Rescheduled for September 5 – Embraced:Fully interview with Reynaldo Aguilar, inmate counselor and addiction specialist – You’re invited

Join us for our next Embraced:Fully Interview on Thursday, September 5, 2024 at 6:00 pm Pacific. We’ll be recording the interview in case you can’t make it.

Our guest for this interview is Reynaldo Aguilar, Certified Substance Use Disorder Counselor (SUDCC) and former Program Director for The Wellness & Recovery Program at Partnership Re-Entry Program (PREP).

About our guest

Reynaldo Aguilar is a Certified Substance Use Disorder Counselor (SUDCC) who believes his personal struggle with substance abuse and education puts him in a unique position to assist others on their journey to wholeness. He understands how trauma (pain) that is not dealt with and transformed is transmitted in destructive ways. He understands what it takes to overcome certain obstacles, to achieve tools in order to maintain sobriety and work toward inner healing. One of the best qualities he believes he possesses that will serve him well as he works with others who are struggling is empathy, the ability to be present and understanding toward others and their struggle with addiction. As “Hurt people, hurt people…Healed people heal people!” He has worked as the Program Director for The Wellness & Recovery Program for the non-profit Partnership Re-Entry Program (PREP) where he continues to facilitate recovery and rehabilitation workshops at California state prisons. He also works as a Victim Offender Dialogue facilitator with Mend Collaborative through Victim Services.

Narrative of Rehabilitation:

My name is Reynaldo Aguilar. As a misguided youth, at the age of 12 I was involved in a gang. Through that gang affiliation I got involved in a life of drugs and criminal activity. By the age of 19 I was arrested and convicted for aiding and abetting in a first-degree felony. I was sentenced to 28 years to life.

After being convicted and being sentenced, at the very beginning of my incarceration I came to very clearly realize how I was the architect of my destiny and how I was living out the consequences of my choices. It was then I started taking responsibility for my actions and life choices. I made that decision and took that difficult stand on a maximum-security prison facility.

My faith in God helped me to forgive myself for the life I had lived and taught me not to allow those poor choices to define me as a person. I then renounced all association with the gang, got sober, and began to make the best investment I could ever make which is in myself! I’ve worked hard to educate myself. I’ve earned two Associates Degrees in Business and in Social & Behavioral Science, a Drug and Alcohol Specialist Certification I & II. The last 10 years of my incarceration (2010 – 2020) I spent mentoring other inmates who were struggling with addictions and who were trying to change their lives. During my incarceration I achieved numerous certificates in Anger Management, Non-Violent Communication, Victim Impact, Stress Management, Alternative to Violence, Communication (public speaking through Toastmasters), and I have become very acquainted with the 12 steps of NA. I have also facilitated numerous groups and have created two program curriculums (Money Matters – Financial Literacy & Prisoners Organizing Workshops for Effective Rehabilitation P.O.W.E.R. to assist other inmates in their rehabilitation efforts) and became head Chairman (elected by my peers) of Timeless, Youth Offender Program Mentors, Narcotics Anonymous, and Criminal Gang members Anonymous (CGA). I have laudatory chronos from facility Captains commending me for the rehabilitative work I did on their yards.

On July 18, 2019 at my first Board of Prison Terms Hearing I was found suitable for parole by the parole board of prison hearings and that decision was upheld by Governor Gavin Newson on December 12, 2019. On March 16, 2020 I was released from Prison after completing the statutory requirement of my prison sentence. Being released at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic nation-wide quarantine has made my transition somewhat difficult, but I have managed to get my Driver’s License and continue my education by getting certified with California Association of DUI Treatment Providers (CADTP). I was granted early discharge of parole because of all the mitigating factors in my case (i.e. college, after care, employment, and my continued efforts to give back, etc.)

As “Hurt people, hurt people…Healed people heal people!” Today, I believe my past experience and education puts me in a unique position to assist others on their journey to wholeness. I understand how trauma (pain) that is not dealt with and transforms is transmitted in destructive ways, I understand what it takes to overcome certain obstacles, to achieve tools in order to maintain sobriety and work toward inner healing. One of the best qualities I possess that will serve me well as I work with others is empathy, the ability to be patient and understanding with other people and their struggle. My life experience informs me how I need to show up for others.

Today, I try to be everything I needed as a youth which is a mentor, a voice of reason, peer support, someone who sees the potential of people when they don’t see it for themselves. Having recently received my statewide institutional clearance, I am currently Program Director of The Wellness & Recovery Program for the non-profit Partnership Re-Entry Program (PREP) where I facilitate Substance Abuse Program in a carceral setting. I also Co-facilitate a Critical Insight group with Marc Vahanian from Pathway to Kinship at Chuckwalla, Ironwood State Prison, and California Rehabilitation Center. I was recently promoted to Program Director for Mend Collaborative who works in collaboration with the Office of Victim Service. In all this, I am humbled to be an instrument of good and honored to be a part of our (societies’) collective journey to wholeness.

Reynaldo Jr. Aguilar

All are welcome to attend!

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