
Before, During and After Incarceration
Our MISSION
BDAI advocates for the incarcerated by providing restorative programming, family support, and community education about alternatives to incarceration while engaging local and statewide stakeholders to improve the criminal justice system.
Help BDAI
Please consider making a donation to BDAI
BDAI Inc. is a 501c3 charitable organization and your donation will help the incarcerated and their families.
Check out BDAI's Fund Appeal letter to see all of the ways we are helping the incarcerated through your generous support!
Help Others
BDAI offers a Coaching Program to help those who are recently released from jail to find the resources they need to successfully reintegrate into the community.
Interested in being a coach or know someone recently released from jail who could use a coach?
Contact Tom Bousamra bousamrato@gmail.com
Everyone Deserves the Best Care
Do you have a concern with a Mental Health provider?
Do you need to file a complaint? Get more information here

Distressed or In Crisis?
Life-Threatening Emergencies:
Call 911
National Suicide/Mental Health Crisis Lifeline:
24-Hour Mental Health Crisis Line
1-833-295-0616 TTY 711
24/7 Mobile Crisis Services
National Crisis Text Line:
Text HOME to 741741 24/7 crisis counseling
Crisis Welcoming Center
Walk ins Welcome
105 Hall St, Traverse City
Noon-Midnight
We are here to help:
NAMI-Grand Traverse
(National Alliance on Mental Illness) https://namigt.org/
BDAI
(Before During & After Incarceration) https://www.bdaiconnect.org/
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LATEST NEWS
Traverse City Quick ResponseTeam (QRT)
Jennifer Campbell, is the new police social worker coordinator with the Traverse City Police Department, and is working closely with the Quick Response Team (QRT), an overdose prevention and response team. Working to “address the link between substance misuse, mental health, and homelessness,” the QRT is meant to address “systemic barriers to recovery” and provide “wrap-around services for vulnerable populations in the Traverse City community,”.
The TCPD received a three-year grant for just over $200,000 through the Michigan State Police for the program. TCPD Chief Jeff O’Brien previously explained that when the department has historically responded to overdoses, there was no follow-up once officers left the scene. An individual might be hospitalized, or could face jail time if illegal drugs are involved, but they’re otherwise often on their own after an overdose. With a QRT, a social worker and health professional respond with an officer to an overdose scene and connect the victim to treatment services and support.
To date, the TCPD QRT has created memorandums of understanding with organizations including Addiction Treatment Services, CMH Jail Division, Goodwill Inn, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health, and Safe Harbor. The team has identified 15 other secondary partners for potential collaborations, created a secure software called Casebook to track QRT program participants, created marketing and referral materials for the program, and organized information for 500 Naloxone kits – which can help reverse overdoses – that Addiction Treatment Services plans to distribute.
Next goals for the QRT include reducing the number of fatal overdoses in Traverse City in 2023 and following Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s goal to reduce overdoses by half statewide. For Traverse City, that would mean having no more than 33 overdoses by 2025. The QRT also hopes to increase the use of Naloxone in local overdoses, from the current rate of being deployed in 30 percent of cases to over 50 percent.
Traverse City Ticker
MI Expungement Laws
New legislation has made it possible for certain crimes to be expunged from a person's record.
What does the new “Clean Slate” law do?
The new law expands eligibility to petition for an expungement in several ways, and creates a new process that will automatically seal certain non-violent conviction records if a person has remained conviction-free for a period of time (seven years for misdemeanors; 10 years for felonies. Automatic expungement will start on April 2023. More information on expungement and what qualifies can be found here
MI Justice Reform Signed into Law
Fair Chance Housing
TRAVERSE CITY FAIR CHANCE HOUSING ORDINANCE
Over 2 million people in Michigan have a criminal record and, as a result, face barriers to employment, food, and shelter. Nearly 45,000 laws and statutes face people returning home from prison that exclude them from access to basic life necessities.
In fact, recent research has shown that formerly incarcerated people are 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general population. In other research, 79 percent of the study’s participants were denied housing based on their own or a family
member’s conviction history. The “Fair Chance Housing” ordinance seeks to expand housing opportunities for people with records who have served their time and are seeking to provide for themselves and their families. (Nation Outside 2023)
https://www.nationoutside.org/
Contact: Bonnie Zabel Traverse City Regional Coordinator Phone: 231.715.1733
EVENTS
BDAI Family and Volunteer Support Supper
Tuesday, May 9, 2023, 5:30 pm
WHO – We welcome individuals and their families who have been affected previously or are currently impacted by incarceration & BDAI Volunteers.
WHAT – A meal will be provided in a relaxing gathering. A short presentation may occur to update attendees regarding BDAI’s activities.
Childcare and activities provided.
WHERE: St Francis Church Fellowship Hall 1025 S. Union St.
Traverse City, MI 49684