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Meet The Co-Founders

Please note we share publicly here only limited details given the importance of anonymity
under the sensitive nature of probation status. We are happy to share more
in the context of forging trusting relationships to collaborate on probation reform.

Her Story:

Her background is in having spent a decade in a top academic setting earning a doctoral degree in a health and human services field, followed by a decade of practice as a trauma and suicide prevention specialist in military and general populations, in both government and private sectors.

In the course of her practice, she took the seat of compassion with thousands of people from many walks of life, cultures and countries, socio-economic strata, ages, and types of traumatic experiences - ranging from surviving sexual assault to living in the aftermath of childhood spent amidst genocide, to horrific vehicle and life-altering work accidents, natural disasters, and war (with those who had dropped bombs and also with those on the other side of the coin who had fled bombings).

The focus for how she helped people navigate some of the deepest human challenges centered on resilience, restoring hope and a sense of safety and belonging in the world, and helping people recalibrate their sense of personal power, balanced control, contextualized trust, positive esteem for self and other, and honest intimacy after enduring traumatic experiences.

Her areas of specialization, in hindsight, are astoundingly relevant to probation reform, given the ways that the current models of probation impinge on the human person as well as the families - especially the children - of those in the system. Psychological factors which must be considered for any re-humanizing approach are congruent with her curriculum vitae:

Suicide prevention

Trauma and resilience

Child and family development

Early childhood and later adult attachment styles

Attachment-related relationship processes across the lifespan

Risk/protective factors associated with secure and insecure attachment

Importance of social support in the good times as well as in the difficult times life presents

Eventually, out of hearing the same underlying outcry from individual after individual, group after group, she began to more clearly see the systemic human dysfunction associated with the individual-level pain in our society. It became evident that treating the symptomatic distress of the societal disconnect actually contributes to rather than relieves the widespread perpetual pain, and that this drama will continue until there is sufficient change - rather than suppression - at a socio-cultural level.

Accordingly, she focused more on healing and resilience at the collective rather than individual level, as a public mental health educator, change-agent, sacred activist, peace builder, and social impact networker. In those different, but equally ingrained trenches, there persists a glaring need for deeper, more foundational impact on the collective agreements bought into by individuals which make up a culture.

A desire arose to have a greater compassionate impact upon society
by tending to the root cause of humanity's discontent,
our sense of separateness - that which divides us.

To unveil to the human mind that we are one unified human family.
To overcome human-generated cruelty with the power of our true human-kindness.

At about the "Ten Thousand Hour Rule" mark of her former career of sitting with the deep suffering of the world, she arose from her meditation cushion one morning and felt a determination to follow a calling that reached straight into her heart - as if out of the collective cries of the world - to write a film series which could present to humanity a New Mythology as a Guiding Light in our trying times.

In an instant, she sensed within the contours of her own life and heart-mind, having met so transparently in both the beauty and agony of lived-experience with myriad others, an unfolding mythology.

A mythos to help us come out of the darkness we have created within our social structures, by opening to the gracious powers of heaven and earth - those which ceaselessly hear and respond to the Cries of the World, particularly those most oppressed. A mythos to return humanity to its true place within the Circle of Life as a species which has been at war, but which has a yet dormant capacity to learn to walk together in unimaginable peace. A capacity ready to ignite.

A New Mythology to Help Humanity:

comprehend Life from the lens of what it means to be
born into the scar tissue of a traumatized world,

imagine how we can unwind from those ancestral wounds
which have shaped the current world circumstances, and

see that from a more free place we can co-create a more beautiful world
according to our truth as a species capable of great beauty,
rather than according to our traumas dictating
how we continuously inflict pain and separation upon one another.

Know ourselves as the super heroes we need for a societal
paradigm-shift towards a more beautiful, just, peaceful, compassionate,
abundant, joyous, thriving world.

She began to write

She began to write her story,
by way of tracing the grooves of history,
reframing the view from the perspective of Herstory,
of Mother Earth as witness to the plight of the whole of humankind,
in order to present the possibility of a bright future of Ourstory as a human family,
wherein we can act in harmony with all of Mother Earth's Children as our kin,
honoring the sanctity of the animals, forests, waters, soil, air and sacred Land,
tending to their stories rather than diminishing the preciousness of any life.

But, what was missing was his story...

One thread in the tapestry of humanity, representing millions of lives constricted
by an orientation of punishment and blame, a devolution we have
fallen into, rather than evolving into our human potential
to know our civilization as a living embodiment
of the balance of justice and compassion,
of freedom and connection.

Then, she met him. As he shared his story, she knew he held a missing strand in
the Mythos she had been writing for years prior, to help humanity understand
what it means to enjoy Freedom. Independence. Soveriengty. Liberation.

