Category: Testimonials

Telling My Story was the light at the end of the tunnel for me while I was incarcerated. When I got out I had meetings and groups for a period of time, but the farther I got from incarceration and treatment, the less I talked about it. I talked about hard things with my personal support network, but lost my voice of empowerment. I was no longer talking about positive things; I was always talking about the negative and how to change the negative in order to function in the “real world”. When I was in the program, I felt empowered to tell the world that I had messed up and I was messed up, but that that was just a piece of who I am.

I miss that voice and I miss those listeners that really wanted to hear me, all of me, because they understood and/or wanted to learn. I think that having that sense of empowerment after the program is over could help those reintegrate into society and help them continue to use this voice that the program has given them.

My idea for this would be to have a part of Telling My Story’s web site dedicated to continuing to hear those voices. A place where past members and those associated with the program could share with others. A place to share stories of fiction or truth, poems, or even testimonials. I don’t know the exact set-up of web sites or blogs but I know the voice I found in the program, and those I heard, should have a place where they feel safe to keep talking. Feeling wanted and safe, in terms of emotional safety, I think is a key to keep us talking.

– Lindsey

Hope in Despair: Life on Life’s Terms began with 16 Dartmouth students, two professors, and about 20 female residents of the Valley Vista Rehabilitation Center walking to the front of a room and introducing themselves to each other by saying their names, where they were from, a like, and a dislike. Initially, we came together as two apparently different groups: students from a fancy, name brand Ivy League institution and women from a hidden, stigmatized population in a substance abuse rehabilitation center.

But once we started talking and introducing ourselves, we noticed links across the gap that divided us. Some people said they didn’t like authority, and some people defiantly stated that they didn’t like onions. We shared the human experience of liking and disliking, and we even shared some of the same objects of affection and disgust. The exercise became about a shared relationship instead of solely a shared object. A bridge began to form between groups whose material conditions could be immediately recognized by who had to ask to use the bathroom and who could just go.

Over eight weeks we turned these shared relationships back into a shared object, a shared moment in which we put on the performance on which we collaborated. The project centered on the women at Valley Vista, but the students learned as much and grew as much as the women. At the final
performances, participants’ voices, including those who were not even at the performance, spoke as one voice, not of a homogenous life experience but of a heterogeneous community.

— Alex, Student Participant

Telling My Story is a great program that has inspired me — and many women like me. I have participated in many programs while in prison, but not many have empowered me with such direction in my life. Telling My Story helped me to understand what my voice and others can do to have a positive impact on change and to offer hope to those who have none.

One of the most important things that I saw Telling My Story accomplish was to bridge the gap and empower our future decision makers with the knowledge of the system by putting faces on those that are in the system who are motivated to change. The students who participated in the program with Pati are at an advantage because they are exposed to the other side of the fence, which allows them to make a connection with the reality rather than the stigma and stereotypes.

I saw many people change because of the program after being struck with the hope of new life after prison. I can certainly say that the program has given me much more than I have given it, but hope to reverse this in the coming future as I become part of the fabric that keeps the program running.

— Robin, Inmate Participant