Reentry Realities: Student Workbook

The Reentry Realities textbook provides the information for a better life on the other side of the razor wire. This companion student workbook provides the opportunity for ownership of what you have read in the text. This workbook becomes the blueprint for the intentional changes you want to make in your life.

If you want to make the most of your reentry by getting the most you can out of every effort - and doing it as efficiently as possible - you need a blueprint that will work for you. A blueprint tailors your change to your personal needs and goals. A blueprint is most effective when it takes into account the principles that will support your priorities. Blueprints create realistic changes to get you from where you are to where you are trying to go without losing direction. This blueprint fosters the ability to cope by helping you to set an agenda for your personal progress. When you are in control of your progress you can measure it. And when you can measure your progress you can understand it.

People tend to focus on what they think will give them the greatest return for their investment of their time. If you believe you can be successful in your reintegration in the long term, you are likely to give it the planning and attention it deserves.

Planning your reentry is about finding yourself. It is about knowing yourself, who you are as a person made in the image of your Creator. This student workbook creates the avenue to create a consistent outlook and pattern in our lives. It becomes the filter that shapes, molds, and makes who we are as we process information in reentry.

Our personal responsibility in reintegration is pretty simple. It's about knowing your blueprints. And making decisions based on those blueprints, and then managing those decisions on a day-to-day basis. The longer we live and the more knowledge we acquire should make reintegration even simpler. But reintegration has a way of becoming complicated without a blueprint. It is only through great effort and conscious intention that we keep it simple.

Life doesn't have "do-overs". It is the real thing now! But we can learn from others who went before us. They should inspire us to plan as best we can and then give it our all.

Larry Dean Thompson was incarcerated on four occasions for a total of 28 years. He tried (and failed) three times to reintegrate during an era where the challenges that ex-felons face upon reentry were not clearly understood. Larry earned an associate's degree from Ashland University, a bachelor's certification from Grace Ministries Bible College and graduated from a state-certified counselors training program. He was released in April 2022 and has dedicated his life to being successful - and helping others be successful - in reintegration. Reentry Realities: Student Workbook is his second book and he can be contacted at ldt@larrythompson.net.