Peer-Centered Wellness & Recovery
Hello and welcome here! This issue of the newsletter is all about Peer-led Peer Support Advocacy. This month we want to highlight the importance of allyship and the myriad of good it can do in the real world. Please see Rizing Tide’s excellent article on Identifying and Dismantling Performative Allyship
Pride 2023
Juneteenth 2023
Podcasts we listen to:
Peer support and recovery in prison
The United States prison industrial complex is a for-profit system that benefits from perpetuating the cycles that feed it. Mass incarceration is a public ill that does not work to eliminate crime. Since 2000, the number of people housed in private prisons has increased 10%.
Treatment and life-skills training for incarcerated people are essential to reduce and eliminate criminal recidivism. Comprehensive analysis on recidivism documents widespread research evidence that people convicted of homicide and other crimes of violence rarely commit new crimes of violence after release from long-term imprisonment.
Incarceration can trigger and worsen symptoms of mental illness — and those effects can last long after someone leaves the prison gates. Over the recent decade, suicide increased 85% in state prisons, 61% in federal prisons, and 13% in local jails. For every death from suicide there are 135 people affected and loss survivors suffer an elevated risk themselves.
For those who truly believe in punishing people who commit crimes, consider the fiscal losses perpetuated by this system. Combine the costs of opioid use, domestic violence, and murder and it’s easy to see that prison recidivism reduction saves money. Add those together with the potential cost savings for reducing suicide in prisons and we can see that the fiscal benefit to society would be enormous.
Recovery During Incarceration
The Tiger’s Cage
by Kenneth Levengood, community member and mentor of the Residential Drug Abuse Program Florence Federal Correctional Institution, Florence, CO.
While contemplating what word or thought I would choose to present today, I had many ideas running through my head. I had a hard time deciding on something that would, hopefully, be useful and applicable to what we have had to go through this past month in lockdown.
Most of the words chosen for “word or thought” of the day are generally positive and uplifting in their basic sense, but I decided that I would do something a little different today, a little unorthodox. I decided that I would present a word that is negative to its core. In fact, this word is not only a crime and a sin, it could be viewed as the ONLY crime and ONLY sin, and we are all guilty of it in some way or another.
The word I’m speaking of is THEFT. And we have all been thieves. We have all stolen. You may be thinking right now that this does not apply to you, that you aren’t a thief. You do not steal. So I will explain.
A few years ago I was reading a novel in which a father was explaining to his son the true depth of this word. He said it like this - my son there is but one crime, one sin, and that is theft. There is no crime worse than stealing, and all other crimes are but variations of this one. When you murder a man you have stolen his life, and not only that, for you have also stolen a husband from his wife, and a son from his parents. When you assault a man, you have stolen his right to be whole and unharmed and also his right to feel and be safe. When a woman or child is raped, molested or abused, you have stolen their innocence and their confidence. When you lie to a man, you have stolen his right to the truth. When you cheat a man in a bargain, or break an oath, you have stolen his right to fairness, and have also stolen his trust. When you do these things, you are also stealing from yourself. You are stealing your own integrity, honor, and virtue.
Gentlemen, stealing, as you can see, means more than just taking another person’s money or possessions. We have all been stolen from. This whole past month we were stolen from. Our dignity was stolen. Our rights to contact our families were stolen. Our ability to purchase decent food and hygiene was stolen. Our right to shower every 72 hours was stolen. Even some of our graduation dates and release dates were stolen.
This is not okay. This is simply unacceptable, is it not? Are we going to allow ourselves to be stolen from? I for one say no.
So we must ask ourselves, who is the thief? When you put your hand in the tiger’s cage and you get bitten, do you blame the tiger? No, you blame yourself for putting your hand in the cage in the first place. Prison is the tiger, and we can be mad at the tiger all we want for biting us, but we put our own hands in the cage.
So again, I ask, who is the thief? Is it the warden and administration or is it ourselves?
Yes, all of those things were stolen from us but we would have endured none of those things had we not put ourselves in prison in the first place. We can’t expect them not to steal from us, but we CAN stop stealing from ourselves. We CAN stop stealing from our families.
By hitting that pipe, shorting that line, or doing that shot, we are stealing. By getting that pack to make easy money, we are stealing. By choosing to carry a gun when we know we are felons, we are stealing. By making all those bad choices and breaking the law, we are stealing.
We are stealing our family’s right to have us present in their lives. We are stealing sons from our parents. We are stealing brothers from our siblings. We are stealing fathers from our sons and from our daughters. We are stealing happiness from our families and the happiness from our own lives.
I am tired of my family being stolen from So I will no longer steal the truth from myself about who is to blame for my being here and the types of choices that WILL ultimately bring me back.
