On December 19, 2017, the Midland County Swift and
Sure Sanctions Probation Program (SSSPP) held a special hearing to celebrate
the first probationer to be successfully discharged from the program. Known locally as MiHOPE (Midland County
Honest Opportunity Probation with Enforcement), the program requires probationers
to remain violation-free for two years in order to be successfully discharged.
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| Judge Carras, Cody, and family |
Cody, the successful probationer, and Norman Blohm, the
MiHOPE therapist, spoke at the hearing, and shared that the keys to success
were: changing his peer group; the certainty of frequent drug testing and jail
for every violation; and most importantly, his individual decision to change
his own life. Having never successfully
completed probation before, the combination of consistent monitoring,
enforcement, and the possibility of a prison sentence were powerful external
motivators for Cody.
But the most important motivation was, not
surprisingly, internal. “I like my freedom; it’s more valuable, and why would
you want to chance that,” he stated.
Changing his environment was his biggest issue. He got married and got rid of all of his old
friends who liked to drink and use drugs.
Instead, he surrounded himself with family and found new friends. He said being with them was more enjoyable
than sitting in jail.
Staying drug- and alcohol-free helped his confidence
when he applied for new jobs because he knew he could pass any drug test. Mr. Blohm said about the changes he observed,
“Cody saw a future for himself, and he knew that in order to get the future he
wanted, he was going to have to complete this program. He knew that it was
going to take effort from him in order to do it. He took that challenge head-on
and never put himself in a position where he would have to make excuses for his
actions.”
In his feedback of the program, Cody shared that the
weekly required outpatient group counseling helped him discuss issues that he
was struggling with, and the individual counseling helped him because it gave
him an opportunity to discuss things that he didn’t want to share in a group
setting. Cody also suggested that the
mandatory counseling sessions take place once per week, rather than twice per
week, as he found it difficult to manage a job and attend to his other
commitments in the program. Knowing that
he would be successfully discharged if he went two years without a violation
was also a motivating factor because he could see that he there was “a light at
the end of the tunnel” instead of endless probation.