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| A Brief History |
In 1984 Dr. H. M. Motsinger to join a group of Christian volunteers visiting and studying with inmates in Dallas Count Jail. As an educator and family therapist, Dr. Motsinger soon saw the need for a structured curriculum to teach basic behavioural skills.
Over the next eighteen years Dr. Motsinger developed the first seven courses of what was to become the NewLife Behaviour program.
Rapid growth demanded that NewLife Behaviour Ministries be registered as a non-profit and tax-exempt organization in 1988, functioning under a Board of Trustees, supported by churches, individuals, businesses, foundations and grants.
Assisted by Chaplain Bill Brewer, 1993 saw the launched of the FamilyNet program at the Michael Unit in Palestine. Wives were invited to participate with their husbands in studies, integrating an essential facet of the prisoner's behavioural modification--the family unit!
The following year (1994), the Texas Department of Criminal Justice honoured NLBM with the Governor George Bush Award for being the Best State Jail Program in Texas.
In 1997, after a visit to the USA, Louis Gerber, a native of South Africa, was the first to take the NLB program abroad (see NLB in SA).
Other authors assisted in adding additional relevant courses to the NLB curriculum. In 2000, NLBM joined forces with Christians Against Substance Abuse (CASA) a faith-based alcohol and drug treatment program. CASA was founded by Buck Griffith in Corpus Christi in 1988. CASA then became part of the NLB Curriculum. In July 2002, the NLB Board of Trustees asked Buck Griffith to succeed Dr. Motsinger as its President. Thus, the NLB office in Lancaster was closed and combined with the CASA office in Corpus Christi, Texas.
The Founder of NLB, Dr. H.M. Motsinger, has a worldwide vision and passion to see the curriculum translated into every language, taught and studied everywhere.
So while President Buck Griffith focuses on the United States, Dr. Motsinger leads NLB efforts outside the borders of this country.
Presently, emphasis is being placed on works in Russia, Mexico, Zambia, Nigeria, South Africa, and the Philippines.
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| The History of NLBM in South Africa |
In 1997, Louis Gerber, who has been involved in a Prison Ministry in South Africa since 1994, attended a National Jail and Prison Workshop in Nashville, TN. Here he met Dr. Motsinger who was impressed by the rapid growth of the ministry in South Africa. Louis Agreed to present and promote the NLB Program in South Africa.
The officials of the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) were so impressed with the NLB Curriculum that some of the chaplains took it upon themselves to enhance the Program and wrote a letter of recommendation to the Director of Religious Care and the Commissioner.
The NLB Program was endorsed by the DCS in 1998 and in 1999 NLBM was registered as a non-profit organization with the Department of Social development.
At present, over 100 trained instructors teach the NLB Courses in 23% of the prisons. More that 4 000 inmates have completed the course and the teaching of the curriculum already had a measurable impact on the recidivism rate in Gauteng.
Statistics have already revealed a dramatic change in the recidivism rate of those how have completed the NLB curriculum.
More and more volunteers are being recruited and trained to teach this revolutionary program to inmates.
Recently NLBM has signed an Operational agreement with the DCS.
Since its arrival from the USA in 1997, NLBM was first introduced to the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) by NLBM National Director; Louis Gerber, at the National Chaplains Conference (September 1997). Having recognised the uniqueness of the Curriculum, the Director of Religious Care, Mr. Clive Monacks, invited NLBM to present the program to social- and spiritual workers in the DCS all over South Africa. Subsequently the NLB PROGRAM was introduced to interested parties who underwent training, conducted by NLBM, to become Instructors to teach the course to offender students.
Today, the NLBM Curriculum is being taught in 22% of prisons in South Africa by 84 volunteer Instructors, teaching approximately 3 000 students annually. These respective numbers are growing constantly.
Over and above the prison environment, NLBM is also being instructed in many other institutions such as: churches, schools, radio programs, etc.
The NLB Program has also been introduced and implemented in neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Congo, Lesotho and Ghana. |
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| The Prison Ministry |
NewLife Behaviour Ministries (USA) has developed as a comprehensive program to assist prison inmates in behavioural improvement of not only their lives, but of the members of their families as well. NewLife Behaviour is a ministry of hope, reconciling individuals to God, their families, and to society.
