As the Kosciusko County Recovery Program (KCRP) resource navigator, Shanna Wallen sees herself as a sort of traffic director.
“I will do the initial assessments with them (Kosciusko County Jail inmates) to kind of uncover their needs, and then refer them to local agencies or get them connected in some way to the direction they need to go for their best success,” she said in an interview Monday. “They have to walk it out on their own. We’re not here to enable them, we’re here to support and encourage them.”
She said she can provide them with all the resources in the world, but she can’t do their recovery or change their lives for them.
The KCRP helps Kosciusko County Jail inmates prepare to re-enter society within a few months before their release date. A grant from the K21 Health Foundation is providing funding for the resource navigator position.
Wallen’s first day as KCRP resource navigator was July 8.
“The sheriff has said he only had a 1,000-foot view on what he wanted this position to be, and he was kind of leaving it open for me to lay the groundwork and kind of form it as I saw fit, but the ideal situation is that I am meeting with inmates who are - pretty much any release date - but I’m meeting with inmates who are primarily 60 to 90 days from their release and assessing their needs for when they get out,” she stated in explaining her job and responsibilities.
Those needs could include housing, connecting to rehabilitation, Fellowship Missions, transportation or other things.
“A lot of inmates come in and they have lost their IDs, birth certificates, Social Security cards in the process of arrest or being detained here for a length of time,” Wallen said. “So, it’s just working through the process of how to replace those documents, helping them find a job, connecting them to peer coaches through LITE up in Milford and Fellowship Missions, they have peer coaches.”
In just the first three weeks of being on the job, she said inmates’ biggest needs have been replacing those lost documents and where they’re going to go after being released.
“Some people have had places to go, but they’re not always healthy or safe. Some people are knowingly going right back into the same environment they left. I feel like, unfortunately, those people probably are not going to have as high of a success rate because you have to change your people, places and things,” Wallen said.
The first man she worked with as resource navigator she tried to help him get back to Grand Rapids, Mich., where his home is. They had a plan in place with a few different community resources to get him home, but then they learned a few days before his release date that he had a warrant for his arrest in Howard County. The best Wallen could do for him at that point was to give him a list of resources there for when he was released.
Last week, one of the mentors came into the KCSO and said there was a woman sitting in the lobby because her ride couldn’t come get her and the woman didn’t know what to do. Wallen went out and talked to the woman, who told her she lived in North Manchester, she had a stroke and couldn’t walk that far. Wallen called Shelly Metzger at LITE’s (Living in Transition Effectively) Warsaw office, who was able to take the woman home to North Manchester.
A woman had court Monday and was released to Work Release. Wallen had her peer coach bring the woman some clothing because she didn’t have weather-appropriate clothing as she had been arrested during an entirely different season.
Wallen also helps provide inmates with information on local resources, Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, Celebrate Recovery and more.
KCRP doesn’t work just with people who are addicts or have addiction issues.
“It’s people recovering from all kinds of issues,” Wallen said, which could include mental health. In that case, they’ll connect the person with an organization like Bowen Center.
“The ultimate goal is to have them connected to a peer coach upon release, a mentor and then an employment mentor,” she said.
Before being named the recovery navigator, Wallen taught six Jail Chemical Addiction Program classes for JCAP Coordinator Casey Trombley, having started teaching under past coordinator Courtney Jenkins.
“Casey does an excellent job of getting them set up for success,” Wallen said, adding that she still teaches JCAP classes.
“I teach the Celebrate Recovery curriculum because I am a Celebrate Recovery leader. I’ve been involved in Celebrate Recovery for eight years myself. This November, I will have 21 years free of meth addiction myself, so I have not only recovered from addiction myself, I have been the spouse of an addict, I have been the mother of an addict and I have been the friend of an addict, so I feel like that gave me a well-rounded background and history to be able to come in and support these people without judgment,” Wallen stated.
She said she quit her addiction cold turkey, but it was a long, hard road.
“I have always said, for JCAP, that we need this kind of program offered to the whole jail. That everybody in general population needs to have the same opportunities,” she said. “Eventually, we’re working on getting the GED back in the general population for those that need it, not just for JCAP. We would like to start seeing life skill classes available; the MRT - which is kind of mindfulness and safe-awareness classes.”
Wallen acknowledged that not everyone is going to want her services or assistance, which is fine as it’s not required, just encouraged.
“I think the biggest thing right now that we’re looking at is funding as we have a lot of indigent inmates, which means they don’t have anybody putting money on their commissary. Those who do have money coming in will be asked to pay for their own birth certificates, and anyway we can help them get their documents that’s going to be on their dime. But for the people who are truly indigent and have a need, we do have a donation fund set up through the sheriff’s department to cover those needs,” she explained.
So far, she said everyone in the jail has been really receptive to the program, whether Wallen can help them a little or a lot.
“They’re pretty aware of the things they’ve lost in the process of coming here and what they need to be successful when they get out,” she said.
What really will make the program successful is community support and awareness “because the goal is to work myself out of a job,” Wallen stated. “Obviously, the jail is never going to be empty, but if I’m doing a good job we’re going to see our numbers going down, but that goes back to each person is an individual and they are responsible for their own actions.”
Wallen has had a couple people tell her they got addicted to drugs through their own parents, so it’s all they know.
“They were literally raised in this lifestyle, and so to do something different is terrifying because for a lot of people - working 9 to 5, having a house payment - all of those are normal things, but for most of the inmates in here, it’s something they’ve never done and they’re not sure how to or if they deserve it or what those steps are to get from where they are to being a successful, productive citizen. Sometimes it’s just kind of easier to stick with what you know even if you know it’s not healthy for you,” she said.
No one wakes up and wants to go to jail, be an addict, be homeless or whatever landed them in the jail, she stated.
Wallen said people are “absolutely” willing to jump on board and help with the program.
“I think I’ve found more people are willing to support it than discourage it.”
Donations to the KCRP can be made at the front office of the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office. If they have skills or services they want to provide to the program, they can contact Wallen through the KCSO by phone, extension 2909, or by email at [email protected].