THE ACADEMY
“So that you never have to come back here again.”
The Academy is a nine-week faith based intensive program offered to women experiencing incarceration. The pre-release curriculum aims to improve the physical, mental, and spiritual health of participants. Our goal is to empower participants with the tools to ‘stay out of their own way’, invest in leadership skills, and accompany them on the journey to healing so that participants never return to incarceration. We aim to shine the light on participants’ natural talents and interests and teach them to use those talents to contribute to their community and ultimately to society.
The holistic curriculum was put together by Nathan Lee of Send Musicians To Prison and The Academy’s current director Joanna Lampa. The Bible curriculum was written by educator Amanda McKeehan, and all classes are taught by incredible and experienced volunteers. The Academy’s first semester started in June 2018 with fourteen participants. Participants live together in two rooms, attend three classes a day taught by different educators. The Academy partnered with a local half-way house and strongly recommends that graduates attend upon release.
We are honored to work with an army of talented and invested volunteers.
The classes currently offered weekly to The Academy participants are:
Bible (Genesis through the Gospels)
Understanding the Father Heart of God (Finding Father by AJ Jones)
Know Your Story (personal history and genogram)
Boundaries
Wake The Woman (Trauma Informed Narrative Enneagram study by Evan Barbee)
Art
Fitness
Creative Writing
Financial Planning
Trauma
‘Could this be the first time I feel real acceptance?’
-December 2018 Graduate