Gaylisa Carr Re-Entry: Adjusting Lives, Healing Hearts BY ELITA SUMMERS Gaylisa Carr is a compassionate and empathetic individual and a thriving entrepreneur, changing lives one mentorship, one opportunity at a time. She has a heart for the community as well as for incarcerated individuals and their families. Re-entry candidates seek out her program, which provides mental and emotional support, transition assistance, and career development opportunities. Having utilized some of the programs in place at that time, she saw firsthand the gaps that needed to be filled. This inspired her to use her experience for good and make a way for others where there previously was none. A brush with the law on a visit home from college resulted in a major change in perspective for Gaylisa. “I just should have never come home from college,” she says. “My brother and cousins, everyone was doing it in the ’90s and the ’80s. I just thought it was fun (selling drugs) not thinking somebody was going to come and try to rob me.” While the situation caused a lot of pain for both her and her family, it turned out to be “the greatest blessing ever,” she says. From a mistake came reflection and course correction, as well as the opportunity for lives to be changed, businesses to be started, jobs to be created and fill, and a lasting impact to be made on the community. Under Gaylisa’s mentorship program, “My Mind Is Killing Me,” candidates focus on creating new habits and understanding their thoughts. She finds participants have often made a bad decision because they didn’t think it all the way though, and encourages them to “play the tape all the way through” to determine if the action is worth the outcome. Instead of focusing on all the wrongdoing, Gaylisa prompts candidates to take ownership of it so they can move forward in a healthy manner. She and her mentors form relationships with candidates and help them create new habits for owning “all the mistrust, all the breakup of support,” she says. Having had the love and support of her mother during her incarceration, she is able to extend the same to her mentees. Candidates are empowered to support themselves and acknowledge each improvement, no matter the size. Incremental change and positive reinforcement sparks a boost in confidence and habit building, which allows candidates to nurture their fresh start in a way that is unique to them, while making full use of their re-entry support team. Financial resources are in place for candidates to help them be good stewards of their resources and explore business or nonprofit endeavors. Financial planning is a key to success. When a candidate exits the program, they have housing, a job and a budget secured for them. If a candidate does not have safe housing, a dependable job or financial understanding upon re-entry, it is more likely that they will repeat the habits they tried to break. Candidates have a variety of career options, including janitorial and restaurant industry work. ENVISIONPROVENSUCCESS.COM | 11
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