Written by Amanda Cassidy, Reentry Advocacy Fellow
”One thing a peer does is infuse hope” – ReEntry Peer Support Training
One of the many goals I had when I returned home in July of 2019 was to find a way to use all that I had experienced, the good the bad and the ugly, to help those who have been through similar experiences find a way out of the desperation and into the hope. I was chosen to take part in the Via Hope ReEntry Peer Specialist Level 1 training under the Health Resources & Services Administration’s (HRSA) program to provide equitable health care to people who are geographically isolated and economically or medically vulnerable. HRSA put together the Behavioral Health Workforce Education and Training which develops and expands community-based experiential training to increase the supply of students preparing to become peer support specialists and other behavioral health-related paraprofessionals while also improving distribution of a quality behavioral health workforce.
The Level 1 program provides skills-based training, hands-on work experience as a peer specialist, mentorship, and supervision from experienced peer specialists over a 9 month period. Throughout this 9 months, I will:
- Take the Core training, a prerequisite for RPS certification
- Take five skill-building trainings
- Receive placement for 250 field hours to complete certification, which includes a stipend
- Have an opportunity to advance to a year-long stipend apprenticeship position in Level 2
Throughout the core training I learned that there is more than 1 definition of recovery and that each person has a different recovery journey based on their own life experiences and how they chose to grow from them. We discussed the power of the words we say and hear and how those words become belief systems. I learned how to be more intentional in the words that I use, using a person first language. I learned how to build recovery capitol and how to guide peers to build recovery capitol. We also discussed ethical boundaries.
One of the profound moments was reading this poem. So I thought I would share it with you all.
Those In Prison, by Susan Zalatan
We want them to be responsible
So we take away all responsibility
We want them to be positive and constructive
So we degrade them and make them useless
We want them to be trustworthy
So we put them where there is no trust
We want them to be nonviolent
So we surround them with violence
We want them to be kind and loving
So we subject them to hatred and cruelty
We want them to quit being the “tough guy”
So we put them where only the “tough guy” survives
We want them to quit exploiting us
So we cage them where they exploit each other
We want them to take control of their lives
So we make them dependent on us
We want them to be a part of our community
So we separate them from our community
You want us to have self-worth
So you destroy our self-worth
And you call it “corrections”