About

Amicus Groups offer both specialized services and skills building, as well as peer support to people leaving incarceration. Peer support groups serve people looking to connect with others who can understand the experience of leaving incarceration and can provide guidance and encouragement as they work together to build healthy, positive lifestyles. Specialized service groups recognize that not everyone’s experience is the same within the criminal legal system and that people often have different needs based on their diverse experiences. 

Eligibility

Ages served
18+
Genders served
All genders
Payments accepted
Services are free to participants
Referral needed?
No

Contact and Hours

Address

3041 Fourth Ave S.
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Program Coordinator - Jacquie Esparza
612-277-3002

Group hours vary – Office hours: Monday through Friday 9:00am – noon, 1:00 – 3:00pm 

Peer Support Groups

Groups such as Amicus’ Reflections Support Group offer a place in which people with criminal records can come together to discuss challenges and offer each other ideas on responding to them and building a healthy lifestyle. 

Specialized Service Groups

Groups such as Amicus Sisters Helping Sisters help people respond to the unique issues that can face people of different backgrounds coming out of incarceration. They provide customized skills building and support. 

Specialized services and peer support for those leaving incarceration 

A journey that is shared can often make the distance easier to travel. Participants in Amicus Groups receive services customized to meet their individual needs and also bring together groups of peers who understand the challenges being faced in reentering society after incarceration. Their shared experiences can build connections and trust, while providing the mutual support to help each other succeed.  

The Amicus Reflections Group is primarily an opportunity for participants to come together and discuss daily challenges and the hard work of rebuilding relationships. Sisters Helping Sisters focuses on the unique challenges being faced by women in the criminal legal system. The common denominator of all Amicus Groups is the idea that people leaving prison benefit from peer support and services that are designed for their particular needs.  

Amicus Groups Currently Include: 

  • Amicus Reflections Support Group. Weekly peer group building skills to help rebuild a support network of friends and family. 
  • Amicus Sisters Helping Sisters. An innovative program specially designed for women leaving Minnesota correctional facilities. 

 

Call Us For More Information   Email: Amicus@voamn.org

Everyone needs a second chance sometimes. Help those in search of a new start.

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“Being inmates, we feel that no one cares, but you proved us wrong! You have showed us so much love through the Sisters Helping Sisters program!”  

-Amicus Sisters Helping Sisters participant  

Commonly Asked Questions

Each Amicus group is different. The Amicus Reflections Peer Support Group is open to anyone with a criminal record, Sisters Helping Sisters (Sisters) and Opportunity 4 Change (O4C) are offered in conjunction with the MN Department of Corrections and have specific approval processes. Contact Amicus for more information.

Amicus groups are free to participants. You must be approved to join Sisters and O4C and we’d suggest you call Amicus beforehand if you wish to attend the Reflections peer support group. 

The peer support group covers topics such as relationships, social skills, coping with difficult situations, career-building and self-identity. Sisters has an extensive curriculum which begins pre-release and continues to support women after release. O4C supports men who are at high risk for returning to prison and focuses on providing post-release support and building their ability to learn and problem solve.