Engage

My boss and I had the opportunity to tour and present the employment aspect of rehabilitation at the Mohican Juvenile Correctional Facility, yesterday. It was amazing. I have been to other correctional facilities and this was not much different. Imagine teenage boys in standard blues and walking in single file lines to their next class, or meals.

What was different was that they are a Therapeutic Community(T.C. for short), which is the environment I work in. It was difficult to see T.C. at work, though. The kids were not paying attention because their is no positive peer pressure. The staff were complaining that they don't get compliance due to this important piece of the structure missing.

In most T.C.'s the structure and language is similar. But, because these were kids, the structure had to be different due to The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections making different rules for them.

In my environment, our men can be placed in a hierarchy position or supervisory position over other men. This helps with getting tasks completed like cleaning the facility. The juveniles have to be supervised by staff only.

As we presented to the kids we knew we had to get them to interact with us or we would lose them. They are preached to everyday about how immature they are, how they need to be quiet, or don't do this, don't do that, which just makes them tune it out. Once we engaged them, they were receptive. One boy came up to s and said he learned more in that hour than he has learned in several months at the facility. This is not to cut on the facility. We were there to show the kids how to make their experience more positive and how they can get a job and keep a job when they are released. Our plan worked and staff want us back to have a workshop or employment day with the kids.

What is all of this about?

The hope that has been lost on these kids really made me want to connect to them. It made me sad to see so many kids putting faith into the street. It also made me appreciate my job and where I work. It made me want to engage.