Life Switch Conversations

In this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations , Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Mark Tuggle — author, educator, advocate, and voice behind Cultural Silence and Wounded Souls: Black Men Speak About Mental Health . This conversation goes deep into the hidden pain many Black men carry but are rarely given safe space to name. Mark opens the discussion by explaining what “cultural silence” mean...

In this season finale of Life Switch Conversations, Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Jonathan Branch of the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Reentry Program in Georgetown, South Carolina, for a powerful conversation about what real reentry requires. Jonathan has not personally been incarcerated, but through his work with men preparing to come home, he has gained a deep understanding of the emotional, sp...

In this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations, Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Britney Allen Jones, MSW — a social worker, woman in long-term recovery, formerly incarcerated leader, and founder of The Chad Lake Foundation. Britney’s story begins long before the letters behind her name. She shares what it was like growing up as the daughter of an incarcerated father, carrying unresolved tra...

In this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations , Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Clement Benedict , founder of The ROLE Initiative — an organization built around Responsibility, Opportunity, Leadership, and Empowerment . Clement shares his journey from Brooklyn, destructive role models, incarceration, and hard personal reflection to becoming a leader focused on restorative justice, youth de...

In this powerful and intellectually rich episode of Life Switch Conversations , Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Alejo Rodriguez , founder of Participatory Justice Associates , for a conversation that goes far beyond traditional reentry talk. This is not just a discussion about laws. This is a discussion about power. Who holds it. Who defines it. Who gets erased from it. And who must reclaim it. Al...

In this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations , Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Cierra Cobb , co-founder and executive director of iKare NC , host of the Black Light Mass Incarceration Show , wife of an incarcerated man, family advocate, paralegal, and passionate voice for those impacted by the criminal justice system. Cierra brings a perspective that is too often ignored: The family does...

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔥 NO RECIPE. NO GROCERY RUN. JUST WHAT YOU GOT. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Welcome to the very first recorded episode of What You Got? with Big U — the cooking show where Big U takes whatever is already in the kitchen and turns it into something real. In this first episode, Doc Simon opens up his kitchen and shows Big U what he has: canned pink salmon, penne pasta, spinach, p...

n this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations , Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Bonnie Sultan , a justice consultant and strategist whose work lives at the intersection of business discipline, system reform, trauma-informed care, and human dignity. Bonnie’s journey into justice work began early — through personal exposure to Rikers Island, correctional staff, families, mental health, and th...

In this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations , Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Dr. Clover A. Perez , founder of A Beautiful Heart Ministries , a formerly incarcerated woman, scholar, author, speaker, advocate, and national voice for women impacted by incarceration. This conversation is raw, beautiful, spiritual, and deeply necessary. Dr. Clover shares how the loss of her son, federal pris...

In this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations , Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Mark Rice , a transformational justice leader whose own lived experience with incarceration became the foundation for a life of organizing, advocacy, education, and system change. Mark shares how entering Wisconsin’s prison system as a young man opened his eyes to racial injustice, mass supervision, long senten...

In this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations , Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Willie “Hamza” Hamilton , a Baltimore-based reentry leader, advocate, mentor, and community pillar whose life reflects the power of growth, maturity, accountability, and transformation. After serving more than 30 years inside, Willie came home and turned his lived experience into service. Today, he works with t...

YouTube Description 🎙️ Life Switch Conversations Episode Title: Meeting People Where They Are: Reentry, Homelessness & Human Dignity Guest: Paul Campiche, MA — Resource Navigator, Outreach Specialist & Reentry Advocate ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 🔥 REENTRY. HOMELESSNESS. ADDICTION. TRAUMA. CONNECTION. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ In this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations , Dr. Derron S...

In this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations , Dr. Derron Simon sits down with Valerie Cartonio , the voice behind PrisonPOD , a platform reaching people inside prisons and families impacted by incarceration. Valerie has spent decades working in and around jails, prisons, advocacy, substance abuse education, HIV testing, mentoring, restorative justice, inmate support, and reentry. Her per...

Does reentry actually begin in the Garden of Eden? In this episode of Reentry: A Biblical Journey, Doc Simon sits down with Brother Yuri (host of Crip to Christ), Ernest Young, Claudette Santiago, and other guests for an honest, unfiltered conversation connecting Scripture's greatest reentry stories — Joseph, the Prodigal Son, Saul turned Paul, David — to the real-life journey of coming home from...

Today, we explore powerful insights from men who spent decades behind bars and have successfully re-entered society. With the increasing awareness of criminal justice reform, their experiences shed light on the challenges of re-entry and the importance of personal transformation.   Have you ever wondered what it feels like to receive a life sentence? Or how individuals who have spent decades in pr...

Episode 1: When Did Things Start Changing? Nobody grows up dreaming of prison, addiction, broken families, or lost opportunities. So what happened? In the premiere episode of Life Switch Conversations, host Derron Simon, MD sits down with a panel of returning citizens to explore the pivotal moments, decisions, influences, and life circumstances that set them on a path they never intended to travel...

Episode 3: The Real Test Begins When You Come Home Many people find faith, purpose, and hope while incarcerated. But what happens when the prison gates open and real life begins? In this thought-provoking episode of Life Switch Conversations, host Derron Simon, MD is joined by Brian Rowe for an honest discussion about faith, character, personal transformation, and the challenges of maintaining spi...

Episode 2: It Has to Be Us — Reentry, Ownership, and the Post-Release Industry What will it take to truly change the outcomes for people returning home from prison? In this powerful episode of Life Switch Conversations, host Derron Simon, MD is joined by a panel of returning citizens, advocates, entrepreneurs, and professionals who have experienced incarceration and reentry firsthand. Together, th...