HIS STORY:

He is "the inspirational case" which has led to the Backbone of Justice Project.

He is embodying the walk through our broken prison and probation systems.

He fell on the wrong side of the law during the beginning of the pandemic, while striving to take care of his family as well as those he considered extended family (several employees with spouses and children) in the midst of economic collapse brought on by the lockdowns.

This resulted in the consequence of serving over a year in prison, including solitary confinement for a wrongful accusation by prison guards related to supplies brought in by other parties, followed by months in a half-way house. His sentencing includes up to three years on supervised release, with over two years now served. The pain and life-limiting hindrance of one more year seems incomprehensible.

He is an ambitious, determined, generous, compassionate, passionate, creative, innovative, detail-oriented, expansive thinker capable of anything he puts his mind to. However, he has found that life following release from prison has continued to impinge on him in ways that have made moving forward nearly impossible.

He is the father of four Children whom he loves beyond measure.

He has never caused physical harm to anyone.

Court documents declare his "crime" to involve "no victims",
rather, a violation of U.s. policy, regarding which people hold various opinions.

Due to administrative barriers to medical care, he is now suffering constant physical agony at THE HANDS OF THE SYSTEM for a severe pain condition, which is treatable IF he can get himself IN THE RIGHT HANDS of skilled medical professionals whom he has sought to engage in care with for over a year, without avail. This delay comes after being denied medical care prior to his sentencing, while in prison, and while the half-way house, adding up to ...

More than FOUR YEARS of having his 8th Amendment Right
"to be free of Cruel and Unusual Punishment"
violated, by the system which is supposed to protect society.

The excruciating pain of displaced vertebrae and discs in both his lumbar and cervical spine is felt as a debilitating stabbing sensation in his back, aggravating pain in his neck, and pain and numbness which run down to his fingers and toes.

The pain is so severe that he is on highest doses of medications to target nerve pain and inflammation, including years of high dosage prescription NSAIDs, which can increase serious health risks with long-term use. With proper treatment, it is likely that these medications will not be necessary at all, meaning that it is the restriction of access to proper medical care that is leading to the endurance of side-effects, which compromise his quality of life and could shorten lifespan.

Most people would say that the medication side effects alone are a punishment which far outweighs the severity of his legal offense, much less the daily severe pain which continues to be inflicted only because a probation officer is in a position of power to deny administrative ability to seek the needed care.

Many days, he can barely walk and it is almost impossible to get restorative sleep given the unrelenting pain levels through the night. He is hopeful to get medical attention in order to gain his life back, so that he can fully enjoy it with his kids and be all that they count on him to be, especially as a provider once he can obtain true pain relief through medically targeting the root cause of the pain such that he can return to his previous physical ability to work and earn for his family.

THEIR STORY:

A fierce thunderstorm storm swept through a midwest town where she lived, singly.

After the storm passed,
a rainbow appeared.
As if landing on the roof of the house
she beheld as she gazed at the brightening skies.

Storm damage led a sales crew for a roofing and home repair company to book a month-long stay at her vacation rental. Three weeks after the storm, under a Full Blue Moon during harvest season, a single father and his darling toddler checked-in. They talked. She stayed. They all quickly began to feel more at home than they had ever expected. Something felt familiar, magnetic, and loving, guiding them to open their hearts to the connection which felt destined from the first hello.

A couple of weeks in to getting to know each other during a very sweet courtship, primarily led by the toddler who declared them as "we are family" by day three, she was standing at the sink. He said, "so, I need to tell you, I've served time in prison." She asked what was the reason, listened, then unflinchingly declared her support of him for the process ahead.

She learned that he was still on probation and had been granted a travel pass for work, but would soon need to return to his "district" over a thousand miles away. She had observed how hard he had been working for the sales job, despite his medical condition driving severe pain and landing him in the ER, during which she swooped in to care for him and his child. He disclosed the predicament he was in given the need to earn, the medical concerns, and his young child's needs especially given the the attachment rupture by the mother several months prior. All of these needs stood in contrast to the demand his probation officer would surely issue before much longer, that he return to his district although he had just walked into a loving, stable, peaceful, wholesome, and nurturing home and situation for both himself and his child.

Indeed, the probation officer did call him to return, giving him a couple of weeks to get things in order, without regard to the medical condition, availability of medically necessary treatment, the financial needs and opportunity, nor the emotional/relational needs of the father or the child.

He filled her in about conditions, procedures, and processes of probation,
including horrible stories of others he had been imprisoned with
losing their probation status due to technical violations leading to re-incarceration.

