Mentoring

One of the greatest barriers many people face after incarceration is not simply employment, transportation, or housing. It is disconnection.

Years of instability, incarceration, institutionalization, addiction, trauma, fractured relationships, and survival-focused environments can leave people disconnected from healthy community relationships and ordinary social life. Reentry is not only about finding work or a place to sleep. It is also about rebuilding trust, communication, confidence, and connection.

The RISS Volunteer Mentor Program exists to help create those connections.

Volunteer mentors are not counselors, case managers, financial sponsors, or authority figures. They are community members willing to consistently show up, build healthy relationships, and help residents reconnect to stable community life through conversation, encouragement, accountability, and shared experiences.

For some residents, a mentor may become an important source of perspective and encouragement during difficult transitions. For others, mentorship may simply provide a healthy outside connection and an opportunity to engage with someone beyond staff, schedules, and institutional systems.

Mentorship at RISS is always voluntary.

Residents are never required to have a mentor, and participation is available only upon request.

What Mentors Do

Mentors may:

  • Meet residents for coffee or meals

  • Attend campus events or community activities

  • Provide encouragement and perspective

  • Discuss life goals, relationships, communication, or challenges

  • Help residents think through decisions and long-term planning

  • Share professional experience and employment guidance

  • Assist with interview preparation, resumes, or networking

  • Help residents become more comfortable engaging with the broader community

  • Serve as a stable, positive point of connection outside of formal systems

Sometimes the greatest value of mentorship is not advice, but consistency.

A mentor who shows up reliably, communicates respectfully, listens without judgment, and models healthy adult interaction can have a significant impact on someone rebuilding stability and confidence after incarceration.

What Mentors Are Not

Mentors are not:

  • Therapists or counselors

  • Financial providers

  • Employers or landlords

  • Emergency support systems

  • Romantic partners

  • Authority figures or disciplinarians

  • Replacement family members

  • “Rescuers” responsible for fixing someone’s life

The goal of mentorship is not dependency. The goal is healthy connection, encouragement, accountability, and community integration.

RISS maintains clear boundaries to protect both residents and mentors.

Mentors may not:

  • Provide loans or direct financial assistance

  • Purchase requested personal items for residents

  • Enter into business arrangements with residents

  • Engage in romantic or sexual relationships with residents

  • Create living arrangements outside approved RISS processes

  • Attempt to replace or override staff systems and procedures

Mentor Matching

Mentorship relationships are carefully matched based on personality, interests, communication style, and goals whenever possible.

Not every mentor pairing will be the right fit, and reassignment requests may be made by either the resident or mentor without stigma or penalty.

Healthy mentorship requires mutual comfort, trust, and communication.

Mentor Preparation and Oversight

All mentors receive orientation and training regarding:

  • Healthy boundaries

  • Resident autonomy

  • Communication expectations

  • Trauma and institutionalization awareness

  • Dependency and manipulation concerns

  • Campus policies and reporting procedures

  • Appropriate mentor-resident relationships

Mentorship relationships remain voluntary, structured, and supervised to ensure the safety and well-being of both residents and volunteers.

A Community-Based Approach to Reentry

The RISS mentorship model reflects our broader belief that reentry is not solved through isolation, surveillance, or temporary programming alone.

People rebuild stability through environment, opportunity, accountability, structure, and healthy human connection.

The Volunteer Mentor Program is one small but important part of helping residents reconnect with ordinary community life in healthy, sustainable ways.

If being a mentor is something you may be interested in when RISS launches our campus, please reach out to us at volunteer@risscommunity.org

If you believe reintegration should be built intentionally, not reactively, we invite you to explore how you can help bring the RISS model to life.

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