Common symptoms include:

• Emotional numbness or explosive anger

• Difficulty trusting others

• Hypervigilance and paranoia

• Avoidance or social withdrawal

• Trouble concentrating or making decisions

• Feeling disconnected from emotions or reality
  These are survival responses — not personality flaws.

• Formerly incarcerated individuals

• Their families, partners, and children

• Professionals who work with returning citizens (vicarious trauma)
  PICS impacts relationships, parenting, employment, and everyday functioning. It touches more lives than we realize.

While not officially listed in the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), PICS is widely recognized by reentry specialists, therapists, and trauma-informed professionals as a real, serious condition that mimics and overlaps with PTSD — but has its own unique prison-related roots.

Because it’s often ignored, minimized, or misunderstood. The prison system prepares people to follow rules — not to heal. Society expects people to “move on” after release without addressing the trauma they lived through. PICS is the conversation most people are afraid to have — but desperately need.

Yes — but healing takes awareness, support, and work.
It requires:

• Trauma-informed therapy

• Safe spaces to talk and be heard

• Reentry programs that prioritize mental and emotional health

• Education for families and professionals

Recovery is possible. But it’s not passive — it’s intentional.

PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a mental health condition that can develop after someone experiences or witnesses a terrifying event — like war, abuse, violence, or a serious accident.

PICS is different. It’s incarceration-specific trauma.

It’s what happens when a person spends years surviving inside a system that breaks people down and then expects them to come out whole.

Yes. Our tools, handouts, and books are designed to support both individuals and professionals. Many chaplains, social workers, therapists, and nonprofit leaders use our materials to educate their teams and support clients more effectively.

• Learn what PICS is and how it shows up

• Don’t take emotional withdrawal or anger personally

• Encourage therapy or peer support

• Set healthy boundaries while offering compassion

• Remember: You didn’t cause it, but you can help create space for healing.

Wife After Prison™ is for anyone impacted by incarceration—spouses, partners, parents, children, siblings, and citizens returning to society. We also serve reentry professionals, chaplains, counselors, and anyone seeking to understand the emotional aftermath of incarceration, especially Post-Incarceration Syndrome (PICS).

Not at all. The name started from my personal experience, but the mission goes far beyond that. This space is for anyone affected by incarceration—whether you’re a family member, a loved one, a reentry worker, or someone who’s walked out of prison and is trying to heal.

• If left unaddressed, PICS can lead to:

  • Relationship breakdowns

  • Job loss or avoidance

  • Legal issues

  • Mental health crises

  • A higher risk of recidivism
    Addressing PICS isn’t optional — it’s the foundation of true reentry.

Because if we don’t talk about it in there, it shows up out here. And when it shows up, it wrecks lives — silently.

PICS doesn’t wait until someone’s home to start working. It starts the moment someone adjusts to prison life. The trauma, hypervigilance, emotional shutdown, and loss of self—all of it gets wired in. And without education, people leave prison believing that those survival skills are still necessary on the outside.

Teaching PICS before release gives people a fighting chance. It opens their eyes to the patterns they didn’t choose, but that now shape how they live, love, and relate. It helps them understand that what kept them alive inside might destroy their freedom if they carry it outside without healing.

Teaching PICS in reentry programs helps people name what they’re feeling instead of internalizing it as weakness or failure. It gives language to the struggle. It builds bridges between families, partners, and workers who might otherwise misinterpret survival responses as rejection or defiance.

We teach anger management, job skills, and relapse prevention—but if we don’t teach people about the trauma they’ve been through, we’re setting them up to crash. We’re handing them goals without giving them back their sense of self.

PICS education is prevention. It’s healing. It’s freedom that lasts.

If you’re tired of feeling stuck, burned out, confused, or overwhelmed by reentry—coaching can help. It’s not therapy, but it’s a guided process to help you process, plan, and heal. We offer coaching for loved ones, returning citizens, and even professionals

No. While many of our resources speak directly to women who supported incarcerated men, our work supports anyone affected by incarceration—regardless of gender.

Wife After Prison™ is faith-led but not limited to people of faith. Everyone is welcome here, no matter your background. We focus on healing, education, and real conversations—no judgment, just support.

We offer educational resources, 1-on-1 and group coaching, live and virtual workshops, and self-guided tools. We also speak and teach on topics like Post-Incarceration Syndrome, trauma, relationships, and reentry mental health.

You can book a coaching session, attend a workshop, or invite her to speak to your group or organization. Head over to the Coaching or Speaking pages to learn more.

No. While our content is U.S.-based, the emotional and psychological effects of incarceration are global. We welcome anyone from anywhere who needs support, education, or encouragement.