On September 11th, 2024, a long, coveted dream became reality. Michael Santos, our “Guru” as we refer to him, visited FCI Aliceville and not only did he gave an all inspiring speech to an audience of 100+ females, but he stayed the entire day and visited the ‘Peer Success Team’ training seminar which we as PST with staff had organized.
Our entire team of 99 members was present and the set up was comparable to a wellness training event, where there were circles of wellness tables at which members were trained in the areas of mental wellness, spiritual wellness, occupational wellness, social wellness, fitness and intellectual wellness, just to name a few.
All in line with the ‘Wheel of Wellness’.
The circle of wellness assigned to me, was that of Occupational wellness and how to set up your own business or non-profit organization. Michael visited all tables and listened in and gave feedback.
The staff members of Aliceville who were present, were very supportive and the central theme was that we as peers need to take care of our community, reaching out to each other and making clear the path of Re-entry.
When a spoke of the Wheel of Wellness is broken, it needs to be fixed.
Right know, in the US prison system, a lot of spokes are broken and need urgent fixing. I strongly believe that the healing needs to start from within, not only from those incarcerated, but staff around us as well.
We’re in this together. But we need to remove some recurring obstacles, such as the drugs, violence, recidivism risks and so on. We need more holistic, life-changing approaches which have worked in other parts of the worlds, such as Western European countries, Scandinavia, New Zealand, just to name a few. The only thing mass incarceration and harsh sentencing in the US have proven, is that it has not been the deterrent in preventing recidivism as was anticipated. On the contrary.
We need more programs, guidance and funds to make this work and help from ‘outside’ is much needed.
Sherida Nabi
