How does 90 months in the Federal Penitentiary translate to running an immensely successful non profit designed to use cognitive thinking and behavior modification to interrupt patterns of thinking based in violence and criminal activity? It’s a complicated question and it has a complicated answer, but the answer is the brilliant brainchild of Kyle Hollins. Winner of the Pinnacle Prize in 2023, Kyle Hollins, president and CEO, founded Lyrik’s Institution five years ago. (The Pinnacle Prize was launched by Kenneth and Ann Baum, and it is the celebration of extraordinary people making a significant impact on Kansas City through bold, selfless actions.) 

First, before we start answering questions, we need to find out who Kyle is and what drives him. He is a living, walking, talking testimony to what a background in trauma and crime look like; he is an example of a Federal sentence of ultimately 35 years; and he is a divine lesson in what a change in thinking can produce in an individual. Convicted on drug distribution charges, drug trafficking charges, and possession of a firearm (AK47), both at the state and Federal levels, he was the prime example of a young man falling into the cycle of violence, crime, and incarceration. But, he is also not a one-sided individual. Dreaming of being a rapper led him to experiment in the artistic arena, and that experience showed him that the artistic outlet is one of the key factors in helping struggling youth. 

Once in Leavenworth, he managed to reduce his sentence to 90 months, and he came in contact with a program called, “Life Connections,” which was an 18-month program of cognitive modification. He graduated with flying colors, and reports that “Graduation from Life Connections reduced recidivism rates by 70 percent.” Kyle then started teaching behavior modification in a program called “Men of Influence.” Through this process, he realized the difference between using the modifications as post-conviction treatment, as opposed to pre-conviction measures. 

Kyle went into prison when his daughter, Lyrik, was three years old. When he came home, she was 11 years old. “When I called on her birthday one time, her mother told me she was sad that I wasn’t there. I knew right then and there that I had passed the systemic cycle on to her. The inspiration for Lyrik’s Institution came from the realization that I had to do something effective and relevant that could be duplicated and given to all of the Lyriks out there.” Founded in 2019, Lyrik’s Institution is a model for a cognitive-based therapeutic program that aims to change thinking patterns in youth. 

The mission of the organization is: to reduce crime and violence by targeting destructive thinking errors and reworking them into productive behaviors. There is some serious science behind the work Kyle and his staff are doing. He references work done by Dr. Stanton E. Samenow, a PhD and clinical psychologist, and author of Inside The Criminal Mind. Dr. Samenow theorized and summarized that, “Criminal actions arise from errors in thought that develop into criminal thinking patterns.” He also felt that, “The errors are established, solidified, and noticed in a person’s cultural design. Since the errors are not innate, they can be rehabilitated through neuroplasticity – the ability of the brain to adapt to changes in the environment by forming new neural connections over time.”

The practicality of the organization is that the cognitive-based program allows its students to master in the creative arts of their choice and take part in paid internships to become market value assets. What does all of that mean? Well, in plain language, here is the pathway of a youth in crisis. Girl X has a traumatic, violent home life: She isn’t in school: She turns to crime to feed herself and her siblings: She has run-ins with the law: She gets arrested, doesn’t get an education, and winds up on the streets or in jail. She is using destructive thinking and decision-making learned in her childhood. That destructive thinking or errors in thinking can be “rewired” with the right interventions. Lyrik’s Institution’s interventions run the gamut from anger management, to leadership skills, to financial management, to addiction recovery, to goal setting. This only scratches the surface of how many tools are introduced to help youth, ages 13 to 24. 

Lyrik’s Institution provides the right staff, or Culture Counselors, to work with Scholars (students) to provide a vast network of support systems in a safe, trustworthy environment. Scholars are encouraged to follow dreams, find creative outlets, and understand that their passions can be monetized. After all, it is the money that matters in keeping kids off the streets. The organization works with school systems to identify kids who can be enrolled in programming, providing that they meet certain guidelines and benchmarks. 

Uprooting old ideologies and creating new solutions is the name of the game. Scholars should learn to ask themselves, “How do I get better?” instead of “Why is the world out to get me?” The Culture Counselors take the idea of mentorships and move that work in the direction of internships. There has to be a path to the monetization that is understandable and effective for the Scholars. The goal of the entire program is to introduce this rewired creative thinking into a preemptive position in a youth’s life, rather than a reactionary position. That goal includes rewiring response to trauma before it turns into errors in thinking, rather than after the thinking process. 

Lyrik’s Institution’s motto is “Change Your Thoughts & Change Your World.” When put like that, it seems so simple, doesn’t it? Yet, it took the complex existence of a complex man to understand that the change agent is also complex. Kyle has managed to serve thousands of kids through his own realignment in thinking. And, to answer our original question, this is how 90 months turns into a successful and critical curriculum for our youth, who are deserving of the best programmatic answers we can come up with. 

Uprooting old ideologies and creating new solutions is the name of the game. Scholars should learn to ask themselves, “How do I get better?” instead of “Why is the world out to get me?” 

Lyrik’s Institution’s motto is “Change Your Thoughts & Change Your World.”

Featured in the February 8, 2025 issue of The Independent
By Anne Potter Russ