy shares is so honest, insightful and powerful, you won't want to miss this conversation, whether it applies to you personally or someone close to you.
As we head into a brand new year, I was curious to look back on the level of reintegration support provided by the Better Life Team and our amazing community over the past year.
One part of Better Life’s responsibility as the Correctional Service Canada (CSC) Pacific Region Faith Community Reintegration Partner (FCRP) is month-end reporting, so I get a regular look at our stats. However, I was still surprised by the number of men and women Better Life has had the privilege of supporting over the course of a whole year.
As you may know, Better Life is often invited into the process of providing reintegration support at one of the nine Correctional Institutions in the Pacific Region (BC and the Yukon), usually within twelve months prior to an individual’s parole hearing. This is followed by another twelve-month period during which the Better Life Team helps with the transition period by reintegrating men and women into their community of faith.
How many men and women? Including both Institutional and Community support:
178 in the Lower Mainland/Fraser Valley/Central BC, plus
30 in Victoria/on Vancouver Island
Providing reintegration support for these 208 individuals equalled 3,532 “reportable” hours of support.
Staggering, isn’t it?
Staggering both that the Better Life Team provided that many hours of support and frankly, that so many hours of support were required for just the portion of individuals who accept Better Life’s support—because all that is just a drop in the bucket when compared to the many men and women that enter parole without any support at all.
What we have found to be true is that healthy reintegration requires support and structure in the context of relationships of trust and accountability.
However, behind the numbers, what strikes me most deeply is that behind a number is a life.
Curiosity begs us ask the question, why commit crimes?
What are the series of events, the life, the experiences that led someone to offend, to break the law?
The answer to that question is very complex and is answered by each individual’s unique story. However, one common denominator is trauma.
What life trauma, and as we are learning, what generational trauma even, has led this individual to commit a crime, or even lead a life of crime?
And most importantly, is there a way to help address and heal the trauma that often underlies an individual’s criminal behaviour?
Again, there is complexity to any answer. However, what we have been discovering is the development of very effective treatments for trauma that, once undergone, can provide an opportunity for healing, growth and consequently, experiencing a new and better life.
One of Better Life’s Board of Directors is a psychotherapist who first exposed the Better Life team to an effective therapy called Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) Therapy.
In so many respects, EMDR is a therapy that affirms the beliefs of people of faith, specifically the Christian faith, and the understanding that human beings are created in the image of God, fearfully and wonderfully made, in such a way that trauma can have a far-reaching impact in preventing us from experiencing the life that God created us for.
I’m going to allow the experts to finish the story. In this podcast, two women of faith, Dr. Anita Philips, with therapist Kobe Campbell, provide an excellent and encouraging introduction to EMDR therapy.
My hope is that this can be a resource as you support men and women through their experiences of trauma, and potentially, a treatment that can be valuable to you personally.
The podcast can be accessed here.* (*If you’re not on an Apple device, the podcast is by Dr. Anita Phillips (In The Light: The Podcast) titled ‘The Dwelling Place,’ October 21, 2022.)
Your body is a sacred dwelling. Generations of memories are stored within you. Some are beautiful and some really hurt. In this follow up to our Story Time episode we're diving deeper into how generational trauma manifests in our bodies. Guest therapist, Kobe Campbell is our guide on this leg of the healing journey. She's introducing us to the power of EMDR therapy and Dr. Anita is switching things up by putting herself in the client chair to make sure you have the tools you need to dwell in peace and wholeness. Get 20% off your first purchase of any Munk Pack product by visiting Munkpack.com and entering our code ANITA at checkout.
Recently a new friend asked me what I did for a living.
I began to tell him about the vital work of community reintegration. His response? “Good luck with that!”
Frankly, I wasn’t surprised—and perhaps you’ve had similar responses as well.
Hardly a week goes by without national or provincial news about a high-profile offender who has reoffended. Such headlines persuade us there is no hope for a healthy reintegration experience.
Thankfully, this couldn’t be further from the truth.
While the work of reintegration can be very complex, in general, the high-profile cases that capture news headlines are more often than not a result of an offender leaving a correctional institution with no meaningful, comprehensive support.
We know that healthy reintegration becomes possible when we can help offenders into the ‘relational resource centre’ of their church or faith community.
