We had the good fortune of connecting with Carolyn Presnell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Carolyn, can you talk to us a bit about the social impact of your business?
Weld Seattle programs are peer led, created by and for the populations it serves. For people reentering the community from incarceration, addiction and homelessness, Weld Seattle replaces barriers with opportunities, empowering our members to write their own stories of successful reintegration. Our program areas are:

– Safe and sober, peer-driven transitional housing for support, community, accountability and a pathway to permanent housing.

– Direct employment placement, retention services, trainings and peer mentorship creating a pathway to permanent employment.

– 1426 Collaborative reentry resource center plans to offer a “one-stop shop” that will include housing, employment, wellness, health, education, legal assistance, social work and mental health services through partnership with other community based service orgs., public partners, and city, county and state agencies to maximize efficiency and conserve resources.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I came on with Weld Seattle as a live-in women’s house manager. Shortly after I was hired on full time as a Community Navigator for our women’ s program, standing in the gap between the prison and the community, providing support around addiction and recovery, with housing and employment services, and family reunification. When my team and our Founder Amy King made the decision to launch our 1426 CRRC project I was asked to step into the role as Program Director for that initiative.

The thing I am most proud of is that, with the help of a dedicated and loving community, the stories of hopelessness and despair in my community are being transformed it into medicine for healing and purpose.

It was simple in concept but unlearning is very seldom, in my experience, easy.

I was able to overcome challenges by practicing trust, suspending judgement, disbelief and old systems of belief, following suggestions and asking for and being willing to accept help.

Where attention goes, energy flows
I am never alone unless I choose to be.
I am not the only one who does’t know what they’re doing
The only thing that has any real power to impact my life is my perception.
My needs are met in direct proportion to my ability surrender them
My success rate for survival, to date, is 100%.

That experience is one of the most valuable assets we possess. With it we can help each other achieve true freedom.
For us, by us. #peermentors

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Right now I would take them up to the Summit at Snoqualmie to spend the day snowboarding and having lodge snacks. Wander around the Pike Place Market shopping for flowers and handmade crafts. Skating and picnicking around Green Lake. Take photos at the Fremont Troll. and Space Needle.
Go have dinner in the International District. Spend an afternoon in the Seattle Art Museum and another at MOPOP celebrating creative expression.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’d like to give a shoutout to the IF Project.

The If Project is a collaboration of currently and formerly incarcerated adults, community partners, and law enforcement focused on holistic intervention for the reduction and prevention of incarceration and recidivism.

I was impacted significantly by the gender responsive work that IF was doing with women while I was incarcerated.
They asked the question “If there was something that someone could have said or done to change the path that led you her, what would it have been?” It challenged me to honestly ask myself that question and begin the work of discovering what had unlearned so that my life, and the lives of the people who were being impacted by my trauma story, could be transformed.

Website: Weldseattle.org

Instagram: @weldseattle

Linkedin: Weld Seattle

Facebook: Weld Seattle

Image Credits
Mark Hoy Outreach and Communications Manager for Weld Seattle

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