Life After Incarceration: Transition and Reentry (LAITR) serves as a unique resource for formerly incarcerated individuals in the Ypsilanti area, offering therapy, job opportunities and the key steps necessary to help anyone returning home from life behind bars transition to a life of normalcy.
According to their website, the goal of LAITR is to create a world of equal opportunities through providing anyone impacted by the justice system with key tools, skills and building blocks necessary to thrive within society.
Heading the non-profit program is Elyse Boyle: the program’s executive director, vice president, occupational therapist (OT) and resource coordinator who says the program provides a holistic approach to occupational therapy, a form of healthcare profession that helps clients focus on the things they want and need to do in daily life, a form of therapy LAITR uses to help their clients and their reintroduction to society.
“Occupations are everything that you do to fill your time in a day. The goal areas for our clients will look like emotional regulation, time management, budgeting, leisure, self-care and caregiving. That is what we focus on and what we do,” Boyle said. “The goal isn’t to rely on the OT. The goal is to learn how to do these things on your own, so when you leave, you can feel more comfortable in the community when you are done.”
Through their website, LAITR provides key statistics that they say contribute to increased incarceration rates, such as trauma, substance abuse and socioeconomic hardships. Their program works with inmates to help them overcome their past experiences.
“Success is when the client will tell me something that they are proud and happy to accomplish. It can be something that we deem small, such as buying their own calendar, or being ready to find another therapist,” Boyle said. “Success of the program is seeing the independence, the comfort and growth with my clients. We can have numbers all day that show how effective our program is, but it is the moments that feel human. It is that sense of connection in the community that is the best part.”
LAITR, which works directly with the city of Ypsilanti and parole officers, notes its commitments are through overt and professional advocacy, listening and trauma-informed care. While the program only works with individuals on parole, their website highlights that of 95% of formally incarcerated individuals who reenter the community. 44% are re-arrested within the first year, 68% within three years, & 83% within nine years. Boyle said their goal is to help eliminate that statistic within the Ypsilanti community.
“We run a life skills group that gives you some tools and strategies to get your footing, but in one-on-one therapy, we make it very individualized for the client,” Boyle said. “Their first week or month (in the program), they are meeting a bunch of new faces. I’m one of them, so it is really hard for any individual. Incarceration overall is traumatizing, especially when you are living it for decades, and you are in the same habit routine; it can take a really long time for anybody to get comfortable.”
According to Boyle, the program goes beyond OT, developing a short-term employment opportunity in March 2024 for former inmates called Supportive Hands in Neighborhood Enhancement (SHINE), a job within the Ypsilanti Township that provides litter clean-up services to specialty-designed zones in Ypsilanti Township, ranging from Ecorse Road on Michigan Ave, to Ypsilanti’s downtown district.
While Boyle says the goal for their non-profit is to assist and help the community, the program currently needs help from the community, as they are fighting a funding crisis, as their primary stream of funding through a contract with the Washtenaw County Jail received a significant financial blow, resulting in the non-profit now requesting financial help which Boyle says will allow them to bring in more beneficial resources to their program.
“Our main funding stream has drastically decreased, with our services going from three full-time occupational therapists to me being part-time,” Boyle said. “Bringing in more mental health resources to our population is necessary.”
Those looking to assist LAITR in their financial crisis can contact the nonprofit through their email at [email protected] or online at lifeafterincarceration.com/our-vision
Antonio Cooper is a freelance journalist from Detroit, Michigan. His coverage of music festivals and interviews with local celebrities appeared in The E-Current Magazine, The Detroit Metro Times, XXL Magazine, RichMagDigital, The Ann Arbor Observer, and Pop Magazine.
