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Getting Out and Staying Out! Part IV

April 22, 2016 By Frederika Zylstra Leave a Comment

Criminogenic Risk Factors

In our last three newsletters, we covered articles 1 – 3 in a series explaining the reasons people re-offend and how they can mitigate that risk. If you have a friend or family member who has been incarcerated, or you have been to jail or are on parole, you owe it to yourself to understand these risks. If you missed the first article – here’s the link to Part One

In review, here is the list of six dynamic Criminogenic Risk Factors:

  1. Anti-social network
  2. Anti-social beliefs
  3. Family dysfunction
  4. Drug and/or alcohol addiction
  5. Poor impulse control
  6. Lack of career and/or education

This month, we’re going to talk about drug and alcohol addiction,poor impulse control and lack of career and/or education.

Addiction leads to crime. This is intuitive and does not need much elaboration. Ascend goes into depth on this topic, teaching students the many ways in which addiction can sneak up on them and how the other criminogenic risk factors affect addiction. Ascend’s curriculum includes classes on relapse prevention.

Poor impulse control impairs our ability to act and causes us to react instead. Much of crime is based on a person’s reaction to anti-social situations. Ascend teaches mindfulness and cognitive behavioral therapy that aids students in increasing their impulse control.

Lack of Career and/or Education

Some of the links between lack of career and education are obvious. If we have money for our basic necessities, we are less likely to steal. Other links between lack of career and/or education, however, are not as obvious but every bit as predictive.

Before we go into the analysis, let me take a moment to explain why we emphasize ‘career’ and not ‘job’ in our Ascend lessons. A person who is doing work about which they are passionate is in a happier, healthier, more empowering space than a person who is toughing it out at a 9 to 5 job every day doing work they either despise or find mundane.

wwfb blog June 2015 employee 2A person who is in a career is generally making a salary above the poverty level. Everyone deserves a career. They deserve to be happy, healthy members of the workforce and they deserve to use their unique talents to make our community a better place.

A ‘job’ should only be a temporary stop on the way to a ‘career’. One finds a career by first looking deeply into topics about which they are passionate and talented and determining how those passions and talents can fit into the workforce. More often than not, college is a prerequisite to making the leap from job to career, which is why Ascend places emphasis on enrollment in college.

Returning back to our topic: how can lack of career/education predict a person’s return to crime? We have the one obvious example (having money to purchase something makes it less likely that we would steal).

What are the less obvious links?

  • Lack of career and/or education make it more likely that a person has to rely on others to provide resources for them. What happens if that person is anti-social? Think about the example of the person who was released from jail and had nowhere to go except his anti-social mother’s house. Having a good career (made possible by education) means having personal power. When we can take care of ourselves, we are not forced to rely on an anti-social network for our survival.
  • College and career workplaces are great places to form a pro-social network. Moreover, if a person has a degree or other career qualifications, they have more choice in the workplace so they can find a workplace that is free of anti-social network.
  • Lack of career and/or education means that a person typically does not have enough resources to deal with problems as they arise. A person recovering from addiction will be more successful in affording treatment if they have a well-paying job or a well-paying job with health benefits. A person needing marital or family counseling will be more apt to afford that counseling if they have a well-paying job with benefits. A person who has a career and/or education has access to more of life’s necessities such as reliable transportation and healthy food. Lack of career and/or education typically makes survival harder. When we are stuck at the ‘barely surviving’ level, problems are endless and we are left without the ability to heal criminogenic risk factors as they arise. Next month: Lowering Criminogenic Risk factors .

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: helping adult transform, Stopping the cycle of crime in Sacramento

Getting Out and Staying Out! Part III

March 24, 2016 By PhyllisOrzalli Leave a Comment

Criminogenic Risk Factors

In our last two newsletters, we covered the first and second articles in a series explaining the reasons people re-offend and how they can mitigate that risk. If you have a friend or family member who has been incarcerated, or you have been to jail or are on parole, you owe it to yourself to understand these risks. If you missed the first article – here’s the link.

To recap, here is the list of six dynamic Criminogenic Risk Factors:

  1. Anti-social network
  2. Anti-social beliefs
  3. Family dysfunction
  4. Drug and/or alcohol addiction
  5. Poor impulse control
  6. Lack of career and/or education

In our third article, we’re going to discuss anti-social beliefs and family dysfunction.