She understood the potential severity of the situation he was dealing with,
particularly as a single father with no suitable relatives
positioned to take care of a young child with special needs
given the traumatic separations he had already endured,
between his father having been imprisoned for over a year of his
young life and his mother being unable to cope.

He disclosed the possibility that as he returned to meet with the
probation officer, he could face a technical administrative violation
due to the course of his medical emergency impacting timing of
paperwork for his travels arrangements. Further, this could mean that
when he goes to the probation office, they could send him back to prison,
without regard for his good intentions for rebuilding his life,
nor with consideration of the harmful disruption it would cause to his son
if authorities thought foster care would suffice.

She immediately packed up her things and traveled twelve hundred miles
with this father and child in order to be there
in case the child needed stable, loving care of a new but
meaningful and already bonded attachment figure if his father was re-imprisoned.

Fortunately, the worst-case-scenario did not play out.
However, the technical violation of probation led to increased restrictions
on his ability to travel, which had a devastating impact on his ability to secure the
medical care that he so desperately needed, as well as his ability to mobilize for work.

Altogether, they became stuck in a downward spiral of lack of access to medical care,
impoverished income opportunities, medical-related challenges for earning,
denial of approval to travel for medical or work,
while caring for a bright young child who deserves the best.

Complying with the demand to return to his district meant that he had to abruptly leave commissions for the nearly completed storm-repair sales work on the table. By the time the insurance companies executed the natural disaster damage payouts owed to the homeowners, he was ineligible to collect his portion of the profit as a sales rep because he was not present to complete the very end of the process, per the repair company's policy.

This meant he had to walk away from at least $60,000
compared to what he could have earned if he had been permitted to
stay on the job even a week or two longer.

That would have been sufficient to get him on his feet.

These factors were brought to the probation officer, but his answer was:
"I don't care, my job is to protect society."

It is a fallacy to suppose that depriving someone of wholesomely earned income
protects society, but this is an example of how the system operates.

It was a devastating blow to lose this income, because it meant he was returning to his district without any of the earnings that had been his entire reason for the travels which then resulted in the technical administrative violation of probation. He barely was able to cover the travel and living expenses and ended up back in the same place, with no finances to move forward.

The whole purpose for which he had worked with his probation officer to make these travel arrangements was to secure income he needed to qualify for the conditions of probation, such as to be demonstrating a productive lifestyle and earning income in support of himself and his family. He had hoped thereby to be able to obtain early termination of supervised release as he crossed the year mark of that required supervision, making him eligible to apply during the timeframe of his work-related travels. He had hoped that once the money was in the bank he could prove his fitness of reintegration, apply to become free, and travel for medical care.

But, his travel pass ran out while he was in the midst of a medical emergency. He could not safely drive himself and his son back to his district. The sales payout would become a missed opportunity before he could complete the closure. And the probation office had no allowance for the degrees of freedom needed for a safe and resourced return, thus he was cited with a violation.

Few people in the free-world truly comprehend the manner in which the probation system paralyzes or undercuts rather than supports a person in getting their life on track following incarceration.

Unfortunately, his story is representative of the kind of collapse and calloused control many individuals and families suffer under, while probation officers are calling the shots, sometimes leading to more harm than was ever rendered by the legal offense in the first place, unchecked by any potential body of oversight which could assure more humane and functional treatment.

His story is a case in point for why drastic probation reform is needed...

She watched all of this unfold from her lens as a trauma recovery expert who had worked at the interface of mental health and physical medicine, a child development and relationship attachment specialist, a social activist, and a change-agent for holistic systems design. She observed the systemic dysfunction through the lens having had experience working in public health education as well as attaining unanimous voting success in lobbying efforts at state and federal levels.

Her heart ached and her soul scorched at the wrongfulness of the ways the justice system was pressurizing a disproportionate negative impact on this man and child whom she loved. All of it was taking a toll on her own life, via the depth of the relationship which grew alongside this ongoing period of traumatic medical neglect and economic paralysis.

She could only conclude that what she was witnessing and enduring alongside him was insane. Therefore, something must be done to change it! And perhaps life had set this in her path in order to do exactly that.

A silver lining seemed to appear.

She knew that between the power of his ability to endure
the pain until he can find a way out of it
and her know-how for advocacy and systems redesign,
they could possibly work together towards having an impact
which could bring meaningful change
for millions of Americans enchained in an ineffectual justice system.

As much as she struggled with the personal strain of navigating these challenges month in and month out, she began to sense the value of embodying the journey in order to know the ins and outs of the ugliness of the system. Only by having skin in the game would it build sufficient empathy and determination to stand up for a truer form of Justice rather than the perhaps easier route of shirking the civic responsibility to re-shape civilization when we know something is so far out of alignment with humane order.

