“I got out of prison and had gottenmy life back together. ” Dr. Michael Endres
He received a financial aid package that included a housing allowance and attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Of all his courses, he took a liking to psychology, which he made his major.
to the National Institute of Health and was awarded a dissertation research fellowship. After presenting his research at a 2009 conference, Endres was invited to be a postdoctoral researcher in Hawaii to study the neurological characteristics of abstinent alcoholics. “While I was doing this work in Hawaii, I came to a crossroads. I was doing all of this sophisticated research with million-dollar machines, but we still weren’t great at treating people in the worst situations and encouraging them to get better.” It was then that Endres decided to step away from his research and transition into applying his lived experiences to helping people in situations similar to when he was in prison. He worked to mentor and support these individuals and provide them with pathways to recovery while sharing his past experiences with them. Endres is now an administrator, writing grants to harness federal funding toward developing programs that benefit people recently released from prison. He is the founder of the Honolulu County Offender Reentry Program that assists people during the first six months of their release from prison. “Who would have thought that this guy sitting in a cell 20 years ago would be at this point of shaping criminal justice policy and practices? I’m humbled by the opportunity.” In the next five years, Endres hopes to become the CEO of a large rehabilitation community that incorporates some of the residential program features of the Alcoholic Resource Services.
Finding Your Calling
In 2003, Endres was involved in the McNair Scholars Program that fostered his interest in research. Over the next several years, he was accepted into a number of psychology programs. He and his mentors agreed his experiences from his time in prison gave him perspectives of rehabilitation, healing, and recovery that would be useful for a psychology career. “I got out of prison and had gotten my life back together. I knew a great way to help people going through similar situations was to become a psychologist, and that resonated with me.” He then attended Indiana University Bloomington with a five-year diversity fellowship and a $22,000 yearly stipend. He immersed himself in psychology and neuroscience research. “It seemed natural that I got into researching substance use, addictions, and criminality. I found that a lot of what my professors were saying about substance use and criminality didn’t align with what I had seen in real life.” Endres began pairing his course studies with lived experience to create his own ideas of how to assist people with recovery. “I thought about what would be good for people just getting out of prison.” He submitted his research
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