Anti-Social Beliefs

Social networkWhat are “anti-social beliefs”? These are beliefs which lead us toward the commission of a crime, dysfunction and unhealthy behaviors. Ascend teaches in depth about this subject, but an example of anti-social beliefs would be as follows:

ANTI-SOCIAL BELIEF: “My child needs diapers. I’m broke. I’ll steal some from K-Mart. They are a big corporation – no one will miss them.” (Short term, short cut thinking)

PRO-SOCIAL BELIEF: “My child will go back into foster care if I get caught stealing. I wouldn’t want someone to steal from me even if I were rich. Stealing from corporations makes the prices go up for all of us. I need to solve this problem another way.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: criminogenic risk factors, Stopping the cycle of crime in Sacramento

Why I donate to the Ascend Program

November 30, 2015 By PhyllisOrzalli Leave a Comment

“When I first heard about the Ascend Program, I was skeptical. Although my husband and I support many social justice issues and consider ourselves pretty enlightened, I still doubted that anyone could truly change offender’s mindset and way of life.

Then I read that Ascend has a 75% success rate. I had to read it twice to let it sink in. I’ve never heard of any rehabilitation program that offered this kind of hope.

I decided to learn more about Ascend. We give a portion of our income every year to causes in which we believe, but we have to be satisfied that our money is going to be used to actually effect change. We’re not wealthy, but have worked hard and saved, and want to support other people in attaining their best lives.

As I found out more about the Ascend program, its founders and team, I was impressed. Ascend began as a collaboration between its two founders, both Criminal Defense Attorneys, and the Psychology Department at Sacramento State University. Together, they developed a program which is different from any other rehabilitation program. They combine Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, one-on-one continued mentoring, intensive classroom study about the law, physical challenges and yoga/mindfulness. Helping an offender completely change his or her life not only makes a difference for the offender – it paves the way for healthy family relationships and makes neighborhoods stronger.

Donor for the Ascend ProgramI learned that most of these ex-offenders go on to college and earn good grades – that they are solid students who understand the opportunity they’ve been given.

My husband and I decided to support the Ascend Program by donating – because by doing so, we can help improve lives right here in our own community. I truly believe if more people knew about Ascend, they would want to do the same.”

 

 

Filed Under: Doner's Stories Tagged With: helping adult transform, Stopping the cycle of crime in Sacramento

A Graduate of the Ascend Program Story in Her Words

October 10, 2015 By Frederika Zylstra

Hey everyone it’s me Symantha R. Dunn. I am a graduate of Ascend. I have one year sixty one day and twenty hours clean and sober as I write this.

Ascend has taught me how to do the right thing. I have done 3 prison terms, 1AB109 (prison in County Jail ) and numerous jail stays. I hung out with the wrong people, didn’t see a different path for my life. My daughter was going down the same path I was. 15 months ago she gave me my reason for change. My Granddaughter Rain. Keep in mind I only have 14 months clean. I went to jail in August 2014. Got out on home detention and was offered the Ascend Program. I took it.

I’m still on supervised probation, but am doing well. I was taught to be proactive. I do what I am supposed to, and go to probation before I am told. I got rid of all the anti social people in my life, kept the dual social people in my life with boundaries, and have a pro social network.

I was blessed with a second granddaughter Cali 3 months ago. Through the mindfulness that I was taught I have been allowed to truly see them grow.

I learned things about the law that keeps me from getting caught up in anyone’s drama. I have a future now. I know with the staff at Ascend I never walk alone. I have a personal relapse prevention therapist that I keep in close contact with. He is always willing to give me the time to keep me making the right decisions. There were never any expectations placed on me, only knowledge and opportunities given freely for me to grow with if I choose to, and I did.

My time in class was very special, I was given a family that didn’t use, go to jail, or put me down. I was never made to feel guilty or ashamed of who I was or what I had done. I was only supported that I could do or be better. There is a big push for higher education because that is how you grow, and a couple of years from now I plan on getting a college degree, only for me that isn’t what is important now.

Ascend gave me the opportunity to be a real grandmother. I’m not just here. I see and am able to care for my girls.

Ascend needs help. Any donation you can make will help them be able to help the next person.

 

Filed Under: Stories from the Heart Tagged With: helping adult transform, Prevention therapy, Stopping the cycle of crime in Sacramento

The True Meaning of Climbing a Mountain

August 27, 2015 By Frederika Zylstra

by Roxy Davis

On our latest field trip to Granite Arch Climbing Center, we asked our students what lessons from rock climbing they could apply to their lives to help them succeed. Here are a few of their answers:

“The higher you climb, the higher you can achieve.”
“Trust and believe in yourself. The top is just a climb away.”
“The stronger the grip, the harder it is to fall.”
“No goal is too great to achieve.”
“Climbing helps you focus on one thing and think of different ways to do it.”
“It’s only difficult until you’re done.”
“You never know until you try.”
“Never say ‘I can’t.’”

11696022_607536399349095_3086418896082109039_nFor many of our students, this was their first time climbing, but they were more than up to the challenge. We are so proud of our awesome, inspiring students! A big thank you to Granite Arch for supporting us and our students!

Filed Under: Success Story Tagged With: helping adult transform, Stopping the cycle of crime in Sacramento

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