Keeping the lines of communication open!

In July 2020, Director Julie Kempker began holding monthly Zoom calls with the Field and Institutional Supervisors. These monthly calls will keep the lines of communication open relative to the pandemic and allow time for Q&A regarding the new supervision procedures.

Women's Circle Program Graduation

On June 29, 2020, three clients at the District 27 Probation and Parole Office graduated from the Women’s Circle Program. The Women’s Circle is a completely voluntary program that meets once a week for each of the three (3), 12 week sessions. Once the client graduates all three sessions, she then is given the opportunity to help facilitate future classes. These classes are designed to support soft skills that everyone needs throughout the curriculum and, since it is completely voluntary, it allows no-pressure environment to help ladies give each other moral-support. PPO Tracy Bishop admitted at the graduation that, when she first got involved with Women’s Circle, she didn’t really feel like this would be a valuable experience for clients or herself. But now, after facilitating several sessions, she finds it one of the more beneficial things she does at work. PPO Jesse Weed noted that it was wonderful to see the change in participation as the clients became more comfortable with each other and started forming pro-social bonds. All three of the women graduating had a sparkle in their eyes and seemed confident to live their life positively. Tracy and Jesse decorate the conference room environment every week for the class. On this occasion, decorations lined the conference room bringing a light hearted feel as the rest of the District 27 staff watched the ladies receive their certificates of completion and share that this was the first “thing” they have ever graduated from.

DA Vince Rost commented, "Tracy and Jesse step up each week, even when the class had to be paused for COVID concerns, to bring support and be a role model for these ladies. The group may be small, but for those who participate, the impact is large! Hat’s off to these two who are changing the world, one person at a time."

Eastern Region Violent Crime District (ERV)

On July 1, Donna King, Eastern Region Regional Adminstrator, announced the formation of the Eastern Region Violent Crime District, (ERV). Donna wrote: "While this district has been building for a few months, they are now fully functioning. This district was created as a response to the high rate of violent crime within St. Louis City and the surrounding area, to include St. Louis County. The ERV District provides supervision for the GANG CPR, St. Louis City Police Partnership, both formerly with D7C and the newest addition the Arrest Pilot Officers. These officers volunteered and were repositioned from other districts to respond to the high risk violent offenders in St. Louis City. The district also includes a liaison to a regional FBI Taskforce. This district is located at 220 S. Jefferson 1st Floor which also houses D7C and EP. ERV is led by DA Valorie Sparks. Her management team includes Unit Supervisor Andre Pike (Arrest Pilot Officers) Unit Supervisor Brooke Wernsman (GANG CPR and St. Louis City Police Partnership) and SOSA Shona Howard."

District 12 PPA/CTO Team

The District 12 CSC Supervisor, IAC and PPA/CTO team has been busy most of the summer working with CSC clients to improve their lives and the lives of those in the community. CSC residents volunteer every Wednesday at the Hope Center, a non-profit site, making and delivering lunches for area families. The team assisted four clients with their Mineral Area College classes, ensuring they were transported to the college five days a week (for five weeks) and they spent several hours a day assisting these clients with assignments and computer work. These clients received their ACT WorkKeys NCRC Certification, Certified Production Technician, and OSHA 10 along with the MAC Certificate of Completion for the Manufacturing Technician program. They planned and donated to a recognition event recognizing the individual achievements of every client who resided at the CSC. They worked with clients on their individual journals and recognized clients’ milestone achievements. Their dedication and hard work has made a significant difference in the lives of our clients and have strengthen our community relationships! 

Angel Atchison was promoted to SOSA at District 25 in Poplar Bluff. Congratulations Angel!

Jon Miller was promoted to Unit Supervisor at District 12/CS in Farmington. Congratulations Jon!

Tasha Kitchen was promoted to PPO III at District 16 in Union. Congratulations Tasha!

MDOC Employee of the Month-June 2020

Sarah Lee, PPO at District 32, was selected as the Missouri Department of Corrections Employee of the Month for June 2020. Director Anne Precythe stated, "Your contributions to the department have not gone unnoticed. In your position as Probation and Parole Officer, you have gone above and beyond your normal working duties. While maintaining and supervising a large caseload, you also volunteer as a Job Coach. In addition to supervising your caseload, you are also an Adjunct Trainer in teaching the following classes: Mental Health First Aid, Staff Suicide Prevention, new staff training and volunteered to present the MOMM to staff. Your knowledge in these areas has become a valuable asset to your fellow staff and supervisors at District 32 and the Department. Even with your large caseload you have found time to boost office morale.You are willing to help anyone that needs a helping hand; whether that is volunteering with a weekend Drug Court UA collection or a community service trash pickup project. Your selfless actions demonstrate a deep dedication to the mission, your students, and your fellow employees. Your high professionalism and ability to accomplish extraordinary achievements demonstrates your assistance in improving lives for safer communities. Your example is an inspiration! You are an excellent role model and an example of professionalism for the Corrections community."  Pictured Left to Right: Regional Administrator Ed Bestgen, Unit Supervisor Misty Anderson, Sarah, Deputy Division Director of the  Western Zone Jamie Liakos and Director Julie Kempker.

