Mentoring
Mission Behind Bars and Beyond (MB3) has created a mentoring program throughout Kentucky. When you become a Mission Behind Bars and Beyond Mentor, you receive training and then become part of a small MB3 group that provides nurture, support and accountability for a justice-involved individual, a returning citizen, to promote the successful reentry of this individual into the community.
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Watch and listen as Jennifer Ortiz shares how becoming an MB3 mentor has become so meaningful to her:
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Watch and listen to Vince Patton's compelling message about serving as an MB3 mentor:
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Reverend Dean Bucalos explains the need for mentoring. He describes the work of Nurture, Support and Accountability Groups (NSAGs) that help those in reentry to successfully reintegrate with their communities and become productive citizens.
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Nurture, Support & Accountability Group –
NSAG As a mentor in an MB3 Nurture, Support and Accountability Group (NSAG), you become part of a small group of 3-5 mentors meeting with a justice-involved individual (returning citizen).
The NSAG meets with the returning citizen weekly and ensures daily contact by phone, text, or in person with a member of the group. The returning citizen and the NSAG meet for a minimum of six months and up to one year. The NSAG provides good counsel, wise advice, continuing support, and holds the returning citizen accountable for behavior and goals that he or she has set. |
Mentor Training
Mentor Training is conducted under the direction of Rev. Dean Bucalos, an ordained minister and retired attorney; Mark Johnson, who has over 20 years of Bureau of Prisons experience, focused upon the reentry of felony offenders, including case management; or Dr. Jennifer Ortiz, Assistant Professor of Criminology at Indiana University, Southeast. Rev. Caitlin Simpson manages the Nurture, Support and Accountability Groups (NSAG) and also serves as the pastor of the New Life in Christ Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) located in the at Dismas Charites-Diersen. She is a graduate of the University of Kentucky (2010) and Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where she received a Master of Divinity degree in 2015.
Two forms of mentor training are available: classroom and online. The classroom training takes 5-6 hours and is usually done on Saturdays in Lexington, Louisville or northern Kentucky. Online training has been developed for people living in other areas of the Commonwealth, and is now providing safe training during this time of social distancing.
Once training is completed, you will be asked to submit a mentor application and, once approved, will be assigned to a NSAG in the area in which you live. Dean, Mark, Jennifer and Caitlin provide continuing oversight of the program and are available for questions and concerns once the mentoring process begins.
Two forms of mentor training are available: classroom and online. The classroom training takes 5-6 hours and is usually done on Saturdays in Lexington, Louisville or northern Kentucky. Online training has been developed for people living in other areas of the Commonwealth, and is now providing safe training during this time of social distancing.
Once training is completed, you will be asked to submit a mentor application and, once approved, will be assigned to a NSAG in the area in which you live. Dean, Mark, Jennifer and Caitlin provide continuing oversight of the program and are available for questions and concerns once the mentoring process begins.