When healthy relationships of trust are established and modelled, when accountability is nurtured, and when resources such as employment, therapy, addiction treatment and housing are made available, a parolee begins to gain one of the invaluable qualities of life: hope.
And what we are discovering is, when a parolee does re-offend, the re-offence is typically less severe than previous offences. Further, that situation becomes an opportunity to focus our relationships and resources more closely on and around the specific challenges that parolee is wrestling with.
Does faith community reintegration work for every offender?
Full disclosure: yes . . . and no.
Yes, because:
Every dimension of support that ‘we’ (the Better Life Team and all the amazing churches and faith communities, mentors, and volunteers) can offer impacts a parolee’s life for the better, and often for eternity.
Just this spring, LS entered parole. Because of the nature of his crime, he couldn’t go back to his former occupation. But LS was willing to begin again at the bottom. He recognized his need for the support of his church community.
Recently, a Better Life Team member and I met with LS. He shared examples of his growing faith and his desire to serve in his church in the area God has gifted him (to give back).
He spoke about Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality, an excellent book by Dr. Henry Cloud that LS’s Better Life reintegration partner had given him before he was released on parole, and how he is applying its principles in his life each day.
He talked about how, while humbly being willing to ‘begin at the bottom,’ he was now being given the opportunity to provide site management and the promise of greater advancement in the future in his new field.
The story of LS’s life is being written, or perhaps ‘rewritten,’ in such a redemptive way.
Another recent example is CM.
On the day of CM’s release, the Better Life reintegration partner, who had been supporting him while he was still inside, and I accompanied him to a church within a close distance from his halfway home.
CM told the pastor his story and the pastor welcomed CM into his community and talked with him about the ways that he could experience meaningful relationships and support at the church. A pathway for healthy reintegration was created for CM to travel on.
So, where does the ‘No’ come in? When doesn’t faith community reintegration work?
Really, the only time faith community reintegration can’t ‘work’ is when there’s no church or faith community available to reintegrate the individual into.
And that, in a nutshell, is the challenge.
Our hope, our prayer, and our commitment as Better Life is to have trained, equipped and supported churches and faith communities throughout the Pacific Region that are ready to welcome and support a parolee through their community reintegration.
We are continually meeting with and providing training for churches and faith communities, but we need so many more.
And, certainly for Christians, our faith compels us directly from the words of Jesus to invest in the ‘least of these.’ (Matthew 25)
On this Giving Tuesday*, I would like to ask you to consider responding in two ways:
First, are you a part of a church or faith community that Better Life could meet with and help train and resource as a welcoming and supportive community for healthy reintegration? Email adam.betterlife@gmail.comto start the conversation.
Your financial contribution will enable Better Life to continue to provide training, resourcing and support to church and faith communities so that their doors are opened and their mentors and volunteers are prepared to provide a life-changing experience for a parolee.
With thanks,
Adam Wiggins
Executive Director
*”GivingTuesday is a global generosity movement unleashing the power of people and organizations to transform their communities and the world. GivingTuesday was founded in 2013 in Canada by CanadaHelps.org, GIV3 and several other founding partners.”—from GivingTuesday.org
Other than the recent forest fire smoke, it’s been beautiful in the Fraser Valley.
As mentioned in a previous update, one of the ongoing challenges that offenders and paroles face is the battle against addiction.
I am no expert in addiction, although I’ve had the privilege to support numerous friends and family through facing the challenges of addiction, but one of the experts who has helped me understand the challenges and treatments of addiction more clearly is Dr. Gabor Maté.
Dr. Maté was very active in caring for patients with significant addiction challenges in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. I find his book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, invaluable. His most recent book, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, is also very relevant for the support we provide in reintegration.
While it doesn’t communicate from a ‘faith’ perspective, I believe it can be invaluable in helping all of us understand the vulnerabilities in each of our lives where we are especially susceptible to temptation and weakness.
(Edit for clarity: I just want to take a moment and emphasize that this interview in no way represents Better Life’s endorsement of spiritual or cultural practices discussed in the course of the podcast. My hope is that we could learn from Dr. Maté’s expertise regarding addiction, specifically the discussion of issues of attachment and vulnerability, and the role they play in addiction and recovery.)
Better Life Integration & Support Society 
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