Salvation Army offers faith-based reintegration program

The Havre Salvation Army has started a reintegration pilot program with a focus on faith for addicts in trouble with the law.

Faith is the difference between RISP - Reintegration into Society - and other similar programs, Havre Salvation Army Social Services Director Trina Crawford said.

"We bring Christ into it," she said. "It's the life skills where we bring the Bible into it."

While that sounds limiting, Crawford said, the program is not.

"If a person does not want to bring the Christianity into it, we're OK with that, but we just know it really helps if you can go to a higher power," she said.

The program focuses on accountability and housing. The people in the program - there are 10 as of Wednesday - meet with Crawford or local pastors or volunteers designated by the pastors throughout the week to talk and be mentored.

The accountability part is intended to keep people talking and dealing with the thought patterns and habits that landed them in trouble in the first place, Crawford said.

"We talk about the barriers that are happening the last 24 hours, and we try to break down and help stop barriers and prevent them from stumbling backwards," she said.

Generally, when starting the program, those working it are asked to come in and talk every day, Crawford said, to attend a Life Skills Mentorship Discipleship Group, "where we tackle everyday problems like anger, what to do, that kind of thing."

As they progress, people can afford to talk to a mentor less frequently, she said.

Other requirements for the program are volunteering a couple of hours a week, whether it be at the Salvation Army or the Feed My Sheep Soup Kitchen or the Havre Food Bank.

Crawford said RISP works closely with the local drug and alcohol treatment courts and the 24/7 Sobriety Program. The program also works with people who are not in the legal system but are battling addictions, she said.

"We're trying to help them from going into the legal system," she said.

One shortfall is a lack of mentors, and that, Crawford said, is something she and those working closely with her are trying to remedy.

As far as housing, Crawford said it's important for an addict to get out of the environment in which their problems developed, and that's why RISP tries to tackle that issue.

"People that come out of the jail system, the legal system - they come out and they're virtually homeless. They end up going into the same home that they offended because they have no place else to go," she said. "So they almost always reoffend because you can't get healthy in homes that you came out of like that. Without a safe roof over their heads, it's hard for people to address their issues."

Those who need a place to go are usually put up in a motel. Part of the goal is to get them into more permanent and affordable housing, such as subsidized housing.

Subsidized housing can be a problem if someone has felonies, Crawford said, so the group is working to find more permanent solutions that will eliminate having to put people in motels.

Money for the program comes from a matching Hill County Detention Center grant.

So for example if $500 is spent on a motel, the detention center gives $250 to match $250 from RISP.

More money is always needed and appreciated, Crawford said. The program has many needs, such as toilet paper, all purpose cleaner, dish soap, laundry soap, paper towels, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo and conditioner, brooms and dust pans, possibly even vacuums.

"These people have nothing, so the basics are needed," she said.

As for the duration of RISP, which was semi-officially funded in November, Crawford said it's hard to tell because the program is so new, that no one knows how long it takes to complete it.

Crawford said no other Salvation Army in the U.S. has implemented this program, as far as she knows. And although she said the idea for it was hers, she wanted to pass on taking the credit.

"I give God the credit," she said.