Family & Corrections Network

The Fourth North American Conference on the Family & Corrections

Table of Contents

October 10-12, 1993 Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

RELINK PROGRAMS: EMPOWERING FAMILIES FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY REINTEGRATION AND REHABILITATION

Le programme Re-link: comment habileter les familles pour favoriser une meilleure reinsertion et readaptation dans la communaute

Todd Leach, Director, Relink Programs

The Salvation Army Correctional and Justice Services Department, 700-880 Wellington St., Ottawa, ON, K1R 6K7

(613) 236-9615

Les Services correctionnels et judiciaires de l'Armee du Salut ont elabore un programme presentant des aspects divers et destine a faciliter la reinsertion des detenus dans leur famille et dans la collectivite. Les intervenants travaillent aupres du detenu, comme de son conjoint et de sa famille, tant qu'il se trouve en contact avec le Systeme de justice penale. De cette facon, ils sont en mesure d'apporter le soutien necessaire aux proches de la personne incarceree. Ils offrent divers services, notamment des services educatifs, une aide pratique, la garde d'enfants, le transport, des groupes de soutien, une bibliotheque, des programmes d'acquisition de competences parentales, une formation en maitrise de la dynamique de la vie et des seances de reflexion.

AWARENESS PROGRAM:

The Awareness Program provides family and loved ones of individuals who have just been incarcerated with immediate information which will help alleviate the severe strain which has just been placed on their lives. Information is provided on the legal system, regulations regarding institutional visits and correspondence, material and financial services, general community services, child care assistance, and other programs offered by The Salvation Army Correctional Justice Services Department.

TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM:

Strives to maintain contact and support positive relationships between inmates and family members (particularly spouses, girlfriends and children) by providing affordable transportation of family members to federal and provincial institutions, primarily in the Ottawa and Kingston area and the Warkworth Institution.

HOPE PROGRAM and HOPE CHILDREN'S PROGRAM:

HOPE (helping organize productive experiences) is a support group primarily for women and their children, which provides information, counseling, emotional support and practical assistance to family members during the period of the loved one's incarceration. The HOPE Program and the HOPE Children's Program meets every second Thursday of the month. Transportation and child care is provided.

HOPE LIBRARY:

The HOPE Library (helping organize productive experiences) is provided for wives and loved ones who are separated through incarceration. The library provides a variety of different topics for the women and children in both book and video form. Topics include Addictions, Cooking, Devotional, Family, Fiction, Parenting, Relationships, Self-Help, Sexual Abuse, and Children.

PARENTING PROGRAM:

The Parenting Program is based on the critically acclaimed book, HOW TO TALK SO KIDS WILL LISTEN & LISTEN SO KIDS WILL TALK. The program gives parents the "know-how" they need to be helpful to their children and helpful to themselves. The program content covers issues on helping children deal with their feelings, engaging cooperation, alternatives to punishment, encouraging autonomy, praise and freeing children from playing roles.

LIFE MANAGEMENT WORKSHOPS:

The Life Management Workshop provides an opportunity for those in close relationships with inmates or those who have recently been released to become aware of, and learn to exercise, options available to everyone in dealing effectively with realities of daily living, through the development or enhancement of effective and normative (socially acceptable) cognitive skills.

REINTEGRATION RETREAT PROGRAM:

This program works to enhance and strengthen family relationships in a retreat setting prior to the release of the inmate so that the family can function more effectively as a unit in society, using positive cognitive skills learned through community and institutionally-based skills training.