Safe Space is a
professionally facilitated,
peer support group for
justice-involved individuals.
We are a Prison Ministry
developing trust and
alliance for those still incarcerated.
A note from our founder, Emmanuella Prochet
I want you to picture a place where you are accepted, valued, and respected. A place where you experience a sense of belonging. A place where you are an integral part of a community. A group of people who encourage and support you in becoming the very best version of yourself.
Whether or not you can picture such a place, Safe Space is the platform which offers you the opportunity to explore and experience growth and change in a way that is transformative.
Safe Space is the platform that allows you to create meaningful relationships first with yourself, then with those around you and ultimately the community at large.
At Safe Space, you can learn to unmask yourself by working through and removing limiting beliefs that held you back before. Safe Space is the place where you commit to cultivate the greatness within.
A Fundamental Means of Change
The question remains do prison really make us safer? Evidence based research has proven repeatedly that despite the myths, prisons do not make us safer.
Safe Space is a Reentry and Community-Based Violence Intervention Program. We offer a community-based, professionally facilitated, peer support group for justice-involved individuals. Our goal is to address the criminogenic needs most strongly linked to criminal behavior by providing members the opportunity to build a prosocial community of support and facilitating transformative relational experiences that will impact their views and ways of being in the world.
Our goal is to address the criminogenic needs most strongly linked to criminal behavior by providing members the opportunity to build a prosocial community of support and facilitating transformative relational experiences that will impact their views and ways of being in the world. By making purposive use of the peer community, Safe Space will…
1
Help members to cultivate and practice new social skills and experience a healthy sense of connectedness which will help to insulate them from antisocial influences.
2
Model and reinforce a healthy value system that promotes concern and care for the welfare of others and enhances intrinsic motivations to change.
3
Provide members with a safe environment to process emotions and build more adaptive self-management skills.
4
Encourage members to acknowledge and honor the full range of their humanity, work through and remove self-limiting beliefs, and create more positive personal narratives.
5
Promote mentorship among members which will foster the seeds of self-efficacy, competence, and leadership that encourages responsible behavior.
Criminogenic needs are the characteristics, traits, problems, or social activities that raise a person’s risk for engaging in criminal behavior. Most importantly, research strongly supports that when services are targeted to address these dynamic risk factors, this decreases the likelihood of future interactions with the criminal justice system.
Empirically supported criminogenic needs include:
1. Antisocial attitudes, beliefs, and values*
2. Antisocial behavioral patterns*
3. Antisocial companions*
4. Antisocial personality or temperament*
5. Family stressors
6. Substance use
7. Lifestyle instability
8. Lack of prosocial activity
*The highlighted criminogenic needs are referred to as the “Big Four.”
Most reentry programs target the “small four” by providing information, access to resources, and teaching skills and interventions. However, research supports this has little effect on recidivism if a person’s inner sense of self and the world around them remains the same.
Safe Space is dedicated to providing a safe haven for justice-involved individuals and their loved ones to cultivate their inherent potential and build a fulfilling future.
We envision a world where justice-involved individuals have access to a supportive social space within correctional facilities and upon reentry to the community. Here, they can dismantle limiting beliefs, unlock their full potential, and reintegrate as valued members of their communities. Safe Space also strives to create a safe and healing environment for families and the community at large.
Integrity
Individuality
Respect
Commitment
Spirituality
Accountability
Family
We build trust and rapport while individuals are still incarcerated. This foundational stage creates fertile ground for future healing, accountability, and developing healthy coping mechanisms.
Upon release, participants will be encouraged to attend professionally facilitated peer support groups that target the "Big Four" dynamic risk factors.
Safe Space utilizes evidence-based interventions proven to decrease recidivism. Studies on similar programs have shown significant reductions in reincarceration rates, leading to safer communities. [CLICK HERE] to read more.