An Integrative Approach to Assist Justice-Involved African American Men Successfully Reenter Their Families and Communities

Keywords

Subject classifications

• 0622: Clinical psychology 0621: Psychology 0296: African American Studies

Cite this work

African American men continue to face disproportionate rates of incarceration and significant barriers to reentry, including fractured identity, social stigma, and systemic inequities. While traditional reentry models often focus on employment and supervision, they fail to address returning citizens' cultural, psychological, and spiritual needs. Integrating African-centered psychology, the Catholic Christian Meta-Model of the Person (CCMMP), and desistance theory, this dissertation introduces the author’s original Sankofa VOICE Model, a vocation-focused healing framework grounded in Vocational ownership, Identity, Cultural integrity, and Empowerment. Repositioning reentry as a process of restoration, the model invites men to reclaim their voice, reconnect with the community, and pursue purpose-driven lives. Further critiquing deficit-based approaches and presenting a new paradigm that honors cultural belonging, vocational agency, and narrative redemption, this work contributes to the growing field of culturally responsive reentry by offering a spiritually informed, identity-centered framework that emphasizes healing, legacy, and transformation.

The full text of this dissertation is not published on this site. To request access, contact the DMU library.