Michael Joseph MS. CADC-CAS, Senior Director of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and his caring team at the Kern Crossroads Facility in Bakersfield, California run the Strengthening Families Program, which is an evidenced based program to strengthen the relationship between parents and incarcerated youth.
The parents come to the facility every Sunday for fourteen weeks. For the first part of the 2 ½ hour session, parents and minors meet in separate groups with their own facilitator. After the groups convene, the parents and teens meet with two facilitators while they share a meal to discuss what they have learned. This is a great way to bond while significantly improving parenting skills and family relationships and helping to reduce problem behaviors.
We would also like to give a shout out to John Navejas LMFT for coming back to volunteer for the Kern County Juvenile Probation program. John is a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and certified yoga instructor. He left us to go to work for another organization but wanted to be of service to the youth at Kern, so he comes back every Saturday to teach a yoga class. Namaste, John!