Natural Wellness Workshop

Last December I got a call from Ionia leaders about a federal grant for Peer Support training in Alaska. We are pleased that our neighbors got the grant and are headed to Fairbanks for the first of three trainings. Sept 4-6 right here in River City we are hosting a Natural Wellness Workshop with Ionia, Alaska’s Peer Support Village!

“Wellness is more than being free from illness, it is a dynamic process of growth and positive change. Join us to immerse yourself in disciplines which support joy, health and wellbeing: energetics of food and health, plant-based cooking, mindfulness practices, yoga and body rub. Learn to maintain balance within and with one’s environment.”

Who should come? People who have personally experienced traumas, mental illness and/or addiction in their families, with friends or themselves - as well as students of whole health.

What does it cost? Because it is grant funded we are charging a minimal fee of $50 to cover the cost of the venue, the JP Jones Center. Don’t let the fee deter you, we will find a sponsor if needed.

When are the classes? September 4-6 from 9am to 4pm.

How do I register? Call Linda at 907-987-6045 or email at reentry@iacnvl.org

Employment Specialists @ The Bridge

Earlier this month one of our Employment Specialists traveled with a peer out of state to deal with a felony warrant that was keeping her from employment in her chosen field. It meant hours of communication, overcoming fear, staying strong and spending a couple of hours in jail. She came back to Fairbanks with her head held high with charges reduced to a misdemeanor.

Currently, this employment specialist is working with another client on expungement of her criminal record. Often the barriers to employment can seem insurmountable but with an advocate the barriers can be removed. Giles, The Bridge Employment Specialist Coordinator describes it like this, “The visible change in participants is stunning when they see they are accepted by others.”

Starting in August staff will be holding Employment Skills Training for individuals at Fairbanks Correctional Center every Friday afternoon.

Join us this Thursday at 10am in City Hall for the Fairbanks Reentry Coalition meeting to hear our guest speaker, Yulonda Candelario with the US Attorney’s Office, Ms Candelario is the Law Enforcement, Reentry and Community Outreach Coordinator and will share with us the process of holding a Reentry Simulation! Hope to see you there! We will need volunteers.

The Road to Reentry

Every Monday Marsha and Kerry are at Fairbanks Correctional Center working with individuals preparing for reentry to our community. This 5 week video course now has a waiting list! This type of instruction will help identify barriers and solutions for successful reentry. This course reinforces the resources available in FCC and in our community.

The Bridge links peers with hope!

If you passed by 4th and Cushman recently you have seen the signs for Fairbanks Reentry Coalition next door to The Bridge. I hope that you will come in and say “Hi” and let us know that you are interested in the positive direction for individuals seeking recovery from Opioid Use Disorder or returning to our community after incarceration. Our staff has grown and we are busy making connections to the recovery community.

On July 4th volunteers are beginning a Narcotics Anonymous meeting every Thursday night at 7pm. We will also be hosting a NAR-Anon meeting for family members on Tuesday nights at 6:30pm starting September 10th. Our meeting space will be used by our partners for recovery, reentry and trauma informed training.

Employment Specialists are working with participants to find meaningful employment of their choice. After some great coaching the first participant got the job! We expect to see more success as we link peers to education and employment.

The LION Network just brought us a beautiful work of art done by an FCC artist and will hang on the wall beside our dining room table. So thankful for the work of LION, Learning Inside and Outside Network, that teaches writing and English at FCC. We hope to host a writing group here in the fall.

FRC Meeting on Thursday!

On October 19, 2018 I wrote a blog on “HOPE” little did I know that a mere 6 months later we would open The Bridge here on 400 Cushman with all the components of our dream!  We envisioned a bridge of hope for those leaving a life of addiction or releasing from incarceration. Our doors opened a little wider by not requiring a person to be arrested before they can get help. Our kind of help looks like a peer giving you a ride to a meeting or developing a plan for recovery.  I am going to quote myself, “We have the opportunity to engage in hopeful conversations that give a vision of home, work and relationships.”

Fairbanks Reentry Coalition is stronger due to our relationships and partnerships whether with our funders the Alaska Mental Health Trust and the State of Alaska DHSS, our Coalition Partners from a variety of agencies and individuals with a heart for change.  Please join us at City Hall in the Chambers this Thursday morning at 10am with hope for a safer and stronger community.

New Location!

We have moved down the block to 400 Cushman to make room for our Supported Employment and Peer Support Programs. We are so pleased with our new space and would love to have you attend our Open House on May 9th from 4-6pm. Parking is free in the Sadler’s parking lot.

