Certified Peer Specialist & Trainer | Reentry and Recovery Advocate
Demell Vondrell Glenn is a Madison-based Certified Peer Specialist and Trainer whose work is grounded in lived experience, recovery, and a deep commitment to equity for justice-impacted people. Having navigated his own journey through incarceration and healing, Demell brings a rare authenticity to his practice: he does not simply provide services to the reentry and recovery community, he stands within it.
Since earning his Wisconsin Certified Peer Specialist credential in 2018, Demell has supported people navigating mental health challenges, substance use, and reentry across some of Dane County’s most under-resourced institutions. At the Wisconsin Resource Center, he provided direct support to residents facing mental health and substance use challenges, led parenting classes and grief support groups, facilitated diversity circles, and mentored fellow Certified Peer Specialists. He has since carried that work forward with Safe Communities and EXPO, delivering reentry services and support to individuals held in the Dane County Jail and walking alongside participants in Drug Court programs.
Demell’s commitment to equity is not theoretical. He has spent over six years building trust with people whom systems too often write off, and he does so by centering dignity, connection, and the belief that people closest to a problem are often closest to the solution. He has shared his story and expertise as a guest speaker at Fox Lake Correctional Institution, Voices Beyond Bars, Madison Urban Ministry Circles of Support, and The Just Bakery Program, and has served as a panelist on Restorative Justice panels across Wisconsin.
A lifelong Madison resident since the age of eight, Demell knows the community he serves intimately, and he brings that knowledge, alongside his own decade-plus of sobriety and personal transformation, to every person he supports. Whether facilitating a restorative justice circle, mentoring a fellow peer specialist, or advocating for someone navigating their first weeks after release, Demell leads with the conviction that healing is possible and that equitable systems of support are essential to making it so.
