Occupational Mentor Certification Program (OMCP)

California’s First In-Custody Counselor Training Program

Options played a lead role in developing and implementing California’s counselor training program for incarcerated individuals—one that we believe to be the first of its kind in the nation. This curriculum prepares adults in custody to become certified by the state-recognized organization. The 2006 pilot program served as a model for the offender mentor certification program.

In this program, participants must face past traumas that they may not have ever confronted before. As spoken by one of the program’s counselors, “We didn’t sell out. We grew up.” That’s powerful, it’s a way forward, and the Occupational Mentor Certification Program is showing them the way.