His case has potential to raise novel awareness for systemic change,
through "a way in" for others to be able to literally
FEEL THE PAIN
he has physically endured, via a pain-simulator device.


We believe that if enough people are willing to take on the pain-simulation exercise,
this case has incredible potential to reveal to "The People"
the unfathomable lack of humane oversight which exists in the probation system.


The hope is that modern medical technology can make palpable the physicality of
this societal pain - as it has been embodied in one particular case -
representing the pain of millions similarly affected by the gaps in the system.


The Hope is that this can turn a powerful tide towards massive change.

The co-founders of the Backbone of Justice Project believe that if other people can feel, through pain-simulating medical technology, the degree of physical suffering that even one person has endured due to the current protocols of the prison and probation systems, it will expose the dangers of these systems being siloed away from other human service sectors (e.g., medicine, mental health, public health, child development, economic development) in which trained professionals would not allow this degree of suffering continue.

The lack of any compassionate governing body within the justice system to turn to, along with the lack of access to legal support given the financial oppression that probation itself imposed in this case, has made it very clear that those are two important facets of the Reform Agenda for the Backbone of Justice Project.

The case presented here invites a route to empathy-building and awareness-campaigning towards generating true systemic change IF we can draw together a strong enough group of citizens and influencers to create endorsement of substantial reform proposals and get them "backed" by people in power .

We seek partnership with others towards these aspects of reform.

Their Current needs, as people and change-agents:

In order to be of service towards probation reform, the cofounders of this project both have needs for stabilizing and fortifying their ability to thrive in society in the aftermath of enduring the impact of systemic dysfunction.

For Him:

He needs an attorney to file a motion for early termination of supervised release. He has now been told that he can file a pro se motion to advocate for himself for this purpose. However, it is known that many such motions go denied and that motions made by an attorney can be more successful and more timely. Further, because this case has potential for social justice advocacy, it is important for each step through the courts to be handled with as much wisdom and expertise as possible.

Once off probation, it will be easier for him to engage in medical care through being able to travel and more easily obtain housing. Being off probation will also make it safer for him to be a voice and a presence advocating for reform.

He needs time to attend medical appointments and to take care of his body in a manner to allow healing and recovery of the primary medical condition of his lumbar spine, the secondary condition of his cervical spine, and the tertiary side effects of the medications on his internal medical health.

He needs income in order to sustain himself and his children in terms of housing and living expenses while he is attending to the intensive process of medical recovery. This includes child care for his preschool aged son and travel expenses for either him to visit his older children or for them to be able to visit him, so as to not further the separation they all endured during incarceration while they are still rebalancing as a family.

As he becomes medically stable and pain-free enough to have better capacity to work, he needs income opportunities to be able to move his life forward after losing everything and then being on hold during the last four years of imprisonment, probation, and medical pain preventing him from earning during this substantial portion of what are usually prime years for building wealth as a provider for a family.

For Her:

In order for her to engage in advocacy work, she needs provision for her time so that she can devote effort to the cause of justice. She sees the current opportunity as two-fold:

One way she can serve is by helping support this particualar case going in a direction which can lead to new action-steps towards Probation Reform and then by bringing her past experience, skill, insight, and connections into play for accelerating systemic change.

The other way is to weave this story thread into the New Mythos she is film-scripting. Indeed, life itself has clearly already done that weaving-in. It is now her task to sculpt this particular storyline in a manner that can bring optimal light into these dark recesses of our societal structures. It is her task to write these parts into the script in such a way that it gives humanity a mythological level of inspiration for the power of compassionate and wise change in how we co-create our civilizations as we evolve towards a more just future.

In order to be able to take up either of those practical or creative tasks, she needs to be able to breathe more deeply than she has been able to while on this wild ride of a year of survival-mode of a life hijacked by decisions being dictated by a probation officer who has no capacity to even begin to comprehend the degree of suffering his restrictions have imposed.

She feels there exists tremendous opportunity here for funding campaigns for the film development, and is thrilled to see what doors may open as like-minded creatives who also value making a real difference come together.

Therefore, she seeks collaboration with those who could help move these creative efforts along.

Together, they hope to turn the tides of HISTORY
through re-shaping and sharing his story.

The Hope is for a New Story to be made possible for millions of people
through him personally WALKING THE WALK of healing ...

(See Inspirational Case section of this website for further details, link below.)

And to bring this all into view as advocacy for systemic change.

Please consider supporting these efforts to help us make certain that the
current punitive orientation of the probation system becomes a thing of the past,
paving an emerging future for rehabilitative, regenerative, restorative modes of justice.

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