A mentor program helps former offenders make transition

It can be daunting for someone who has been in prison for such a long time and has to make the transition back into the community.

Some may think, “I’m out, now what am I going to do?”

Fortunately, there is a program that helps with this, called Free2Succeed. It is a program within the Idaho Department of Corrections or IDOC.

The program pairs a mentor in the community with a former offender who is just getting out of prison or supervision.

Stephanie Taylor-Silva said she has been a mentor for a year, which is how old the program is.

“I didn’t have a whole lot of support when I came out of prison. I definitely struggled finding resources and it became very frustrating,” Taylor-Silva said.

Taylor-Silva committed three felonies in the life and now has turned her life around.

She just finished her criminal justice internship with the IDOC. Her primary focus is in the Free2Succeed program at the Probation and Parole Bureau District 7 in Idaho Falls.

While Free2Succeed was not available at the time of her release, she was mentored mostly by officers from the IDOC.

Jarred Thompson, who is the section supervisor at the Probation and Parole Bureau was one of her mentors.

“The more we can put more pro-social people in the lives of folks that we supervise, the more likely they are to change behaviors that got them to come and see us,” Thompson said.

The program’s goal is to help former offenders successfully make the transition into the community by becoming stabilizers for families. It provides services that build on family strengths and needs and helps the former offenders reinvest in communities by promoting education.

Another great thing that came out of Free2Succeed for Taylor-Silwa was friendship.

She met a woman named Tina Blake after mentoring Tina’s daughter.

Blake, who is also a former offender, has been a mentor for seven months. She wanted to make a difference in other peoples’ lives, just like Taylor-Silva did for her own daughter.

“I had seen the wonderful work that she [Stephanie] had done with my daughter. It was something that I couldn’t do for my child. Someone else on the outside could get her to enroll in school, get full-time in employment,” Blake said.

Taylor-Silva wants to make sure that those who are making the transition are asking for help.

“I want to show people that recovery is possible and that they can get through their supervision successfully, that they can become law-abiding, successful members in the community and that’s what drives me. I want to see everybody have the ability to change,” Taylor-Silva said.

Guidelines for mentor qualifications and position description can be found here.

To apply to be a mentor, click here.

Mentor training dates are as follows:

POCATELLO:

Tuesday, Feb. 7 from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Hope and Recovery Resource Center, 210 E. Center St., Suite D, Pocatello, ID.

TWIN FALLS :

Monday, Feb. 13 from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Cornerstone Baptist Church , 315 Shoup Ave. W., Twin Falls, ID.

BOISE :

Friday, Feb. 17 from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. at 3 Oaks Ministries, 963 S. Orchard St., Suite 200, Boise, ID.

Thursday, July 20 from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Ten Mile Christian Church, 3500 W. Franklin Rd., Meridian, ID.

LEWISTON :

Thursday, Feb. 23 from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Nez Perce Recovery and Resource Center, 714 Main St. Lewiston, ID.

NAMPA :

Tuesday, April 11 from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. at Love INC of Treasure Valley, 16446 Franklin Blvd., Nampa, ID.

**Training in Idaho Falls is still in the works.