Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #112557

Gillian Leichtling, BA and Ryan D'Ambrosio, MA. RMC Research Corporation, 522 SW 5th Avenue, Suite 1407, Portland, OR 97204, 503 223-8248, gillian_leichtling@rmccorp.com

The use of mentors is a recommended practice in facilitating community reentry for individuals in the criminal justice system, particularly those with substance abuse histories. However, little information is available about effective practices in a mentor program and little consensus appears to exist about what is meant by the term ‘mentor.'This presentation will discuss process evaluation findings of a mentor program for offenders who have received substance abuse treatment while incarcerated and who are reentering the community. In this program, the mentors are ex-offenders in recovery who are based at a county corrections office and employed by the substance abuse treatment agency that provides aftercare services to the offenders. Mentors establish pre-release contact with offenders; after release, mentors work closely with treatment counselors and parole/probation officers and assist offenders in accessing community resources, housing, and employment, as well as providing recovery support. The program evaluators collected data via an electronic database that captures services provided to clients and treatment completion status, and key stakeholder interviews with the mentors, county corrections office probation officers and treatment agency counselors, and program managers. This presentation will discuss issues such as finding, training, and supervising mentors; the relationship between corrections officers and mentors; and challenges for mentors in navigating complex ethical and boundary issues. Authors will address the benefits and challenges of a mentor program and recommendations for agencies designing or considering implementing a mentor program.

Learning Objectives: Audience members will take away the following three learning objectives

• The benefits and challenges of implementing a mentor program.
• Recommendations for agencies designing or considering implementing a mentor program.
• Special considerations for finding, training, and supervising mentors.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation