Voices for Voices®

Breaking Barriers: How Reentry Support Changes Lives | Episode 219

• Founder of Voices for Voices®, Justin Alan Hayes • Season 4 • Episode 219

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Breaking Barriers: How Reentry Support Changes Lives | Episode 219

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The journey from incarceration back to community living isn't what most people imagine. There's no automatic setup for housing, employment, or basic necessities. The path is fraught with unexpected barriers—from lacking a simple ID to navigating technology that didn't exist when someone entered prison.

Summit County's Citizen Circle stands as a beacon for those navigating this complex terrain. Co-leaders Shawn Bonner and Lisa Dolan join us to reveal the profound simplicity behind their approach: they listen. "We listen so deep that before we respond to anything, we go into prayer and ask God to direct our conversation," Shawn explains, highlighting how this intentional listening forms the foundation of their work.

Shawn brings the powerful perspective of lived experience, having transformed his own incarceration into a calling to serve others. His journey through social work education and volunteer service eventually led him to co-lead this vital community resource. Lisa's path emerged unexpectedly through her work in child support services, where she discovered how criminal backgrounds created barriers to employment and, consequently, to child support payments.

Together, they've created a program that prioritizes mental health and addiction recovery while respecting participants' autonomy. "We don't tell them what to do," Lisa emphasizes. "We offer suggestions. I wouldn't want to go somewhere and somebody tell me you've got to do this, you've got to do that." This respect for choice and dignity permeates everything Citizen Circle does—from accepting walk-ins to carefully matching individuals with the right resources from their network of over 50 providers.

What's particularly moving is how the Circle transforms relationships. Parole officers who refer individuals often see their relationships with those individuals improve after they experience the care and support of the Circle. The program creates ripples of positive change that extend far beyond immediate needs.

Want to make a difference in reentry work? Lisa offers this encouraging perspective: "It doesn't take a lot of training or education. There's something really simple about it, and that is: do you have the heart for it? Do you have the capacity to be nonjudgmental?" Join us for this eye-opening conversation, and stay tuned for part two coming soon.

#reentrySupport #breakingBarriers #criminalJusticeReform #secondChances #communitySupport #socialImpact #liveChangedLives #recidivismReduction #socialServices #socialChangemakers #socialJustice #nonProfitOrg #communityEngagement #criminalJusticeSystem #impactfulChange

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Justin Alan Hayes:

Welcome to this episode of the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. I am your host, founder and executive director of Voices for Justin Alan Hayes. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you for your support for our organization. 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. So thank you for allowing us the opportunity to do that. Very excited to have our guests here in studio today.

Justin Alan Hayes:

One of the areas that oftentimes gets overlooked for one reason or another are individuals who have been incarcerated. 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. You know housing and food and employment, transportation, among other things. And I was definitely wrong and what my assumptions were, and I was greatly surprised with the individuals. 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.

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. 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. So that long intro to bring you up to speed with our guests. So in studio we have the co-leaders of the Citizen Circle here in Summit County, ohio, lisa Dolan and Sean Bonner. So thank you both for joining us, thanks for having us Absolutely.

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.

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. And then I knew I had to make a difference or a change in my life. So one thing led to another as far as going to school and just rebuilding my life. So I entered the School of Social Work. That led to an internship. 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. But then um under purpose in my life.

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. It was a we call it a program but it's just a meeting the reentry meeting. For about four years. 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. 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. So it was a task up to us after we received the training to locate individuals with the same caring hearts.

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. 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. 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. I'm just going to wither away and end up in the same place. Did you find that, and still probably find that today, to be the case? Just a part of the ministry?

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. Everyone is searching for some type of relief. No one wants to feel bad. Some people just don't know how or the avenues to search to actually find that help. 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. Nowadays. Sometimes it don't mean just coming from prison. 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. So we just meet folks where they are and assist them in whatever they needs to alleviate their own personal barriers.

Justin Alan Hayes:

Yeah, that's incredible, elisa. How did you get started with reentry and just the line of work and what goes into it? 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. So you know what. That gives me another perspective to look at things.