Please join us in welcoming our new staff. Giles Hawthorn, Supported Employment Coordinator, Anna Sochocki and Gary Edwin as Employment Specialists, Tundra Greenstreet, Peer Support Coordinator, Matt Lalonde, Kerry Phillips, Don Harpole and Debbie Bourne as Peer Support Specialists. We will also be adding a VISTA AmeriCorps volunteer as a Reentry Program Associate this summer.

Reentry Case Manager Marsha Oss remains in her beautiful office at 250 Cushman Suite 2G.

Get involved!

Attention all Coalition Members and Guests!

One of the ways to keep growing as a coalition is to make sure we are reaching out to new members of our community and engaging them in our work.  If you feel like you are on the outside of the work of Fairbanks Reentry Coalition and you would like to be a more integral part please call to set up an appointment with the Coalition Coordinator, Linda Setterberg!  907-987-6045! Or email me at reentry@iacnvl.org.

We have opportunities for you to serve on one of our work groups, Employment, Health, Housing, Peer Support and Cultural Connections. Each of these work groups has a chair that serves on the FRC Steering Committee. Currently, the commitment is a quarterly meeting, with Employment and Peer Support moving to monthly meetings due to our new grants. Our steering committee would also like to have a member of the Mobility Coalition to join to keep us apprised of the transportation issues in the FNSB.

Other volunteer activities are available and Marsha Oss is the contact for case management. Call her at 907-328-8480 or email at reentrycasemanager@iacnvl.org to find out what openings she has available.  The news is that after a few hours of volunteering you will be employed in the perfect job.

See you on April 4th at 10am at the City Hall Council Chambers for our next coalition meeting!

It's a Puzzle!

Fairbanks Reentry Coalition is building something in Fairbanks and the pieces are not all in place yet.  I think that they exist but they need to fit together more neatly.  There may still be a few left in the box to discover and a few may have fallen to the floor. 

When I put puzzles together I like to put the edge pieces in place first, sorting through the pile of pieces to pick up the one with a smooth edge, the corner, and the borders.  Earlier this month we were given a puzzle to put together and I have to remind myself that even though we have the picture (the grant narrative) it’s going to take some time to put it all together.  The timeline was hopeful and before we get all the pieces in place we need a place to put them!  So for now we are gathering the pieces and when we get the place ready we will put them all in place.  

We hope to announce our new space by March 20th so keep tuned in!  Our next coalition meeting will be April 4th at 10am at our City Hall Council Chambers.  Hope to see you there!

Reentry is Growing!!

Happy Valentine’s Day! May all of your relationships be strong today as you express your friendship, loyalty and love! 

Reentry is about to GROW!!  Those three grants we wrote in December with our coalition partners as a response to the Opioid Crisis in Alaska, we got them!  One will fund a Recovery Residence, sober housing for people in treatment and leaving incarceration!  The second grant is for Peer Support and we are in the process of hiring the Supervisor and in the next few weeks four Peer Support Specialists. The third grant is for Supported Employment and we will hire a Supervisor and two part-time Employment Specialists.  The last two grants will be part of the Reentry Coalition and will staff a Reentry Center as well as going out into the community with peers that need assistance in the early days of reentry and navigating a sober lifestyle.

In support of all of our Reentry Coalition agencies we will be helping develop a Peer Support workforce starting with training in April.  Now that we have the grant we have so much work to do so just stay tuned and connect with us on Facebook. 

Happy New Year!

2018 ended in a flurry of activity! All of my writing was focused on grants, not this blog, and then just when I was getting into the swing of 2019 a brief illness swept me off my feet.  Before January ends I want to check in with you!  Happy New Year!  I hope 2019 is full of new beginnings and a renewed since of hope!

 One of the results of writing grants is looking at our successes!  Since Reentry Case Management started in February 2017 Marsha has seen 91 clients for case management, of those only 21 have gone back to jail, when you do the math that’s 23% recidivism.  Really remarkable!! There are a few things that make this number possible. 1) Our communities’ commitment to make connections for our returning citizens! 2) Marsha’s ability to find resources from housing to mini grants for her clients. 3) Most important is the determination of the returning citizen to stay out of jail and become a contributing member of our community.

On January 15th we graduated a new group of individuals who completed Case Management! We are so proud of their successes.  Thank you to Doyon for the gift cards, June Rogers for the gift certificates to McCafferty’s, Mike Sanders for raffle tickets, Heather Young owner of Young at Heart for donating her time and supplies for the paintings, Marvin Roberts for speaking, Kinfel United for playing, Becca Brado for making the food and Rev. Scott Fisher for the prayer! We are so pleased that our graduates have this kind of community support!