In line with its mission to successfully reintegrate people in its care back into the community, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is empowering incarcerated people to take an active role in their futures.
Each institution will provide a Self-Assessment Guide, which contains a questionnaire and information on available programs offered at the institution. The guide will assist incarcerated individuals with selecting programs based on their experience, interests, and future goals. They will be able to reflect on what they would like to accomplish both in the short-term and years down the road.
Guiding them along the way, CDCR's Correctional Counselors will meet with each incarcerated person to assist in program placement. While CDCR continues to use evidence-based tools to identify criminogenic needs and program placement, a new emphasis has been placed on individualizing each journey.
"I've always seen the Counselor as being the liaison," said Theresa Cisneros, Chief Deputy Warden at Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, who oversaw development of the Self-Assessment Tool statewide. "They're the liaison to get them into programs, to help them, to make them realize that this is for them."
"I've always seen the Counselor as being the liaison," said Theresa Cisneros, Chief Deputy Warden at Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, who oversaw development of the Self-Assessment Tool statewide. "They're the liaison to get them into programs, to help them, to make them realize that this is for them."
Counselors will offer guidance and up-to-date information about program curricula and availability, using their expertise to set people up for success in and after prison.
But it's not just the Counselors putting in the work. People serving time in prison need to be open to sharing their needs and wants, and to committing to positive programming and goal-setting.
"This is their time," she said. "They need to figure out how they're going to spend their years here to be a better person."
24 фев 2020
