| The Reentry National Media Outreach Campaign offers media tools and resources to support informed discussion, decision making, and action about solution-based reentry programs that foster public safety and support healthy communities. We encourage you to review the diverse materials and consider how you may be able to use them effectively. |
| The Reentry National Media Outreach Campaign acts as a catalyst to encourage solution-based reentry activities. Review this chronicle of public television and community events/actions to gain ideas on what may work in your arena. |
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WINNERS' CIRCLE (IL)
Program
Description In 1997, TASC launched a reentry program called the Winners' Circle, a peer-led support group designed to help its participants remain drug and crime free using tools of a therapeutic community. The Winners' Circle is a place to learn and practice community skills, as well as offer others encouragement and support. Members are actively involved in family, recreational, and community projects, serving as volunteers, mentors, recovery advocates, role models, and presenters to other peer support groups and community organizations. Support group meetings are scheduled in various sites around Illinois to provide a safe place where members can talk about their struggles and their successes. The meetings are patterned after traditional 12-step groups, which many members also attend; however, the Winners' Circle groups offer a unique setting in which common experiences in reentry can be openly shared. Members lead the meetings and TASC staff are present as facilitators. This staff presence has helped the group to become recognized by local parole offices as a legitimate form of recovery support. Many individuals attending in-prison substance abuse treatment first become connected to TASC through a prison-based support group called Inner Circle. These meetings are also peer-led and staff-facilitated. The participants are encouraged to examine their own progress in treatment, to identify their reentry issues, and to commit to a solid recovery plan. Additionally, TASC pre-release case managers work with the clients to establish referrals to community-based agencies for continuing care and ancillary services. Following release, the parolee meets regularly with a TASC post-release case manager. In addition to regularly scheduled support group meetings, the Winners' Circle holds a quarterly retreat, maintains a resource library, assists individuals in obtaining state ID cards, and has recently opened a Recovery Closet to provide appropriate clothing for job interviews. Winners' Circle began in 1997 with two individual participants. Currently, ten meetings are held per week in different parts of the state, with attendance at some meetings topping 30 participants. Program
Goals Networking,
Partnering & Collaboration Outcomes Additional Reading
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