REAL LIFE
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Mission Statement
REAL LIFE serves individuals who have been impacted by incarceration, homelessness, or substance use disorder by giving them an opportunity to overcome their personal and community barriers that hinder their pathway to a Thriving Life. REAL LIFE's mission is to develop a relationship with each Lifer (client) that equips them to make the visible progress necessary for their personal pathway to a Thriving Life. Along the way, we engage the community and bring awareness to the needs of Lifers.
About This Cause
Founded in 2016, REAL LIFE helps bridge the deep divide between successful living and incarceration, homelessness, and substance use disorder. We have recently expanded our services to include those impacted by or perpetrating gun violence as well as domestic violence. This expansion occurred organically as we discovered there was a significant overlap between those we were already serving and these issues. Our work is done by addressing these issues in a way that empowers individuals to become independent, successful, and valued members of their community through housing, employment, education, accountability, and emotional support. REAL LIFE provides Lifers with the skills and ability to face daily struggles and unexpected challenges, allowing them to be in control of their future. Through our comprehensive in-house approach and developing an individualized plan based on an individual's recovery capital, we are able to identify services each Lifer needs in order to decrease their individual risk factors of re-offending, re-using substance(s), or re-engaging in unhealthy behaviors. As a program that uses a holistic, evidence-based, person-centered, trauma-informed and behavior modification approach, we aim to help the whole person; we seek to address the whole issue, rather than the individual symptoms. The root is often associated with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), including violence, poverty, health disparities, and racism. REAL LIFE focuses on 5 pillars in all aspects of service delivery and programming that will lead to a Thriving Life: (1) Sustained Sobriety, (2) Meaningful Employment; (3) Functioning Family; (4) Community Interaction; (5) Practicing Personal Faith (optional). The cornerstone of the REAL LIFE program is a 23-module curriculum written by Dr. Scarbrough. The curriculum is based on trauma-informed care and behavior modification. This approach is unique to REAL LIFE due to the complexity, intensity, and significant training required to implement. Participants in all of our programs receive intensive case management by their Pathway Navigator, extensive programming and classes, as well as support completing the curriculum. At REAL LIFE we refer to those we serve as Lifers because we help them in all aspects of life. To us, a Lifer is more than just a client, consumer, or patient. We know that when Lifers seek change through REAL LIFE, it will be a lifelong change. Developing a thriving life is more than staying clean; it is learning to live clean. It is the idea of recovering to something greater than what was lost. We take a holistic approach using all of our programs, as recovery is necessary for life and not just for the moments they are with us. Our core programs include: The Motherhood Program (MP) builds relationships with expectant and recent moms impacted by incarceration, homelessness, or substance use disorder. Through the provision of recovery housing and comprehensive programming, ladies can overcome the link between single-parent/childhood-poverty and developmental outcomes for the children, while reducing the need for foster care. The long-term transformational impact of this program is healthier babies, reunification of families and breaking of the generational cycles of poverty, unemployment, incarceration, substance use, and foster care. The Employment Pathways Program provides Lifers with the support and guidance throughout the employment process. Our Senior Employment Navigator meets with all new Lifers, identifies any potential barriers to certain types of employment, reviews their work history, any skills they may have, and assists them with obtaining the necessary forms of identification. With the support of a cadre of experienced volunteers, she helps them develop a resume and begin applying to jobs, including with our 100+ employment partners. On average, it takes less than 7 days for a new Lifer to begin work once eligible. It is our goal for Lifers to obtain AND maintain meaningful employment. The Senior Employment Navigator continues working with each person after they gain employment and assists in navigating situations that may arise. We equip our Lifers with the necessary skills to grow and become established within a company rather than move from job to job. REAL Houses provide safe, stable, sober recovery transitional housing for individuals impacted by substance use disorder, homelessness, and/or incarceration. Through this housing-first model, those we serve are in a much better position to fully engage in REAL LIFE’s programming and services. Each Lifer is permitted to move in free of charge; once they begin working and receive their first paycheck, they are expected to pay a nominal weekly program fee of $150 per week. We currently offer housing at 10 male and 2 female houses. All REAL Houses are accredited by the Virginia Alliance of Recovery Residences. After graduation, staff works with each Lifer to determine the appropriate timing for independent living, ensuring that each person is prepared and has a strong foundation to live on their own. The Education Pathways Program assists Lifers with their educational dreams and aspirations. From financial planning, such as assistance with the FAFSA and other funding opportunities, to researching realistic options and laying out a feasible timeline, our Educational Navigator (who is a REAL LIFE graduate) meets with each Lifer individually and helps them make their educational dreams a reality. We meet Lifers where they are in their educational journey, so educational support we facilitate ranges from learning basic literacy, achieving their GED, obtaining a workforce credential, or earning their Associates or Bachelors degrees. In collaboration with our Senior Employment Navigator, the Educational Navigator helps each Lifer design an educational path that is attainable and that will contribute to their career and their future. This path not only contributes to the success of the Lifers, but also contributes to breaking generational cycles of poverty. Project SAF (Safe, Alive, and Free) targets the small but specific groups of individuals associated with the majority of violence in a community through a meeting between the groups and a coalition of law enforcement, community members, and organizations. REAL LIFE and other organizations make a genuine offer of resources the group identifies as needed (housing, employment, sobriety). Community members and others with moral authority discuss the impact violence has had on their communities and loved ones. Law enforcement lets the group know that they have been identified and will be targeted should further violence occur. This disrupts the group dynamic, maximizing the likelihood of success. The REAL Resilience Project works to organize communities around ACE (adverse childhood experience) prevention and intervention, as well as building resilience among those impacted by ACEs. By providing communities with a better understanding of the devastating impact ACEs can have over the course of life, as well as an understanding of what behaviors are frequently associated with ACEs, communities where children traditionally experience higher rates of ACEs will be able to organize to provide effective supports and healing. The Domestic Violence Prevention Program was developed after researching different options to provide programming for the many individuals we work with who have been impacted by domestic violence - both as survivors and perpetrators. We discovered that the vast majority of programs are designed for survivors, not perpetrators. The only curriculum available in the U.S. is Batterers Intervention, which is outdated and has been proven to be ineffective. We will never reduce the rate of domestic violence in our community until we address the behavior of the perpetrator. We have heard from perpetrators we serve that they want to change, but they don't know how. In collaboration with the Virginia Department of Health, we have developed a curriculum to work with domestic violence perpetrators, using a strengths-based perspective, with a trauma-informed behavior modification approach, focusing on addressing underlying ACEs. The program and curriculum are currently being piloted among Lifers as well as at two local jails, with the goal of expanding the programming in the future.