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CI featured on May 8, 2025:

By M.J. Michaels

Drug, Alcohol Reform in Prison Gets Focus

The inaugural and possibly annual Choosing Integrity Dinner was hosted on Sunday, April 27th, in the upstairs Lounge of the Historic Dimmick Inn. A wide range of guests, from commissioners and councilors to the formerly incarcerated, enjoyed Chef Peter Daniel’s impressive culinary skills as several individuals spoke about their experiences in the court system. They discussed the impact that the nonprofit has had on their lives.

First established in 2014 by Hampton Morgan, Choosing Integrity has helped countless residents of Pike County struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. For the past eight years, the Commissioners’ office has supported them by allowing the organization to use its offices on High Street in Milford, PA. Commissioner Matt Osterberg stated that the program is “a much-needed service to get people back into their lives and become a productive part of society.” The Commissioners’ office hopes to see people return to society instead of returning to the correctional facility. “Everyone has been touched by addiction, whether it is personal, family member, or friend, and we should have sympathy and support for those working through their recovery.”

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CI featured on October 22, 2020:

By Frances Ruth Harris

Choosing Integrity helps Pike inmates rebuild their lives, in and out of jail

Milford. Two former inmates, Tracy Pirl and Christina Uhelsky, said the worst part of their recovery was overcoming the stigma of addiction.

“Everybody knew of the monster I was and what I did,” said Tracy Pirl. “I chewed everybody up and spit them out.” Christina Uhelsky spent six months in jail for endangering the welfare of a child — her own children — when she overdosed in a car. Her son helped her.

Pirl and Uhelsky said the one thing they have now, following their incarcerations at Pike County Correctional Facility, is confidence. They said Choosing Integrity, not-for-profit corporation that supports men and women who are in custody or recently released from the Pike jail, and its executive director, Luke Barbalich, bolstered their sobriety and helped reverse the poor decision making that comes from addiction.

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Featured Video categories:

Forgiveness
Resilience
Trauma
Justice

Forgiveness

Dolph Lundgren – On healing and forgiveness

The movie Rocky IV turned Dolph Lundgren aka Soviet boxer Ivan Drago into a Hollywood star. Exactly 30 years later the Fulbrighter Dolph Lundgren shares his personal fight worth fighting with a live audience at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. “If you heal yourself you can heal others” is the message of this surprising TEDxFulbright talk about a fighter who became a social activist.

Resilience

Knife Skills – 2018 Oscar Nominee | The Screening Room | The New Yorker

What does it take to build a world-class French restaurant? What if the staff is almost entirely men and women just out of prison? What if most have never cooked or served before, and have barely two months to learn their trade? "Knife Skills" follows the hectic launch of Edwins restaurant in Cleveland. These men and women all have something to prove, and all struggle to launch new lives, an endeavor as pressured and perilous as the ambitious restaurant launch of which they are a part.
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Angela Lee Duckworth – Grit: the power of passion and perseverance

Leaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn't the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of "grit" as a predictor of success.

2012/13 Reel Youth Film Festival LOCAL Winner – Resilience

How do we piece ourselves back together? WINNER for BEST LOCAL FILM at the Reel Youth Film Festival screening on Cortes Island (2013)!

Amy Morin – The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong

Everyone has the ability to build mental strength, but most people don't know how. We spend a lot of time talking about physical strength and physical health, but much less time on mental strength and mental health. We can choose to perform exercises that will help us learn to regulate our thoughts, manage our emotions, and behave productively despite our circumstances - the 3 basic factors of mental strength. No matter what your goals are, building mental strength is the key to reaching your greatest potential.

Trauma

Dr. Gabor Maté – What is Addiction?

Dr. Gabor Maté talks about the root causes of addiction and how to deal with them. This is taken from the Q&A part of TJ Dawe's show - "Medicine". 

Nadine Burke Harris – How childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime

Childhood trauma isn’t something you just get over as you grow up. Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris explains that the repeated stress of abuse, neglect and parents struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues has real, tangible effects on the development of the brain. This unfolds across a lifetime, to the point where those who’ve experienced high levels of trauma are at triple the risk for heart disease and lung cancer. An impassioned plea for pediatric medicine to confront the prevention and treatment of trauma, head-on.

PBS News Hour – A festering opioid crisis, worn-out families and ‘so much pain to process’

In “Dopesick,” journalist and author Beth Macy takes readers to the front lines of the opioid epidemic in Roanoke, Virginia, and other nearby communities, telling the story of grieving families, exhausted medical workers and convicted heroin dealers. Jeffrey Brown reports as part of our ongoing series, America Addicted.

Dr. Robert K. Ross – When time doesn’t heal all wounds

Robert K. Ross, MD, President and CEO of The California Endowment, gives a compelling overview of the role that exposure to childhood trauma plays in the lives of troubled and chronically ill Americans.

Justice

Adam Foss – A prosecutor’s vision for a better justice system

When a kid commits a crime, the US justice system has a choice: prosecute to the full extent of the law, or take a step back and ask if saddling young people with criminal records is the right thing to do every time. In this searching talk, Adam Foss, a prosecutor with the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office in Boston, makes his case for a reformed justice system that replaces wrath with opportunity, changing people's lives for the better instead of ruining them.

Mass Incarceration in the US

It wasn't easy to pick this topic, but I believe that America's 40-year policy of mass incarceration is deeply unethical, not very effective, and promotes the security of the few at the expense of the many. It's hard for me, as a person who was born into privilege, to imagine the challenges convicted criminals face, often for crimes that are utterly non-violent.

Melanie Snyder – Breaking out of prison thinking

Melanie Snyder works in the field of criminal justice. She talks about the cost and impact of our rising prison population and the practical new ways to reduce it.