Journal Entry: Celeste Monette Blair-10/27/2024-DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

Journal Entry

Yesterday, we held the DOMESTIC VIOLENCE EVENT

On 26th of October in the year 2024 I was able to host an event that I have been pitching for many years.
For 2 hours, this place, Federal Prison Aliceville, was an example of what healing towards re-entry can look like.

Those who are new here don’t understand that we are living in remarkable times, times of change. We have a warden here who actually wants us to become whole and healed and re-entry ready, and she actually knows what it will take to help us get there.

I feel so grateful.

Today, I felt this great “exhale”, having spent so many weeks preparing for the event; it was surreal, like a hard summer rain after a long drought.

At the beginning of the event, I spoke about the statistics of DV. 79% of the women standing in the crowd are reported to have grown up in households where domestic violence was present. I shared that, I too, had experienced this sort of violence. I shared how, in my own life, I went on to chose partners who were violent. I was toxic.

As with everything in life, there is a formula to smooth out any situation. Creative solutions flow where the rivers bend.

The workshop was my attempt to utilize the space which is our recreation department, to turn it into something like a domestic violence circuit. The circuit was in response to the formula.

In the gym, so as to create safe space, we had 6 circles of 25 chairs. Each circle represented a different facet of overcoming Domestic Violence; boundaries, spectrum, identifying abuse, building blocks, self-esteem and co-dependence vs. interdependence.

Some folks here have tons of clothes, keep a locker full of groceries; we have the amount of space like the cabinet I keep my supplements in at the house. I have two sweat suits and enough fish and nuts for a week- tons of books, and files.
I have files on the FSA, CR, Clemency, and yes, I have compiled files on all the above listed curriculum.

When I was at Hazelton, in the think tank there, which I helped to form, the professors ( Dry. Kirby and Dry. Sanchez ) gave me so much powerful information, I kept it, knowing that one day I would pass it on. I have spent years now, passing it on, adding to it.

I am so grateful to now have a think tank ( we are now calling ourselves ” THE COLLECTIVE ” ). I simply gave them an outline of the formula, asked for volunteers to host the various events, and organically, it became our beautiful reality.
That is how a team works.

Now there are women who have never been exposed to this sort of powerful event and workshop structure, who are literally living, RE-ENTRY IN MOTION. It was so impressive.

Sharita Nabi directed the workshop in the gym. She is my most capable TT member, and it was she who I bounced the ideas off off while building the PEER SUCCESS TEAM.

Knowing the strengths of your team is crucial to success in planning an event.
I know that is one of my greatest strengths; recognizing others’ skills and strengths, and motivating them to fill the role; guiding them to realize their own, full, potential.

Here in Federal Prison there are other roles that must be filled in order to pull off an event at rec. when the population are still allowed over. Bouncers. I had a team of crowd control, mostly they are the ones who already work at rec. and can also work with the rec. staff to co-ordinate the unlocking of doors, and set up, as well as crowd control.

The event was for Peer Success Mentors Plus One. That is almost 300 folks.

In knowing your audience, I recognize that we now live in a world where everyone seems to have a much shorter attention span. Thank you silicone valley. In response to that, I provided the time keeper with an itinerary. We switched circles every 20 minutes.

One of the circles was my yoga and guided meditation circle, out side, across from the art booth.

Cat Voss hosted the paint tables, where the women were able to spend time making a mock t-shirt ( which was actually a picture of a t-shirt that I drew and made copies of ) We had no brushes so I knew they could do a great job finger painting. It was fun. The t-shirts represented their survivor attitude, their claim to wellness and empowerment. We strung tape across poles to create a ” clothesline ” and hung them across.

The t-shirts blew my mind.

The concept, the part of the formula that is crucial, is where we train the women who are running the workshops to look for signs that reveal when a participant may be feeling overwhelmed or stressed by the workshop, “peeling back layers ” or “ripping off Band-Aids” can bring out old feelings that spark emotions, and so this is where they are given the space to go outside on the 20 min incremental rotation and paint a t-shirt or join the yoga and mediation circle.

I think the professors would be proud of the way I took what they taught me and created something so healing and powerful.