Page 51 - BusinessWest February 21, 2022

of young people in traditional learning or work environments, an engaged- institutions strategy to support young people and help them move out
of the criminal-justice system, and performance-based management. One of the keys to the program,
Judd said, is that cognitive behavioral theory, which she described as a way to understand how situations affect what people think and say in their heads, what they feel in their bodies, and what they do in response. Practicing CBT helps individuals identify a cycle, stop, use a skill, and make a choice instead of reacting.
Gayle credited CBT with helping
yearning for another chance. “My whole mindset is that I’m
not a child anymore, so I want to do better, not just for myself, but for the community and for my child,” he told BusinessWest. He’s now part of a work crew at Roca, handling snow removal and other odd jobs, while also working toward his high-school equivalency.
When asked where he can see himself in a few years, he paused and eventually said, “maybe buying a home and working a real good job,” in a voice that revealed that he knows there’s plenty of hard work ahead to achieve those goals.
And he believes the intervention model at Roca can help him get where
“I’ve been in a lot of programs that say they’re going to help, but they really do”n’t; Roca is different.
he wants to go.
“Roca helps us young men after
incarceration to not only get back on our feet, but to keep out of trouble by having work programs and having work crews for us to go on,” he said, adding
that there are layers of accountability he has never encountered before, and they are helping him to remain focused.
Mabbie Paplardo agreed. She’s a young mother, age 17, from Holyoke, who found out about Roca from some friends already in the program. She said her advisor helps her with everything from getting her to driving lessons to studying for her HiSET test, or simply to get to the store for formula or diapers.
“There really isn’t a program like this,” she said. “I’ve been in a lot of programs that say they’re going to help, but they really don’t; Roca is different — it’s a support network that is helping me be a much better parent.”
One of the keys to creating real,
Mercy Medical Center CONGRATULATES the 2022 Difference Makers
for their commitment to our community.
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Trevor Gayle says Roca has helped him put his past — and the streets — behind him.
him put street reflexes to situations
— those that often lead to violence
and incarceration — behind him,
to be replaced by more measured, reasoned responses. And he continues to practice CBT in his current position in Connecticut.
Finding Hope
Perhaps the best way to fully appreciate how Roca is changing lives is to talk with current participants in the program.
People like Tyreice Harper, 25, from Springfield.
He’s actually in his second stint with Roca. The first came when he was 17, and he admits that he just wasn’t ready for the regimen and the “environment” at the time, and wound up reverting back to a life that landed him in several different Department of Youth Services (DYS) facilities across the region.
“I was locked up ... for armed robbery,” he said, adding that, after a three-and-a-half-year stint at the state’s maximum-security prison in Shirley,
he was ready to give Roca another
try, especially after conversations
with ‘lifers’ at the ‘max’ — those who would never be going home — left him
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