Congratulations Sarah!

Leadership is critical to any organization’s success. The State of Missouri is committed to developing the next generation of state government leaders. The Missouri Leadership Academy is an innovative program that brings together emerging leaders from across all 16 executive departments to build new skills and become better leaders. This leadership program incorporates approaches that are proven successful in other high performing organizations in both the public and private sectors.

The Missouri Leadership Academy objectives are:

• For participants: accelerate their professional growth through individual leadership development, building new skills to lead others, and learning how to drive change
• For their departments: prepare emerging leaders to take on new responsibilities and roles
• For the State of Missouri: build a group of emerging leaders with the skills and understanding of how to improve government performance

This program’s foundation is the commitment that through better leadership, the State of Missouri will continue to improve and serve our citizens better. Our citizens expect us to perform as well as any other organization. Working together, we will meet their high expectations.

Ryan stated the following regarding his experience:

"I definitely learned a lot and appreciated the opportunity to participate. It was a great experience that allowed me to gain valuable insight working with and building relationships with staff from all sixteen departments."   

Congratulations Ryan!

GEM Awards (Going the Extra Mile) District 4W: DA Gail Bynum and PPO Nakeisha Porter District 10R: PPO Heather Mitchem, PPO Kyla Garner and OSA Delia Yescas District 11: PPO Amber Johnston and PPO Cyndi Mercer District 12: CTO Cathy Crick District 19: PPO Cody Ruoff and PPO Staci Groom.  District 31-Unit Supervisor Jessica Prude-Rose District 32: Unit Supervisor, Misty Anderson OCC Parole Office: Unit Supervisor Stacy Kleier WMCC Parole Office, PPO III Kyle Clark COPP: Special Projects Coordinator, Sharon Dunn, Parole Analyst Sara Lemberger and Community Corrections Administrator Rick Kuttenkuler Congratulations to All!

District 11 PPO Kim Palmer was chosen as the District Employee of the 2nd Quarter-2020. Congratulations Kim!

After 17 ½ years, David Meyer, Probation and Parole District Administrator of Boonville Correctional Center, is hitting the road to…Retirement! David started his career with the Missouri Department of Corrections, as a CST in District 4R in January 2003, following 20 plus years in the United States Army, some of which was as a Drill Instructor. While at District 4R, David supervised a primary caseload, later moving up to an Intensive Supervision caseload. In November 2006, David transferred to District 32’s satellite office in Marshall, Missouri. He promoted to Unit Supervisor at District 6 in June 2008. Finally, in April 2011, David promoted to his current position of District Administrator of Probation and Parole at Boonville Correctional Center. Regional Administrator Todd Fleharty commented, "As David moves on down the road, his contribution to the Boonville Probation and Parole Office will truly be missed. He was a great encourager of team building activities and office get-togethers, making sure everyone in the office knew how great a contribution they were to not only Probation and Parole, but the Department of Corrections as a whole." Congratulations David!

ORAS FAQ

How do we know Goals, Objectives and Techniques?  If you’ve ever rode past a house and thought, “They really need to clean their gutters” follow me on this path…  Visualize a Ladder   Goal: Clean the gutters on the house How do they do that?  They could call a service provider or get up there themselves and do it. For this example the homeowner (offender) plans to do it themselves. To get up there they will need to use a ladder. I want you to picture a ladder leaned up against that house. At the top of the ladder are the gutters that need to be cleaned, at the top of the ladder is the GOAL they are trying to achieve.   Objective: Steps it takes to get up the ladder to reach the Goal. In order to reach the top of the ladder where the goal is, the homeowner (offender) has to get on the ladder and walk up the steps. Each step on the ladder is an OBJECTIVE that the homeowner has to achieve to move them closer to the goal.  It’s important to pay attention to the small spaces between each step. Objectives should be SMART and small enough for the offender to achieve and to see their success toward their goal. If these steps are not taken, how do they reach the goal? Each step is important and gets them closer to the goal.   Technique: Someone has to hold the ladder steady so they don’t fall off or if they do fall, get them some help. Now that the homeowner (offender) is on the ladder, taking the steps (objectives) to get to the top of the ladder where the dirty gutters (goal) are, we want to make sure they don’t fall off and that the ladder is sturdy. If they do happen to stumble off, then they will need some help, and remember, the gutters will still need to be cleaned. Someone needs to be at the bottom of the ladder holding it. That’s you, and how you are going to support or hold the offender accountable for completion of the objective. Techniques are the tools that each staff person uses to help the offender stick to their case plan and keeps the objectives in front of them.