Thrive’s Justice Involved Program involves the criminal justice system, helping them navigate recovery, prepare for successful reentry, and connect with resources that support long-term stability. As an integrated site-based peer recovery supporter at Oriana House in Cuyahoga County, Rashad Alaji provides peer support to individuals working to rebuild their lives while incarcerated. This story, shared through Rashad’s experience supporting one peer, demonstrates how trust, lived experience, and practical guidance can help someone redefine their future and create opportunities for others.
When the peer first arrived at the Oriana House Correctional Facility, he carried far more than the weight of his sentence. He was overwhelmed by anger, disappointment, and uncertainty about his future. Shortly before his incarceration, federal authorities had arrested his father, leaving him bitter and struggling to process everything that had happened. Years of living a life shaped by gangs and street culture had taught him to rely on distrust and survival rather than vulnerability or hope.
It was during this difficult chapter that he met Rashad Alaji, a Peer Supporter with Thrive.
From the beginning, Rashad recognized that meaningful change would require more than simply connecting the peer to resources. Before discussing goals, employment, or life after release, trust needed to be established. Rashad intentionally created a safe and supportive environment where the peer could begin lowering the emotional barriers he had built over many years.
Their meetings became much more than routine check-ins. Rashad introduced meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga as tools to help manage stress, process emotions, and improve mental wellness. With enough space in his office to practice these techniques together, each session became an opportunity for the peer to slow down, reflect, and experience moments of peace that had been largely absent from his life.
Over time, those moments began to add up.
The man who had entered the correctional facility guarded and resentful gradually became more open to conversation, self-reflection, and personal growth. Rashad watched him undergo what could only be described as a complete transformation. The peer began shifting away from the identity that had defined him for years and toward someone who wanted to build a different future.
As trust grew, their conversations expanded beyond emotional wellness. The peer shared that he had spent much of his life hustling to survive. Entrepreneurship came naturally to him, but he had never experienced what it meant to build something legitimate. For the first time, he began talking about creating a business that would provide stability rather than simply another way to get by.
Recognizing both his ambition and his potential, Rashad helped him develop a comprehensive business plan while he was still incarcerated. Together, they discussed realistic goals, strategies for building a sustainable business, and the practical steps necessary to turn an idea into a legal enterprise.
What stood out most to Rashad was the peer’s commitment to the process. Although participation in peer support was available during his incarceration, the peer consistently sought additional meetings beyond what was expected of him. After completing one session, he would often return asking for another, determined to better understand every aspect of building his business. He repeatedly expressed that he wanted to do more than simply satisfy the requirements placed on him by the court. He wanted to create a future that reflected who he was becoming rather than who he had been.
He often explained that hustling was all he had ever known, but this time was different. He no longer wanted quick success built on unstable foundations. He wanted to build something real—something that could provide opportunities not only for himself but for others as well.
When the peer completed his six-month stay and returned to the community, he wasted no time putting his plans into action.
Within the first week of his release, he successfully launched two legitimate businesses, bringing to life many of the ideas he and Rashad had developed together. Rather than focusing solely on his own success, he chose to invest in the lives of others facing similar challenges. His businesses began creating employment opportunities for individuals returning from incarceration, offering second chances to people who often struggle to find meaningful work after release.
The peer’s transformation was not without challenges. Because of the significant changes he made and his decision to leave behind his previous lifestyle, he faced threats from individuals connected to his former gang. Despite those challenges, he remained committed to the new path he had chosen.
The peer is now thriving. His businesses remain operational, and he continues employing individuals who have successfully transitioned back into the community after incarceration. Many of the principles outlined in the business plan they developed together continue to guide his work today.
His journey is a powerful reminder that recovery and reentry involve far more than overcoming addiction or completing a court-ordered program. They involve rediscovering purpose, rebuilding identity, and believing that a different future is possible. Through patience, trust, wellness practices, and practical guidance, Rashad helped one individual recognize strengths he had never fully seen in himself.
Today, the peer is creating opportunities for others to succeed, proving that when someone is given the tools, encouragement, and support to rewrite their story, the impact extends far beyond one life. It reaches families, communities, and every person who is given a second chance because someone else first believed in theirs.
