Project Candlestick – Coaches

Hundreds of thousands of people in the United States return home from prison each year. They return with dreams of family, freedom, livelihood, and community transformation. Those dreams range from world transformation to simple life experiences that most of us take for granted, like seeing the ocean or going to a ballgame!

But the impact of the prison experience and the daunting challenges of reentry can make fulfilling those dreams far out of reach. That’s where high-quality coaching can make a huge difference: supporting people in reentry to unleash their potential, overcome hurdles, and create new possibilities for achieving their dreams. Most importantly, coaching imparts the gift of seeing each individual as what’s possible in their future and not what’s happened in their past.

Many coaches yearn to make a difference in communities outside our own, but inertia, fear, or the need to make a living keep us working within our current social realms. Our clients are often affluent and privileged, far removed from the communities most disadvantaged by our carceral system. The result is that coaching, with all of its sincere intentions and empowering possibilities, can be a vehicle for perpetuating privilege, inequity, and the wealth gap. Candlestick is a vehicle for your desire to get out of your comfort zone and use your gifts as a coach in a way that diminishes inequity and expands possibilities for all.

As a volunteer coach, you will coach a pro bono client for an hour per week for six months. Your participation kicks off with a two-hour training session, where we will review program logistics, coaching foundations, and resources for supporting people in reentry.

As a thank-you and benefit to your coaching, there are optional weekly drop-in sessions for you to receive support and training from other coaches. There are also free online community workshops that all Candlestick participants are invited to!

1. Sign up for an orientation session
2. Fill out this short intake form

Here’s what you can do:

• Make a donation. Project Candlestick has been created in partnership with a non-profit called Bonafide, whose mission is to ensure that people affected by incarceration have the support they need to integrate into society and build healthy, productive lives. Donations to Bonafide help support Project Candlestick and other Bonafide programs. Donate here!
• Share this invitation! If you know other professional coaches who might want to participate, forward this page!
• Help lead Project Candlestick. There is so much room for this to grow. If you feel called to it, let’s chat. Your contributions could make a huge difference.
• Keep updated! If you’re a “not now but maybe later,” head here to sign up for email updates.

Please feel free to schedule a time to chat live with Matt Maxwell from Hearthstone.

Or contact us at coaching@bonafidelife.org.