News Photo by Julie Riddle Amanda Schuelke, social worker for the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office, on Monday describes tools she uses to help people fix problems that contributed to criminal charges.

ALPENA — People charged with crimes in Alpena have a new resource to help them make their current brush with the criminal justice system their last.

Early last month, Amanda Schuelke hit the ground running as the first social worker hired by the Northeast Michigan Regional Defender Office, which provides criminal defense services for people who can’t afford an attorney.

Navigating resources offered by 160-some nonprofits in the Alpena area to find the right fit for each client, Schuelke walks people facing criminal charges through in-depth looks at their past, their present, and the future they want to reach.

The help of a social worker may mean her clients can finally fix the problems that led them to the court system in the first place, Schuelke said.

And, with each person who does not return to illegal activity, the community is that much safer and stronger, she said.

“Everybody deserves to have somebody,” Schuelke said. “If you don’t have a fair fight, you don’t have money, you don’t have resources, you don’t have anyone you can trust, and you don’t have support, you’re going to keep falling.”

A social worker fills in some of those gaps, Schuelke said.

Before a sentencing, she asks clients probing questions, learning about the traumas and challenges that shaped their choices and behaviors.

That information can go to a judge as a counterpoint to another, similar report a judge receives from the Michigan Department of Corrections, a report more likely to focus on the behaviors themselves.

Schuelke suggests steps people preparing for sentencing can take to show a judge they are serious about staying out of trouble and moving in a positive direction. She guides them to make a plan to stay on that path, even if they have to serve a jail sentence first.

Schuelke helps clients decide what to do when something goes wrong, like when a medication has unacceptable side effects or they get in a fight or find themselves in emotional turmoil at 3 a.m. with nobody to call for help.

Later, she checks in on them, asking what worked and what didn’t and adjusting the plan with them as necessary.

Part of Schuelke’s job, she said, is to help people believe in themselves enough to make change — a tough sell for people regularly brushed off because they have little money and told by a court they have done bad things.

She won’t fight their fight for them, though, she said. Her goal is not to try to get people a lesser sentence but to hold them accountable for making the life changes many defendants promise as they stand before a judge.

Schuelke has seen some of the fruit of her work already.

Clients show up for their second appointment dressed better, their chins higher, with a new look of determination on their faces.

They make the calls they need to make to get help, even if those calls intimidate them — sometimes with Schuelke by their side for support.

They tell her their stories, and she makes sure the courts in whose hands their futures rest see them as whole people, not just names on a docket.

Some people wave off the notion of so much effort dedicated to people accused or convicted of crimes, Schuelke knows.

As a social worker, she sets aside what her clients have done and focuses on what they can do, Schuelke said.

“This position is about stripping away all the societal bias and opinions and judgements,” she said, “and just looking at them as people.”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693, jriddle@thealpenanews.com or on Twitter @jriddleX.