Transforming Reentry.Strengthening Workplaces.Changing Systems.

Where lived experience, research, leadership, and practical strategy come together to create environments where people can truly thrive.

Dr. Felisa Bryant

Consultant/Trainer/Speaker/Author/Reentry Strategist

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Dr. Felisa Bryant, Founder and Principal Consultant of DFB Coaching and Consulting — **Dr. Felisa Bryant**Founder & Principal Consultant

Two Pathways. One Mission.

For Employers & HR Leaders

Become More Than a Second-Chance Employer.

Hiring someone with a criminal record may open the door. Creating an environment where that employee can succeed determines what happens after they walk through it.

DFB works with employers to understand how incarceration, reentry, trauma, stigma, workplace culture, and organizational practices can affect recruitment, onboarding, retention, communication, and advancement.

Our work helps organizations develop second-chance employment practices that combine opportunity with accountability, compassion with expectations, and inclusion with performance.

Areas of Focus

Understanding the reentry experience
Post-Incarceration Syndrome
Trauma-responsive supervision
Hiring and retaining justice-impacted employees
Workplace culture and belonging
Reducing stigma and bias
Psychological safety
Communication and conflict
Employee retention
Sustainable second-chance employment practices

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For Reentry, Behavioral Health & Community Organizations

Move Beyond Services to Transformation.

Providing a referral is not the same as understanding reentry.

DFB equips professionals with the knowledge and practical tools needed to recognize how incarceration, trauma, institutionalization, identity disruption, relationships, and community conditions can affect a person's ability to successfully reintegrate.

We work with:

Behavioral Health Providers
Reentry Organizations
Nonprofits
Government Agencies
Corrections Professionals
Housing Providers
Healthcare Organizations
Workforce Programs
Educational Institutions
Community Organizations

Our goal is not simply to help organizations provide more services. It is to help organizations provide services differently.

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Dr. Felisa Bryant, Founder and Principal Consultant

Her guiding belief

People don't experience systems in pieces.

Housing affects employment.
Employment affects stability.
Trauma affects behavior.
Behavior affects relationships.
Relationships affect belonging.
Leadership affects the environments in which all of these things happen.

About Dr. Bryant

Lived Experience Became Expertise.Expertise Became Leadership.

Dr. Felisa Bryant is the Founder and Principal Consultant of DFB Coaching & Consulting, where she brings together lived experience, academic research, executive leadership, community practice, and a deep understanding of reentry.

Her perspective is both personal and professional.

As a formerly incarcerated woman, Dr. Bryant understands incarceration and reintegration from the inside out. She also understands what it means to move beyond a system's expectations and build a life, career, and leadership identity after incarceration.

Her academic journey ultimately led to earning a Ph.D. in Psychology, with research focused on the female experiences surrounding transition from incarceration back into the community.

Today, she uses those experiences to help others understand what traditional conversations about reentry often overlook.

Her work explores the intersection of:

Incarceration / Trauma / Reentry / Behavioral Health / Employment / Emotional Intelligence / Leadership / Organizational Culture / Healing / Systems Change

Dr. Bryant's work challenges organizations to move beyond labels and assumptions and become curious about the experiences underneath behavior.

Understanding those connections allows organizations to create responses that are more human, more informed, and ultimately more effective.

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Services

Strategy Rooted in Experience. Designed for Application.

DFB Coaching & Consulting provides customized consulting, training, facilitation, and organizational development for organizations working at the intersection of people, systems, leadership, and reentry.

We don't believe in one-size-fits-all solutions.

Every engagement begins by understanding your organization, your audience, your challenges, and the change you are trying to create.

Consulting

Build Better Systems by Understanding the People Inside Them.

DFB partners with organizations seeking to strengthen programs, workplace practices, leadership strategies, and services involving justice-impacted individuals and communities.

Consulting engagements may include:

Organizational assessment
Reentry program development
Program design and implementation
Second-chance employment strategy
Trauma-responsive organizational practices
Lived-experience integration
Curriculum development
Leadership development
Community engagement strategy
Program evaluation and improvement
Strategic planning
Facilitation
Staff development

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Understanding Post-Incarceration Syndrome

Coming home is often described as freedom. But physical release from incarceration does not automatically reverse the adaptations a person developed while surviving it.

Post-Incarceration Syndrome, often referred to as PICS, provides a framework for examining psychological, emotional, behavioral, and social experiences that may emerge following incarceration.

DFB uses PICS as a lens for helping professionals better understand how incarceration-related adaptations may continue to influence life after release.

What Might This Look Like?

Depending on the person and their experiences, this can include:

Hypervigilance

Constantly scanning the environment for threats, conflict, or changes in other people's behavior.

Emotional Withdrawal

Difficulty expressing vulnerability, asking for help, or trusting others with emotions.

Institutional Dependency

Difficulty adjusting from environments where choices and routines were controlled to environments requiring independent decision-making.

Distrust & Isolation

Protective behaviors developed in incarceration may make relationships, services, supervision, or workplace interactions difficult to navigate.

Identity Disruption

Incarceration can profoundly affect how individuals understand themselves, their roles, their relationships, and where they belong.

Relationship Challenges

Family roles, intimate relationships, friendships, and parenting dynamics may have changed significantly during incarceration.

Change the Question

Without context, organizations may see a behavior and ask:

"What's wrong with this person?"

DFB teaches professionals to ask something different

"What happened?"
"What helped this person survive?"
"How might those survival strategies be showing up now?"
"What does this person need to successfully navigate what comes next?"

That shift does not eliminate accountability. It gives accountability context.

PICS Training

Training can be customized for:

Behavioral health professionals / Reentry providers / Employers / HR teams / Corrections professionals / Social workers / Case managers / Housing providers / Healthcare professionals / Workforce programs / Government agencies / Community organizations

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Contact

Ready to Create Something Transformational?

Whether you're developing a second-chance employment strategy, strengthening a reentry program, training behavioral health professionals, preparing leaders, or looking for a speaker who can bring a different perspective to the conversation, we'd like to hear from you.

[email protected] 253-355-3500 dfbcoachingandconsulting.com Serving organizations nationwide.