The LA Reentry Collaborative is reshaping the way reentry looks in Los Angeles

Beyond Us & Them’s latest offering through the Los Angeles Reentry Collaborative project featured a reentry event centered on building from within.

Workshops and council circles focused on strengthening internal readiness for reentry by bringing together organizations and individuals all committed to the successful reintegration of formerly incarcerated individuals.

One of the aims of the LA Reentry Collaborative is to reduce recidivism locally by creating a community of support for folks who need access to resources, information-sharing and who have urgent questions about housing and employment. The LA Reentry Collaborative helps weave the network of providers and their clients by organizing events like this offering.

Partnership and resource-sharing is the backbone of this collaborative effort

Mass Liberation in Torrance offered their space while The Prism Way hosted a workshop that shed light on post-incarceration syndrome (PICS). PICS is a term used to describe the range of psychological, emotional and social difficulties experienced by individuals after their release from prison. 

“Being incarcerated itself through all of my 20’s had impacted me in a way that I didn’t even know until I was home”

“I couldn’t know. I’m inside, I’m mastering the art of navigating prison but now that I’m home the first thing that I was met with was insecurity,” remarked Griffin, of The Prism Way. “Who am I? What is my place? What do I have to offer? Knowing that there was something that I could label and take to my therapist and take to a friend and say, ‘hey this is what I’m struggling with,’ was very empowering.”

Griffin acknowledged the importance of the LA Reentry Collaborative for being a safe space in which to inform folks about PICS. Attendees then have the option of sitting in council practice, which creates a “structure of belonging” through which to identify and discuss such topics.

Incarcerated for 13.5 years, Melissa Mercado was stunned to learn that a syndrome like PICS exists. It’s something she’s eager to look into and she expressed gratitude for this event, where she experienced being surrounded by like-minded individuals who know what she’s going through.

Post-incarceration syndrome (PICS) is a cluster of mental health challenges experienced by individuals after incarceration.

“Somebody brought up the subject of mental health being a stigma that we don’t want to attach ourselves to. On top of everything else that we’re labelled… it’s like a sign of weakness. We’re trying to be strong people, we’re trying to be resilient and move on and attaching that to us is like admitting that we’re weaker than other people. That we’re not capable,” explains Mercado. “When we hear other people that are struggling, I think that allows us the permission to be vulnerable in a way that we’re really not allowed to be. And then also it allows me to say to myself, ‘I’m not the only one.‘” 

Incarceration in California is a public health crisis. Improving LA’s overall public health conditions presents an enormous challenge that Beyond Us & Them and the LA Reentry Collaborative feel called to engage, by addressing the needs of system-impacted populations through events like this. 

As has been the case at past convenings, participants represented a diversity of individuals living and working in the reentry space. As usual, feedback was very positive. “I really love the work and support system that has been created through the LA Reentry Collaboratives network,” commented one participant. Another was struck by “How so many community partners came together to uplift and encourage our population.” Others commented on how the convening “created a space for us to come together and learn from each other. The biggest take away was… the level of participation.”

Beyond Us & Them is grateful for the support of partners like Mass Liberation and The Prism Way, among many others. The vision of Mass Liberation is to create a community where returning citizens are included, empowered, and fully liberated upon reintegration back into society. The Prism Way is dedicated to fostering compassionate support for all those who have been impacted by the justice system. Partners like these are what make the LA Reentry Collaborative a vibrant and powerful network.

Want to learn more?

Find out about our dedicated reentry program here.

Learn about all of our Beyond Us & Them programs here.

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For more information on this and other Beyond Us & Them programs, please contact us.