Exploring the Principles of Wholistic Restoration Part 3: Personal

In this five part series, so far we have discussed Relational and Spiritual Restoration. The next principle of wholistic restoration is: Personal. This is the area most would refer to as case management, which I would describe as helping someone take care of the most practical areas of their life.

If God knows the number of hairs on our head and a sparrow doesn’t fall from the sky without Him knowing (see Luke 12:6–7), then it is clear He is interested in the details of our lives. One practical area of restoring lives is seen in watching men find financial relief from having so much garnished from their check that they are tempted to just give up and go back to their old life. In dozens of cases so far, many men keep working, pressing forward and paying far more child support in the end than if they had quit and run again.

The chaos and insecurity that comes with substance abuse or homelessness leads to men and women losing their most basic personal documents. When reentering society from incarceration it is common for them not to have their state ID, birth certificate, and/or Social Security card. You may be able to locate resources in your community that provide funding and systems to help those who are unemployed or just released from jail or prison to get ID and birth certificates. I encourage you to take the time to access the resources for these personal needs of the people you serve. If you don’t have the time initially, create a list of these resources as you come across them.

Another sad example we see that illustrates how necessary it is to pursue wholistic restoration comes in this personal area. Making certain that they have a valid driver’s license and the title, registration, and insurance for the car in their name, is not something that is always seen to be necessary for those who are coming out of extreme poverty. More than one of our program participants has left or been removed because they did not want to wait to drive until they were legally ready to do so. Even if many things are going well in the other four areas, it would only take one ticket and parole violation, or worse, an accident and judgment for damages, for things to go bad. Do not overlook what seem to be the most obvious legal and ethical areas of their personal lives.

Because of the entry requirements for the learning environments throughout the program, most of our men and women have either their high school diploma, GED, or HiSet. If not, we require they attain one of those. We use other things as benchmarks in the personal area of restoration, including:

Vision board

We provide construction paper and hundreds of old magazines for clippings and encourage them to express themselves however they want to create a visual reminder and representation of what they are working toward.

Legal issues

Two-thirds of our men are on probation or parole (P&P), so we have developed a close partnership with our local P&P office and now have a designated P&P officer to help them satisfy their state supervisory obligations. 

Health coverage

Our community has a free health care option for those who don’t have Medicaid. We developed a partnership with a local MD. We teach that the ER is only for emergencies because medical bills set back restoration.

SMART goals

These goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Classes

We have an assortment of life skills and restoration classes that cover things like communication, goal setting, diet and nutrition, and scheduling.

Personal hygiene

We speak to how they present themselves: how often they shower; what kind of clothing they wear; the importance of being shaven and combed; not wearing their hats crooked or backward, etc. We make sure to teach what all this communicates to the people around them.

Personal cleanliness

We emphasize a focus on living space, clutter and hoarding, not doing laundry often enough, falling short on chores, etc.

Library card

We ask them to get a card and learn how to utilize the library.

While some of these things may seem to be run-of-the-mill requirements that most of us have no problems attaining or sustaining, for someone who is in material and relational poverty, they are huge. Taking these steps for personal growth and accountability are crucial to restoration.

About Mark McKnelly

Mark McKnelly is an author, motivational speaker and wholistic life restoration minister and coach. McKnelly develops and helps other organizations develop programs for men and women reentering society from incarceration or recovering from addiction. He shares his practical process in his book Change for the Poor to teach others how to help individuals in extreme material and relational poverty restore their own spiritual, relational, personal, vocational and financial lives. His personal journey through addiction and recovery led him to his ministry.