North Carolina DHHS Kody Kinsley (fourth from the right) alongside members of the NC FIT staff (Photo: Ahmed Jallow)
Anthony Ferrera gets emotional when he talks about how the FIT Wellness program has saved his life. About a year ago, Ferrera was grappling with severe mental and physical health issues while at Central Prison in Raleigh, before being transferred to Johnson County Detention Center to complete his four-month sentence.
After years of shuffling in and out of prison, Ferrera now has a stable life. He lives with his daughter, has a great relationship with his family, and has found a sense of purpose and belonging. The support he received from FIT Wellness has helped him rebuild his life and overcome the challenges of reentry, he said.
“They … gave me a sense of hope,” Ferrera said. “If it wasn’t for them, it would have been a hard road.”
FIT Wellness, part of the North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program (NC FIT), provides psychiatric and physical health care, as well as connections to community support services like housing and transportation, for individuals with mental illness reentering the community from prison. The program was highlighted on Tuesday during a panel discussion and tour hosted by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
According to DHHS, it’s one of 29 reentry programs across the state helping people successfully transition back into the community after incarceration.
“The difference with NC FIT is actually being able to assure that people would be able to access …high quality essential health services, and that is sort of what distinguishes the work we do,” said Evan Ashkin, professor of family medicine at the UNC School of Medicine and co-founder of the program. “The other very important part, which I can’t highlight enough, is that we hire people who are formerly incarcerated, train them as community health workers, and then they are embedded in our medical homes.”
Ferrera was among the estimated 50% of people in North Carolina prisons and jails who identify as having a mental health need, and 75% who identify as having a substance use disorder. Nationwide data show that people with mental illness are overrepresented in incarcerated, probation, and parole populations, often due to factors such as poverty, lack of access to care, and stigma.
FIT Wellness, currently operating in Wake County, offers continued psychiatric care for individuals with serious mental illness who are being released from state prison. Participants work with a peer support specialist and other care team members to develop comprehensive reentry plans. The program has shown significant success, with 75% of patients reporting no emergency department visits and 81% reporting no hospitalizations after release.
“The work that you’re doing every single day is clearly making a difference in people’s lives, and it’s so fundamental to what we see as our work at [DHHS] of trying to fill gaps that have been so longstanding,” said DHHS Secretary Kody Kinsley during a tour and panel discussion at the FIT Wellness clinic in Raleigh on Tuesday.
Since 2022, DHHS funding has supported the creation or expansion of 23 diversion and deflection programs for substance use disorders across the state.
Earlier this year, the department announced a $5.5 million in funding to expand the program to federally qualified health centers in Durham, Orange, and New Hanover counties.
It is part of what officials describe as a “whole-of-government” approach to improving reentry for formerly incarcerated people in the state.
North Carolina released its “Reentry 2030” strategic plan last month, part of a national initiative calling on state officials to expand access to reentry services that people need when they leave prison.
In January, Gov. Roy Cooper issued an executive order aimed at supporting the roughly 18,000 people released from North Carolina prisons each year.
The order directed the Department of Adult Correction to coordinate with all state cabinet agencies to expand housing opportunities for incarcerated individuals, help people in prison enroll in Medicaid when they are released, and improve economic opportunities for them by expanding access to education.
Housing is one of the greatest challenges people face when reentering society. Earlier this year, NC Newsline reported that about 3,000 people, or 17% of the reentry population, were released without a housing plan in North Carolina in 2023.
Having stable housing is crucial for long-term success in the program, Ashkin said. “The folks who are able to have housing when they get out seem to do a lot better,” said Ashkin. He said it’s much easier to access healthcare, adhere to treatment plans, and meet basic needs when housing is not a constant worry. “When that housing piece is missing, it’s a tremendous challenge.”
Luckily for him, Ferrera didn’t have to worry about housing when he left prison because his mother, Barbra Nagel, was available to pick him up—one of many times. This time was different though, Nagel said.
“I’ve never had to remind him he had an appointment. He always looked forward to his visit here because he knew he was going to be heard and taken care of,” Nagel said.
As for Ferrera, he said that he plans to stay in the program for as long as it takes.
“This is it, I have a life,” said Ferrera. “It changed everything—the way I look at everything, and the way I approach every situation, and the way that I tackle life’s problems. This gave me all that.”