Webinar Archive:  Reentry Series

Webinar Date:  Originally presented on April 24, 2015;  due to technical difficulties, it was presented again on June 10, 2015.

 

Description

The presenters are Co-Founders of I'm FREE — Females Reentering Empowering Each Other, a Philadelphia-based women's reentry program.  Recognizing that our prisons and jails are filled with victims of trauma and that reentry begins while women are inside jail (or prison), they run a 6-week program at the Philadelphia's jail called Transforming One Woman at a Time: Reintegration Support (T1W).  This webinar focuses on why they developed a gender-responsive and trauma-informed program, the philosophy that guides their program, the impact of trauma on group participants (including pathways to being arrested), and lessons learned.  Additionally, one of the program's participants shares her experiences, including her work with I'm FREE.  By talking about their approach to serving justice-involved women, the presenters hope to inspire and inform others who are working with — or plan to work with — incarcerated and imprisoned women.  There is time for questions.

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About the Presenters

Dr. Renaya Furtick Wheelan and Ms. Petrena Young are the Co-Founders of I'm FREE (Females Reentering Empowering Each Other), a trauma-informed, gender-responsive non-profit serving Philadelphia's female returning citizens, established in 2011.  As part of their program, they co-facilitate Transforming One Woman at a Time: Reintegration Support, a 6-week cognitive behavioral development and transformation training, designed by Dr. Furtick Wheelan, for women reentering the community from a corrections setting.  They have presented about their work locally, nationally and internationally.  They recently contributed a chapter to Africentric Social Work:  Best Practices in Working with African Communities in the Diaspora to be published in the fall of 2015.  In 2013, they were named Extraordinary Citizens by the Philadelphia Branch of the NAACP for their work with incarcerated women.  Both are trained to administer the Women's Risk/Needs Assessment (WRNA) for incarcerated adult women, which allows services to be targeted to a woman's specific needs.

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Suggested Participants

Anyone currently working with, or planning to work with, charged, incarcerated, and reentering women and/or victims of battering will benefit from this webinar.  This may include community- and system-based advocates, reentry program staff, criminal justice professionals (including probation and parole officers) and community corrections staff.

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Click here to access recording.  The PowerPoint (and any other documents from the webinar) is available by clicking here.