Stories that Save Us with Sharon Fennix
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Listeners, if you enjoy The Nocturnus, then you'll also enjoy Unleashed, Redesigning Healthcare, a new podcast about clinician-led innovation on the front lines of care. The featured guests are the clinician innovators themselves, their stories, their voices, their ingenuity, their commitment to their patients, and their humanity, and even the deeply felt gains in their own well-being. Unleashed is from our friends at the Dartmouth Institute, one of our sponsors for this episode. Learn more in today's show notes or search for Unleashed, redesigning healthcare anywhere you listen to podcasts. Support for the nocturnist comes from the California Medical Association.
At the Nocturnus, we are careful to ensure that all stories comply with healthcare privacy laws. Details may have been changed to ensure patient confidentiality. All views expressed are those of the person speaking and not their employer.
This is The Nocturne. I'm Emily Silverman. Today I'm joined by Sharone Phoenix, a hotline coordinator for the Transitions Clinic Network and a remarkable storyteller who spent 38 years incarcerated before returning home. In today's episode, Sharone speaks with us about how creativity became her lifeline on the inside, where she evolved from seamstress to playwright, director, and community leader. We also talk about what it was like to re-enter society after decades away, how peer support from someone with lived experience helped her rebuild her life, and how she now offers that same support to others through the TCN hotline. And her experience co-producing a Nocturnous Satellites event. The event was called Journeys of Healing: Stories of Resilience and Transformation, and it was a live show.
Held by the Transitions Clinic Network in Los Angeles in 2025, made possible by a generous grant from the California Healthcare Foundation in support of our satellites program. Sharone is an incredible talent and has a very inspiring story. But before we dive into the conversation, here's a taste of the satellite's storytelling event that Sharone co-produced.
In this room, every one of us have a story. And every story has somehow impacted our lives and impact the people that we support. I spent one horrible night. on a bench in a school and I vow to myself I'll never be without a roof over my head. А дивер ток а твев то серві. I lived in a seven dollar night.
What is Sharon Fennix’s role at the Transitions Clinic Network and how does a typical day on the hotline look?
Hotel For about six years. At the age of eighteen, I was arrested for my life crime. There was three different interviews, three different jobs. They all hired me until my background check came back. And then all of a sudden they weren't interested anymore. I was so excited thinking I'm just gonna change the world and change these women. They wouldn't have to make the same mistakes. I was gonna be their hero. Somewhere somehow no one ever taught me about those folks that I would lose during the process. No one taught me how to grieve the folks that I couldn't help. He really tapped into me and and actually we tapped into each other.
How does peer support from someone with lived incarceration experience help people re‑enter the community?
You know, I would call him or he'd call me and be like, Yo, what you doing? What you eat today? And so we were together a lot to the point where He became my little brother. But I gotta tell you about this one time that he came up to the building specifically to show me the new dentures that he got. Yeah! Yeah! I'm telling you, his smile was priceless. PIC
I am sitting here with the wonderful Sharone Phoenix. Sharone, thank you so much for coming onto the Nocturnus.
Thank you for having me.
What sparked Sharon’s creative journey from seamstress to playwright while inside prison?
So maybe we could begin by just having you Tell us about Who you are and what you do. What is your role at T C N and maybe like a day in the life of your work.
My role at T C N is I am the hotline coordinator. We deal with men and women who are re-entering society. I like to call them uh returning community members. A day in a life on the hotline is we answer calls from People who are inside and people who are just returned into the community. Looking for medical, looking um for a clinic, primary care doctor, mental health.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:44
2
What is Sharon Fennix’s role at the Transitions Clinic Network and how does a typical day on the hotline look?
2:44–3:24
3
How does peer support from someone with lived incarceration experience help people re‑enter the community?
3:24–4:19
4
What sparked Sharon’s creative journey from seamstress to playwright while inside prison?
4:19–5:09
5
How did a kitchen argument inspire the first prison play about Helen Keller?
5:09–5:48
6
What was the process of writing, casting, and producing a play like “Black Diamond” inside prison?
5:48–6:40
7
How did storytelling on the stage change Sharon’s self‑identity and the prison community?
6:40–7:40
8
What was the turning point that made Sharon feel ready to leave prison and start a new life?
7:40–51:18