Supporting the Transition of Formerly Incarcerated Parents Into Their Family and Kin Networks

In this episode, Veronique discusses her career path and her experiences as an African-American woman and how it has influenced her career as a clinical psychologist. She discusses the innovative work being done at the Carl B. Metoyer Center for Family Counseling to help previously incarcerated parents transition through the re-entry process, and to rebuild relationships within the faily system. She highlights the importance of working with the whole family unity through this process, including the parents, children, and caregivers. Veronique and I also discuss training issues such as multicultural awareness, and the importance of validation, non-defensiveness, and being open to feedback.

Veronique Thompson, Ph.D. is a tenured faculty at the Wright Institute in Berkeley and the Clinical Director at the Carl B. Metoyer Center for Family Counseling, East Oakland. There she and her colleagues are piloting a program, the Umoja Reentry Family Unity Project, to support families with formerly incarcerated parents. She has experience working with adults and families, as well as adolescent status offenders, and her theoretical orientation combines developmental, systems, social justice therapy, and narrative therapy perspectives. Dr. Thompson is a past teaching associate for the University of California, Berkeley in general psychology and minority mental health, as well as a fellow in the Berkeley Teacher Training Program. In addition to her work mentioned above, she also maintains a private practice.