Felony Reentry, Employment, Recovery – Margo Walsh

Episode 19
Guest: Margo Walsh
Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Margo Walsh, Founder and CEO of MaineWorks and Co-Founder of the Maine Recovery Fund, shares how her organization provides employment to people with felony convictions re-entering society—addressing the profound barriers that a criminal record creates for the rest of a person's life. She discusses Maine's opioid crisis, the problems with the term "ex-felon," and the intersection of recovery, mental health, and reentry. Shimon also opens up about a personal loss that connects him to this work.

In this episode:

• How MaineWorks was created to provide jobs to people with felony convictions and the barriers they face in reentry
• Maine's opioid crisis and the complex barriers many employees face beyond simply finding work
• The harm in the term "ex-felon" and how a felony conviction follows a person for life
• Mental health, recovery, and what sustainable reentry support looks like

Email margo@maineworks.us
https://www.maineworks.us/
https://www.mainerecoveryfund.org/

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Music credit
"District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/