How to Teach Life Skills Classes to Substance Abuse Inmates

Upon leaving prison, many substance-abuse inmates are ill-equipped to handle the rigors of daily life. By providing these individuals with training in life skills, prison officials can increase their readiness to reintegrate into society and act as valuable members of the community. If charged with the task of providing life-skills training of this type, ensure that your training is multifaceted and fully covers an array of topics pertaining to maintaining a household and successfully running a life outside of prison walls.

Instructions

    • 1

      List and discuss values that inmates should aim to embody. Ask inmates to list values that they would like to work toward, such as honesty, trustworthiness and responsibility. Create posters that list these values in prominent print, and place them around your space to encourage inmates to continue to work toward embodying these values.

    • 2

      Create a potential budget. Engage inmates in research, and ask them to locate the average salary of jobs for which they may be qualified upon release. Provide inmates with housing listings and grocery ads and work together to create hypothetical budgets, allowing inmates to see what financial decisions they may be faced with upon release.

    • 3

      Complete checkbook-related math practice. Provide inmates with checkbook registers and ask them to complete the addition and subtraction necessary to balance each book.

    • 4

      Discuss the ramifications of bouncing checks. Explore the fees associated with this practice as well as the potential legal consequences of regular check-bouncing to dissuade inmates from bouncing checks upon their release.

    • 5

      Cook a meal together as a class. Prepare a simple meal consisting of foods that inmates can easily prepare for themselves upon release, such as macaroni and cheese, lunch meat sandwiches and cupcakes.

    • 6

      Explore public transit use. Gather information on bus routes in your local area, and explore ways in which individuals could navigate around the city depending on these routes alone.

    • 7

      Engage students in an exploration of educational programs in their local areas. Research community colleges and vocational schools, gathering information on the programs offered as well as the cost, so inmates are prepared to pursue these options upon release.

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