One of the items on the Peer Success calendar is a 90 Day challenge for every mentee on this compound. We have taken the Wellness wheel, with 8 different spokes (emotional, environmental, financial, social, spiritual, occupational, physical, and intellectual), and plan to offer 8 different areas where our mentees can challenge themselves to increase their knowledge or change habits into positive ones. Some of the spokes were turned into challenges like: writing, budgeting, learning a new language, FIT tests, resume writing, re-entry planning, etc. Each of the leaders for the individual units are going to write a proposal for their different area on the Wellness wheel and once our proposals are approved by staff we’re going to take these challenges back to the units so the mentors can work with the mentees to help them set goals. Fortunately, several of the units have just finished goal setting workshops, so the timing is impeccable.
Once the 90 day challenge has begun, each mentor will work with their mentees and coordinate on an almost daily basis to ensure their goals are being met, or if not, help them scale back their goals to make success easier. This will have a two fold effect, the women are learning how to inculcate new habits for themselves, and as they create new habits, they are automatically improving their lives for themselves. Agency is such a hard thing to teach someone who doesn’t know how to develop it within themselves, so this 90 day challenge might seem like a nice way to help people learn a new language or meet a weight loss goal or becoming a better parent, but the butterfly effect will make deep and lasting changes for these women.
Upon completion of the 90 day challenge the Peer Success Program will have an incentive event and hopefully the administration at Aliceville will have a guest speaker to provide praise and encouragement. It is amazing to see how uplifting women can be in the face of success and that event would definitely be one I would love to attend. It also offers every mentor a moment to bask in the glow of pride for their mentees as they see the women accept the praise they richly deserve for their efforts.
This 90 Day Challenge is yet another example of the Peer Success Program’s, through Celeste Blair, intent to foster meaningful change for the women at this facility. I am so fortunate to be a part of this program and appreciate the opportunity Aliceville gives us to even have this program here.