The ministry began in 1985 when Dr. Hillery Motsinger, a licensed family counsellor and professional educator joined with West Whit and a group of trained, Christian volunteers, in meeting with prison inmates. Over a period of twelve years, Dr. Motsinger has developed the “NewLife Behaviour (NLB) Curriculum which has been implemented in over 35 prisons in 15 states, with over 2 000 inmate students. In 1994, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) endorsed the program for placement in every Texas State Prison.
With the support and guidance of the Skillman Church of Christ, NewLife Seminars established itself as a non-profit organization in 1988 and appointed a multi-ethnic board of trustees of men and women in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex.
Impressed with the program’s structure and results, officials at TDCJ requested and extension of the existing program to include inmate’s families.
A pilot program was launched at the Michael Unit in Palestine, Texas in 1993 with the assistance of Chaplain Bill Brewer. Spouses were invited to study with inmate husbands, thus integrating an essential facet of the inmate’s behavioural
modification . . . the family unit!
Based on that program’s result, the decision was made to develop a NLB Curriculum adapted to meet the needs of the invisible victims of crime . . . the inmate’s children. Fathers mail the lessons to their children and under the supervision of the mother.
The children do the lessons and sent them back to their fathers for correction, encouragement and motivation.
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| Goals and Objectives of NLB – South Africa |
| WHAT ARE OUR PLANS AND GOALS? |
With the philosophy of being an exclusively charitable and educational organisation, NLBM aims to achieve the following in the long term:
- To have fully operational offices in each of the provinces of South Africa, and to be in a position to assist with the related expenses.
- To become the major contributor in placing successfully rehabilitated parolees back into society, and assisting them and their families with employment, follow-up programs and counselling, and thereby contributing positively to the reduction of the recidivism rate.
- To establish Drug and Substance Abuse Recovery Centres, Places of Safety for adults and children, as well as Life Skills Training Centres in our major cities in South Africa within the next five to ten years.
- To have a 24-hour Support/Crisis Line available.
- To establish a sponsor/donor base who would see a continued return on their investment with the successful reintroduction into the community of ex-offenders; ex-offenders who in the past would have been a drain our society would now be contributing positively to the community and economy as a whole.
- The sponsor/donor would be contributing directly to the reduction of the crime rate in our country.
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| Mission Statement |
| To assist in the rehabilitation of offenders by providing a behavioural skills program so as to produce productive individuals thereby reducing the recidivism rate. |
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| Objective |
The main objective of NLBM is exclusively charitable and educational.
- The activities consist of disseminating research-orientated information on the topic of achievement-orientated behaviour.
- To achieve this goal, NLBM recruit and train volunteers to enable them to teach a behavioural skills program to inmates and their families so as to assist in the rehabilitation process.
- Furthermore, to provide reintegration/training centres where parolees can learn hand skills and entrepreneurship while adjusting to life outside the prison.
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| The services our organisation provides and the people who benefit from the services: |
- To teach a 140 lesson behavioural skills curriculum to inmate of all ages, genders and groups.
- To involve the family and the community in Rehabilitation, Reconciliation and Reintegration.
- To teach a 13 lesson drug-rehabilitation and prevention course.
- To teach coping skills to families separated through incarceration in the NLB Family-Net Program.
- To teach a 12 lesson entrepreneurs course.
To use skilled volunteers to teach skills such as Mechanics, Metal works, Plumbing, Bricklaying, Painting, Carpentry, etc.
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| Reintegration Project. |
The objectives of our project is:
- To teach life skills in the form of a self-improvement course
- To teach business dynamics in the for of a 12 Lesson entrepreneurs course
- To establish and equip workshops to teach hand-skills such as:
- Motor mechanics, spray-painting, panel beating, etc.
- Carpentry, cabinet building, furniture making, etc.
- Metalwork, welding, etc.
- Leatherwork, shoe-repairs, etc.
- Sewing, upholstery, etc.
- Masonry, bricklaying, plastering, etc.
- Painting and general maintenance.
Skilled volunteers will teach all the above skills on a voluntary basis. |
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Training Conferences & Seminars
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| We offer training conferences throughout the year and refresher and training courses for those interested in or using the NewLife Behaviour curriculum. |
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