Today, in all of the units here at Aliceville, the PEER SUCCESS TEAMS were asked ( by myself and approved by staff ) to use the space at the horseshoe to host a workshop on “CREATING YOUR PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT”.
The beautiful and powerful truth is that our personal mission statements have the ablilty to ebb and flow with the times of your life. I have a book of future mission statements and each few months my main objective changes with the seasons or for whatever reason.
I train the mentors here to be mindful of the people they are mentoring, ” know your community “. It”s important for us to assess where each person is on their personal journey of wellness and towards re-entry.
There are so many individuals here who underestimate the vast resources which were spent in trying to bring positive change to the BOP. The FSA is actually brilliant. I know that so many professors, scholars, activists, ex-offenders, and politicians, came together to forge a path leading away from mass incarceration. The disconnect is here, on the ground.
This is why I formed the Peer Success Teams.
It’s our duty as beautiful creatures to be the change we want to see- from wherever you may be.
In the perfect timing of life, this morning on NPR, I was inspired by the guest who was addressing a topic that we all need to be very tuned into in this political moment. Yes, politics, recessions, war and society often create the need for various missions.
The conversation was about a book called RELINQUISHED, I didn’t catch the name of the author. The book is a serious look at the women who give their babies up for adoption.
I had a good time explaining the to Think Tank in Saturdays’ meeting about how when laws change, a smart entrepreneur and a savvy community builder, find opportunities in those changes, like golden nuggets in a shipwreck.
And while many people are disgruntled about the change we find, we still do have to roll up our sleeves and work even harder.
As I listened to the interview, the most important take was that we have a gap in the foster care system, a need for more foster parents who are content in caring for the baby or child for only as long as it takes for mommy to get herself together.
They explained that often, the foster parents are folks who cannot afford to adopt though an agency.
Regardless, what we obviously need is a service founded on the mission of helping, WHILE MOMMY AND DADDY GET IT TOGETHER. A program that not only places the baby in a healthy environment that is temporary, and an advocate to hold the parents hand while they find their balance; much like what we are doing here with the Peer Success Teams- introducing the parents to the concept of WHOLENESS and taking them through the wellness wheel, until they are rolling along solid enough to have a baby on board.