Full Circle Volunteers

The following is a partial list of major community professional volunteer supporters of Full Circle’s ACT and ARC programs at San Quentin. Full Circle and the ACT and ARC graduates are very grateful to them all.

Rick Baez, former Director, Center for Recovery, John Muir Hospital, Concord CA
Gretchen Blais, MFT, Clinical Supervisor, East Bay Community Recovery Project, Oakland CA
CAADAC—California Association of Drug and Alcohol Counselors leadership and staff
Ron Caracter, CAADAC, NAADAC, addictions counselor and lecturer
CenterForce staff and teachers
Jo Chavis, RN, NP, Medical team member, Kaiser/Oakland Chemical Dependency Recovery Program
Davida Coady, MD, Executive Director, Options Recovery Services, Berkeley CA
Warren Daniels, CAADAC Past President, and CAADAC and CCBADC Board members and staff
John de Miranda, MA Adjunct Faculty, UC/Berkeley and Cal State/East Bay, and Executive Director, National Association on Alcohol, Drugs and Disability
Nina Ferraris MFT, Director, Center for Recovery, John Muir Hospital, and Adjunct Faculty, Graduate Psychology Department, JFK University, Pleasant Hill CA
Scott Flores, CAADAC, addiction counselor and pharmacology lecturer
Tom Gorham, MA, Clinical Director, Options Recovery Services, and CAADAC Certification Board member
Kiki Kessler, Director, REAP (Reentry Action Plan) at San Quentin
Linda Lazare, Director, ARK Foundation
Barry Levine, MD, Staff psychiatrist, Sequoia Hospital’s addiction treatment program, San Mateo CA
Jody Lewen, Prison University Project at San Quentin
David Lewis, Executive Director, Free at Last, East Palo Alto, and international consultant on addictions in the criminal justice system
Rhonda Messamore, Executive Director, CAADAC
Eddie Oberste, interventionist; staff, Kaiser Chemical Dependency Recovery Program, San Francisco
Margaret Richardson, Attorney & Clinical Supervisor, East Bay Community Law Center
Lawrence Sam, Executive Director, Christian Institute, San Jose CA
DeeDee Stout, Faculty, San Francisco State University, San Francisco City College, Cal State/East Bay
Jerry Synold, Director, U.S. Navy training school for alcohol and drug counselors, San Diego
Jacques Verduin, Executive Director, Insight Prison Project, San Quentin State Prison
Frederick von Stieff, MD, Staff medical director, Center for Recovery, John Muir Hospital
Allyson West, California Re-Entry Program at San Quentin State Prison
Sarah Wilds, case manager, Friends Outside; former director, SUCCESS program at San Quentin

Full Circle Programs Benefit
Prisons, Inmates, and the Community

Working through the non-profit Full Circle Addiction Recovery Services, based in Berkeley CA, volunteer professionals from the alcohol and drug addiction treatment field have created a unique and robust response to the drug/alcohol addiction recovery and reentry needs of San Quentin inmates, an estimated 80 to 90% of whom have committed alcohol/drug related crimes. Two programs, ACT and ARC, are currently being offered at San Quentin, with more in the planning stages:

WIN/WIN in at least 5 ways:

The Full Circle ACT inmate counselor training and ARC treatment programs are WIN/WIN in at least 5 ways:

Inmates benefit: The ACT training program helps inmate trainees live fully, share what they know well, have meaningful work, and be productive responsible citizens, whether inside or outside prison. The ARC treatment program gives inmate clients the tools to enter recovery from drug and alcohol abuse and, more importantly, to learn to live healthy, productive lives without these substances. Invaluable life skills are taught, including goal-setting, self-discipline, time management, self-esteem, forgiveness, and self-responsibility.
Inmates’ families benefit: ARC treatment gives families their loved ones back clean and sober and fortified with skills in relapse prevention, anger management, violence prevention, parenting, healthy communication, family dynamics, goal-setting and many other life skills.
Prisons benefit: ACT & ARC reduces in-prison drug/alcohol use, which produces less violence and less in-prison criminal behavior; and promotes more racial harmony (ARC and ACT both stress diversity and tolerance). Treatment programs with inmate counselors cost very little compared with those staffed by paid employees or contractors. In California, our programs help meet the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s renewed emphasis on rehabilitation.
Government benefits: In addition to significantly reducing addiction treatment program costs, the ACT and ARC programs help parolees avoid the costly revolving door of recidivism by learning how to stay clean and sober and by leaving prison with meaningful life and work skills and solid re-entry plans.

Relapse into drug use >> another criminal act >> back to prison.

Communities benefit: Addiction and the related violence and crime are public health and financial issues. Vocational training and drug treatment mean less crime, productive citizens, stable family units and safer communities. Cost-effective treatment means savings to the State and local government.

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Full Circle Volunteers

Full Circle Programs BenefitPrisons, Inmates, and the Community

WIN/WIN in at least 5 ways:

Full Circle Programs Benefit
Prisons, Inmates, and the Community