Article from Napa Register, September 3, 2009, Page 1
Community
Center offers job skills, life counseling instead of jail
By ALISHA WYMAN
Register Staff Writer
Napa resident Steve Cash was a little skeptical of participating in mock job interviews, a task he was required to do under the terms of his probation.
Cash, 41, changed his mind after
landing a job following an interview that was very similar to the one he had
practiced with his peers at Napa County’s Community Corrections Service
Center.
His job is just one of many improvements to Cash’s life since he started
at the center, which has been operating for the past six months.
“The program forces you to
look at yourself, and a lot of times we don’t do that,” he said.
“It’s easier to look at someone else and point fingers.”
The center is a product of the Criminal Justice Committee’s work to curb
reoffense rates within the county. The committee — including high-ranking
officials from the Napa County Probation Department, Napa County District Attorney’s
Office, Napa County Public Defender’s Office and Napa County Superior
Court and other agencies — formed several years ago to seek ways to improve
the justice system and limit the size of the local jail population.
It proposed the center, and the Napa
County Board of Supervisors agreed to fund the operation.
The center offers a variety of services such as job training, support groups
and substance abuse treatment. All of the participants are ordered by the court
to attend, and most are on probation. Jail inmates can start the program while
they are still in custody. Others can begin on a voluntary basis even before
their trial.
Regardless of when they start, the goal is to keep them from coming back into the system, Chief Probation Officer Mary Butler said.
“You can either build a bigger jail, or you can provide services so people can change their lives,” Butler said.
Center officials have made a few tweaks to the program since it began, but overall, they feel like it is making a difference, she said.
Words in bold, blue capital letters rim the tops of the walls at the center.
“Perseverance,” “Diligence,” “Motivation.”
These are some of the traits that those who run the program attempt to teach, said Renee Roshar, program manager.
Participants learn the basics, such as how to shake someone’s hand or properly return a phone call for a job. They gain these skills through interactive activities, computer work, group discussion and rewards. The program offers counseling on anger management and parenting, and all must participate in a 12-phase behavioral program.
“They get a lot of practice with changing those behaviors; not just thinking about it, but doing it,” Roshar said.
Everyone can brush up on these skills, Cash said, adding they have helped him learn how to solve problems and view people in a different light.
“I think people that aren’t in trouble should have to go through this,” he said.
Cash got into trouble following a divorce from his wife of 15 years. He lost his job of 15 years, as well. He started going to bars and racking up arrests for driving under the influence.
After his second DUI, he lost another job he had held for a year.
His probation officer recommended the program, which he started in April.
Chris Hawn, 21, said he believes he is also growing as a result of the program.
Hawn started there about three months ago after he went on probation for vandalism. One of the groups on parenting skills he is participating in has helped him deal with issues that come with raising a son.
“Things have turned around for the best,” he said.
While it has helped Hawn with his son, the center’s services have improved the relationship between Napa resident Alexz McMahon and her parents.
McMahon, 20, says she has changed her attitude toward her parents since she began coming to the center in April. She also said like staff and the other participants at the center serve as a support system for her.
Napa County has about 2,000 adults on probation. Not all of them are eligible to participate in program.
The probation department weeds out the very lowest-risk offenders, as well as very high-risk and violent offenders.
Some of the most common charges participants in the center face include theft, domestic violence, drugs and gang-related offenses.
How long it takes to finish the program depends on individual progress, Butler said. A participant must work through the 12-phase cognitive behavioral program, complete all of the requirements from each of their groups, be free of drugs or alcohol for 90 days, have a job, have stable housing and finish a computer program on career skills.
Officials estimate the program will take most people about nine months to complete. However, some are nearing completion already, Butler said.
It’s too early to tell if anecdotal accounts of improvement among individuals will translate into lower reoffense rates, Butler said. But officials are keeping statistics to see if this is the case in the long term.
Butler has faith that it will pay off, and is pleased with a program that gives people support they need.
“No matter how many times people
have made mistakes, (they) can change,” she said.
