Format
Individual Presentation
Location
Ballroom E
Strand #1
Mental & Physical Health
Strand #2
Social & Emotional Skills
Relevance
Health and heart. The model includes interventions using cognitive behavioral therapy and drug, alcohol, sex, etc. education as indicated stabilizing high risk youth in their home, school and community. Participants experience healthy eating and living through acquired hands on gardening skills. Participants are in long term small groups that, under the guidance of a therapist, work on leadership skills, positive identity development, multicultural understanding, communication skills, and decision making.
Brief Program Description
Flip the Prison: Is a collective Impact Model for transforming closed prisons into farms and educational centers utilizing mental health therapy, youth focused, sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship and service learning to stabilize adjudicated youth in the community. Of interest to educators, mental health clinicians, veterans, community leaders, clergy and entrepreneurs.
Summary
The Prison Flip Model, a product of growingchange.org, has provided a three year clinical pilot working with youth who were out of home placed, out of school placed and on intensive probation in one of the poorest areas of the South East to reverse their future, to ‘Flip the Prison.’ The model includes cognitive behavioral therapy, vocational training in sustainable agriculture, literature, video and graphic novels, and entrepreneurship opportunities for the at risk youth. The entire site will be developed as community resource center for recreation, education and healthy living. We envision multiple opportunities for school classes from the community to engage with nature, learn about environmental stewardship and explore where their food comes from. Veterans and their families will be housed on the site while they pursue a career in sustainable agriculture. Already the youth in the pilot are helping to lead The NC Dept. of Public Safety and a broad coalition of universities, state agencies and community leadership to transform a closed prison in rural NC into a sustainable farm and educational center. The pilot has provided a 92% efficacy in preventing recidivism, improving educational outcomes and stabilizing home environments through its intensive transformational process. This first transformation of a closed prison is to provide a working model to support other communities in NC and the US in transforming closed correctional units in their areas into community assets, to ‘Flip the Prison.’
Evidence
We are in the third year of a clinical pilot working with youth who were out of home placed, out of school placed and on intensive probation. The pilot has provided a 92% efficacy in preventing recidivism, improving educational outcomes and stabilizing home environments through its intensive transformational process. We are creating the model utilizing cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to push past the use of irrational thinking to help the youth consider their schema formation. This process is set in the ecological perspective designed to address biological, psychological, social and spiritual needs.
Biographical Sketch
Dr. Debby Hanmer is an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. She is the coordinator of the Sustainable Agriculture program, oversees the campus community garden and is Vice-chair of the board for growingchange.org.
Noran Sanford grew up in rural NC, earning his BS in Biology at the University of NC at Chapel Hill. He completed his Masters of Social Work degree at Virginia Commonwealth University winning State Policy Org’s national contest for his role in aiding in the passage of mental health parity in Virginia. In 2000, Noran returned to this hometown to provide home care for his mother, an Alzheimer’s victim, and begin his practice as a clinical social worker. In 2011, he founded growingchange.org and fielded the clinical pilot program.
Dr. Jason Hutchens is an Assistant Professor and Chair of the Department of Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He teaches courses in broadcasting, production, writing, and photography. His career in media production has spanned for over twenty years and includes experience in broadcast, freelance, corporate communication, and higher education.
Dr. Michael Menefee is the Thomas Family Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Thomas Family Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. He is also a Professor Emeritus at Purdue University. He has authored eight books on human behavior in organizations and human resource management as well as numerous articles and proceedings on management, human behavior, and entrepreneurship.
Keyword Descriptors
at risk youth, closed prison sites, model, cognitive behavioral therapy, sustainable agriculture
Presentation Year
2015
Start Date
3-4-2015 11:15 AM
End Date
3-4-2015 12:30 PM
Recommended Citation
Hanmer, Debby; Sanford, Noran; Hutchens, Jason; and Menefee, Michael, "Flip the Prison: Using a Holistic, Interdisciplinary Approach to Transform Closed Prisons and Adjudicated Youth" (2015). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 147.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2015/2015/147
Included in
Agricultural Education Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Other Education Commons, Rural Sociology Commons, Social Work Commons
Flip the Prison: Using a Holistic, Interdisciplinary Approach to Transform Closed Prisons and Adjudicated Youth
Ballroom E
Flip the Prison: Is a collective Impact Model for transforming closed prisons into farms and educational centers utilizing mental health therapy, youth focused, sustainable agricultural entrepreneurship and service learning to stabilize adjudicated youth in the community. Of interest to educators, mental health clinicians, veterans, community leaders, clergy and entrepreneurs.
