Most individual, couples and family therapy takes a problem-focused approach — delving deep to understand a problem over many sessions before beginning to address solutions. Dr. Johnny Kim advocates for a different approach for many clients: solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), which, as the name implies, moves directly to solutions for a wide range of issues, including depression, addiction and trauma.

 "​The White House hosted a high-profile summit meeting on federal prison reform on May 18, and Carrie Pettus-Davis, who helped to organize it, sat among cabinet members."

"At Florida State, Pettus-Davis will run the Institute for Justice Research and Development...Two studies are underway. One study compares substance abuse treatment inside Florida prisons. The other assesses re-entry programs at prisons in Texas, Kentucky, Florida and Pennsylvania to get them more consistent with best practices. Pettus-Davis said she hoped to include Missouri on the list of participants."

"Five key pillars — including positive social engagement, meaningful work trajectories — needed for successful return from incarceration," researcher says.

"Pettus-Davis has devoted most of her career to improving the lives of ex-prisoners, and her latest project is arguably the most significant. In 2018, she will lead a major research initiative to identify the most effective re-entry services for reducing recidivism. The eight-site, randomized controlled trial will involve more than 1,000 prisoners who are nearing release in urban and rural communities in Florida, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Texas."

"Florida State University’s College of Social Work will launch an unprecedented research initiative this spring focusing on the re-entry of incarcerated persons into communities."

 "The donor network helmed by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch is putting $4 million behind a pilot program aimed at reducing recidivism rates among former prisoners."

“The study, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, found that felons who served time behind bars were more likely to return to prison within five years of their release, compared to equivalent offenders who were sentenced to probation."

"Teachers, family and friends, and even volunteers puncture what seals prisoners off from the rest of humanity. If prisoners could use social media, it would allow them a virtual reentry into society so they could test the waters, instead of being dropped into them."

The university community is invited to the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences’ upcoming lecture titled “Promoting Smart Decarceration through Research, Practice, and Policy Partnerships.”