3-Step Civic Strategy:
Emotional Resilience Tools
After an arrest, an individual is thrown into an accelerated pattern of self-destructive emotional chaos. This arrest shock overwhelms their reasoning and coping skills. They experience acute emotional trauma such as shame, guilt, fear, sorrow, and then feelings of abandonment, betrayal, and isolation. Their world turns upside down as their freedom, rights, and voice are taken away. Stunned they go into emotional shock and lose the ability to think rationally, or do the things that they normally could do. Whether or not they are guilty, immediately they are hit with financial losses that affect their families, and everything starts into a downward spiral – all in the first 24-72 hours – far before they talk to any defender.
Step 1: STOP THE CYCLE OF EMOTIONAL ABUSE
Using our Five Harm Reduction tools (where possible and logical) we intercept the spiralling emotional devastation caused by an incident. With straight talk, we help people early on, to understand accountability, process the grief and sorrow, and de-escalate further trauma to themself and others. Then immediately move them towards resolutionary action.
This supports reconciliation and recovery for all parties, bringing better health and wellness to everyone with dignity. We provide people mentoring to overcome the shock of trauma, so they can see what happened with new eyes – so they can take accountability and develop emotional stability. This may include taking restorative justice action immediately. It may include doing therapy and outreach, connecting people to mental health services, or helping people connect to their legal support, to a reconciliation specialist or to housing support. At this early point in a cycle, they may need a case manager or a court mentor to help them navigate a totally unfamiliar system that is control by rigid laws.
Step 2: PROVIDE HOUSING SAFETY
Right now, people who have been arrested and lost everything have no safe place to go as they deal with the consequences. They have often been homeless, in an abusive situation, or after leaving jail they need to re-acclimate from living in highly structured facilities with little opportunity to think independently. We have found that it is easier to re-enter society successfully, when a person is not so vulnerable to being preyed upon, and instead have mentoring to live better. They feel stronger when they are safe, warm, fed, and with a good night’s sleep. People are more likely to be able to meet the requirements of re-entry, of obtaining employment or enrolling in educational classes or on-the-job training to further ensure a stable lifestyle.
Our vision is to serve and develop housing for more than 150 at risk residents in multiple locations – short stay to longer retraining programs. The model uses an “each one, teach one” style of coaching and mentoring, that focuses on health, addiction recovery, functional literacy, life skills training, job retraining, and community living. It also focuses on case management, relationships, and restorative justice principles.
We start small, by fulfilling the basic human needs of safety – where they can go to simply think and wind down, and start the healing process. They learn how to self-manage and self-regulate in relationships with others, then how to go back into the workforce.
Step 3: GET BACK TO WORK
Retraining in a new field of education and employment is typically necessary. Their old situation was insufficient, and didn’t work to start with, and now they have a record that stops easy employment. So, they need a new path to economic self-sufficiency. The need for education is beyond gaining a GED. More than 40% of Whatcom County inmates are of second grade levels, and may have only basic reading, writing, and math skills. They will need tutoring, or a trade skill to develop.
We will team up with other service providers to help people look anew at what is available to them,in order to meet the market demand where it is today. Some can enroll in local classes. For those who have no marketable skill, our goal is develop self-sufficient businesses and hands-on learning programs where they can be taught how to work from entry-level up. We will work with existing non-profits who offer solutions, then with employers and entrepreneurs to create new opportunities and apprenticeship programs. Job coaches will be mentors who understand; have lived the experience themselves, and been successful, working hard to get back to work after their arrest or incarceration.