Gentlemen, it is time for us to make a decision. To make a vow that we will stop this theft of life and happiness and no longer put our hands in the tiger’s cage.
The Word of The Day is a part of the morning community meeting held at the beginning of each weekday in the program. Word or Thought of the Day is where the person chosen for that part of the meeting that day has to present, on the mic, a word or thought that relates to them in some way within the past two weeks. The community meeting is run by the inmates, as are most aspects of the program. The program is based on an MTC model. That is Modified Therapuetic Community. Its means program participants are the ones who guide the program for themselves and each other. The morning meeting is comprised of multiple parts to get participants ready for the day and to build unity. Leaders rotate for each day’s meeting.
Advocating for highly effective treatment such as MCT is easy. Every day citizens can simply send an email asking that this treatment option be added to their local, county, state, federal incarceration facilities. Find and contact your elected officials HERE.
Peer support for C-PTSD
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) can result from experiencing chronic trauma.
And here’s the deal. The American Suicide Prevention industry has failed. Between 1990 and 2016, the age-adjusted global suicide rate decreased by 33 percent, but in the US, the suicide rate since 1999 has increased by 35 percent. That gap in outcomes equals a 68 point different between global success and American failure. With almost a century of preventive efforts, there should be enough data to evaluate efficacy. There isn’t.
Peer support is an under-utilized solution for mental and emotional distress. Understanding the cost effectiveness of using peer specialists is important for funders. There is very good evidence for peer support in recovery and fiscal responsibility.
Advocating for Peer Support is easy. Every day citizens can simply send an email that includes the above paragraph to their local, county, state, and federal leaders. Find and contact your elected officials HERE.
Intentional Peer Support
Coping With PTSD Triggers
Sandra Eisenberg is originally from New York. She is a trained peer support specialist, writer, mental health advocate, community organizer and has recently edited a book pertaining to sibling suicide loss. She holds a masters degree in K-12 special education.
When my brother and sister-in-law decided to move a distance away from the city we’ve all lived in, I was panicked. Abandonment is the root cause of the CPTSD I live with, and avoiding being alone has been the driving force of my life. It has led me to many poor and derailing choices and resulted in anxiety and depression severe enough that I have made two suicide attempts. Since living in the same city, I’d been stable and well for ten years. My best friend had just moved away. My boyfriend had recently died. My dog had to be put down. I was bereft and scared. I never wanted to be unwell or hospitalized again.
In the time preceding their move, I worked hard on several things. And it was hard; sometimes arduous.
Supports: I strengthened my support network by getting together with friends more frequently. The friendships deepened. I reached out to a few people who I had known in limited capacity. New friendships formed. I utilized the phone to stay connected to old friends who lived in other places. My old friends have known me my whole life and were careful to be in close contact and to make themselves available for support as needed while I made this transition. My newly relocated best friend is super aware and stellar in maintaining frequent contact. She is incredible. She’s that person everyone needs who I can say anything to. If you don’t have one of these people, I suggest you try to find one.
In all this, I did something new and different. Pay attention here: Instead of minimizing my anxiety and panic and pretending I was okay; I spoke openly about it and without embarrassment. Major game changer!!
Physical Activity: I maintained my regular schedule of swimming, even when I didn’t feel like it. I put swimming on my calendar as specific appointments instead of leaving it to do when I felt like it. Both the schedule and the physical activity were key.
Basic Needs: I ate highly nutritious, healthy meals. I improved my gut health (I found this noticeably helpful. I drank plenty of water. I kept careful and regular sleep hygiene. I was successful at avoiding dysregulation.
Distraction: I discovered I benefited from always having an ongoing craft project. I worked on it when I needed to be distracted or felt anxious and uneasy. It gave me focus. In addition, I made some nice gifts for people.
Touchstones: I put in place regular dates with people for coffee once a week and dinner once a month. I still sometimes live with the feeling that I am fundamentally unlovable and a burden. I feared this would be an imposition. It turned out that others liked this idea as much as I did! The structure to avoid isolating was important.
Self-Talk: I said positive affirmations to myself. They were simple and brief, but effective.
Routines: I kept up with usual daily as well as weekly routines and rituals. Even when I didn’t feel like it.
Mindfulness: Staying present. Most helpful.
Peers: I connected with someone who I know is familiar with CPTSD and we made plans to form a peer group. I’m looking forward to the beginning of this.
There were many moments I felt like I couldn’t possibly get through it. There were days I thought I couldn’t get through. I sometimes felt as if it was all too much and I was going to collapse. I feared being alone at home and crying endlessly. I’m still lonely and fear loneliness. But learning not to be afraid to ASK FOR WHAT I NEED has taken me a very long way.