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. 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. 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. 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. Well, a lot of the people that I was seeing that were having difficulty was because they weren't working, because of criminal backgrounds. So I started seeing more and more of the that criminal background element.

Shawn Bonner:

We now refer to justice impacted individuals. Terminology changes with all things. With that justice impacted, we're looking for people. 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. 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. They don't tell us what to do, they don't monitor us. They just sort of gave us a training on sort of what to expect and maybe how to deal with this population.

Shawn Bonner:

So Sean and I started that in 2018. We co-chaired it and we still co-chair and that's kind of how it was. Just all by accident or God's planning. 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%. 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. I think back to the story of the first time we met. I was in the hospital and I was in the hospital for a long time Together.

Justin Alan Hayes:

We kind of are the yin and yang of making it all work. Oh yeah, and I think back to education. You have your textbooks and then you have clinicals or experience. I remember a market research class I had. There were exams over different principles and words and definitions, but then there was, okay, now go out and do it.

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. It's okay, here's what's happening. So I need to continue down this road until there's a shift in that.

Shawn Bonner:

I think you know you talked about whether it's people in the United States, other countries, whatever. If a person's sitting there saying to themselves boy, I'd like to do something like that. If a person's sitting there saying to themselves, boy, I'd like to do something like that. It doesn't take a lot of training or a lot of education. There's something really simple about it, and that is do you have the heart for it? 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. So it's really something that is more about who somebody is than what they display on paper with PhDs or anything like that. It's just good hearted people that care about their fellow man.

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. And so I think with that, just by that, that's kind of our secret ingredient right there. 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.

Justin Alan Hayes:

That's important. 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. 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.

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. 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. That's kind of unique for most people. So yeah, we try not to turn anyone away.

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. I remember even one day a guy left and he felt so overwhelmed. 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. They wanted the same thing that he received. 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.

Justin Alan Hayes:

And that's incredibly important. I mean we can think about ourselves that if we show up somewhere, we do something. There's an intentionality there and an individual. 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? And then once they and I noticed it, just I mean it almost brings.

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.

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. There's times, oh, I don't want to brush my teeth Like just little stuff. 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? 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.

Lisa Dolan:

Even you mentioned the iPhone. Yes, Even you mentioned the iPhone. Something as small as a birth certificate is a barrier to not having an ID. Something as small as a wallet is a barrier to not being able to retain your birth certificate and ID. So, like you said, a lot of things we take for granted are barriers for others' individual successes. There are two things that trumps everything, and that's addiction and mental health. 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.

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. So we, in a sense, we also prioritize the barriers and how. You know which ones to tackle first. What do we need to do? Because we want to continue somebody being successful. A lot of times they don't know how to prioritize it and we don't tell them. 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. So you know, we try to do that. We don't want to overwhelm Sometimes we start with a little bit because it is overwhelming the amount of resources and providers.

Shawn Bonner:

Circle has over 50 different providers now, everybody kind of specializing, some overlapping, as you've been to the meetings. 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. They like you better than me. Sean is more conveniently located than I am, you know. Whatever it may be, so it's offering them options and letting them make those choices. 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. So it's really understanding. It is the life of that individual that is before us.

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. 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? Do we need medication, do we not? And all those things were being taken care of. 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? And you know you're, you're, you've done this and you're not this type of person. But now, to this day, he's retired.

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. 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. 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. 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. But that same feeling comes to what you're talking here about the circle where there is structure. 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.

Shawn Bonner:

What could be the worst times of their life. 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. We don't, like I said, we don't judge. A lot of times as we ask the questions, it's because we strive to provide them with the best resources. Now, we know some resources. For instance, if you're a sex offender, some places just aren't able to assist. We don't want to send someone to a place that the door is going to be closed. 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. 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. Let's keep it behind me so that person can continue to move forward and be successful, whatever their success means to them.

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.

Lisa Dolan:

Yes, ODRC, Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitations. Thank you, yes and so say. For instance, we get an individual that was referred by his parole officer. 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. 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.

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? 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. 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. So we're getting really short on time, so join us next time on the Voices for Voices TV show and podcast. Until then, be a voice for you or somebody in need.

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