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 June 2020 Jim Mandelin and Partnering with Social Planning and Research Counsel of British Columbia

Jim is working on writing a report on Understanding Homelessness form a lived experience lens. Jim spent a huge part of his early life homeless, got the supports he needed to turn things around and has lived his life building a home (not a bricks and mortar home) a place where he feels at home. He builds his story around the concept of the three S's, Safety, Security and Stability. Jim has also teamed up with Dr. Frank Tester, retired Social Work Professor from UBC as well as Tanyss Knowles a graduate of UBC to add an acedemic lens to this Project!!

We look forward to the results of this report to help educate policy makers around homelessness issues!
This project is now finished as of June 2021


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Offenders No More  
Gavrielides, T. (2015). Offenders No More: An Inter-disciplinary Restorative Justice Dialogue, New York: Nova Science Publishers
Jim has written Chapter One of this Collaborative Textbook with a number of PHD's from around the world. This book has now been published!! September 2016
Check out the link to the overview of this wonderful book: 
http://www.rj4all.info/content/Nova
Buy Jim's Book
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Anatomy of a Gang Member

    This is a feature length documentary on Jim's story covering topics such as; child abuse, addiction, homelessness, violence and the long road of recovery. Produced by LexTV Canada Ltd., “Anatomy of a Gang Member”  is filmed in High Definition by the award winning Director and Cinematographer Alexis Fosse Mackintosh.

    Eighteen years after the award winning film: “Child Sexual Abuse: Both Sides of the Coin”  we again turn our lens on Jim Mandelin, A survivor of childhood physical and sexual abuse. We follow Jim on his journey of recovery as he travels back to the farm where he was raised outside of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta.
    We will explore the farm he grew up on, meet his Jim's uncle, Jim’s brother, Jim's children, Jim's ex-wife and Jim’s mother and more who will all share their stories of Jim’s life. As a special guest we will visit Jim’s close friend and A.A. sponsor Ron Smith who has now passed on and has known Jim from his earliest days in recovery. Ron considered Jim to be his son and Jim considered Ron to be the father he never had. 
    At fifteen Jim ran away from the farm and ended up homeless on the streets of Vancouver where he was again the target of pedophiles and became addicted to drugs and violence. The film will explore this turbulent time in Jim’s life and look to how these experiences lead to his gang member days.
     In prison Jim was befriended by some older bike gang members who groomed him for a life of crime as an “associate of their gang. This period of his life was one of booze, drugs and of course extreme violence and crime.  
    At 22 Jim found himself in hospital and after a near death experience there began his journey from the darkness of abuse and violence into the light of recovery. 
     Now in his fifties, Jim’s insights provide a lens for the viewer to better understand child abuse, homelessness, gang life and recovery.
     The story is told as a metaphorical journey within Jim’s journey back to Alberta and the “family” he left so long ago.  

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The Committee of the Unloved

Written by
 Winona Kent and Nola Tompkins
 Story by
 Jim Mandelin, Winona Kent and Nola Tompkins
Movie Screenplay,  WGAw Registered#: 1277969
  Based on Jim's Life Story, presently waiting for production.


'There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Albert Einstein. 

'It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.
' Henry David Thoreau.