Prison journalism: May is Mental Health Awareness Month

Prison journalism: May is Mental Health Awareness MonthJeffrey Shockley is a writer serving a life sentence in the State Correctional Institution-Fayette in Pennsylvania.

by Jeffrey Shockley

26-07-2023 11:42

in Prison Journalism

Jeffrey Shockley is a writer serving a life sentence in the State Correctional Institution-Fayette in Pennsylvania.

Image by flickr.com

Mental Health is about the way you think and feel and your ability to deal with ups and downs, and unexpected tum arounds that often have us each bound down behind these lines of misunderstanding.

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Mental Health, Substance Abuse or Co-occuring challenges and their recovery processes are an all day, every day continual struggle, often for life.

How can you put a face on what no one wants to talk about without understanding the stigmas assigned behind this reality in every community? The disparity between normalcy is a mystery as each moment of everyday normal changes reflective of the trauma's suffered along the way to work, school, or even a planned vacation.

No hesitation to assign an instant opinion on another's decision that is different then the way you would have, could have, perhaps even should have handled a situation. You may not be aware of the triggering factors until after the news views another tragic event spent in the years of an Un or misdiagnosed treatment, if any treatment was sought in the first place.

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But we as a society get caught up in denying our own need for professional assistance due in part of the resistance to being viewed as anything other than

Perfect.

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Recovery is a deeply personal, unique, process changing ones attitude; values, feelings, goals, skills and roles as those in recovery tend to live a life NOT free of uncertainty to what may await around the next corner.

Asking for help in a new situation is not a sign of weakness; it teaches how to overcome what was done in our past that will last as long as we have the capacity to remember.

When just a child I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Was prescribed Ritalin, of course before it was found to be the miracle drug when cramming for exams. I was removed from a Catholic private school to attend Special Education in a public school, which of course meant riding that all too familiar short bus that invited neighborhood kids to always ask, Whats wrong with you ?

But their parents being much more condescending, like when you see someone talking louder after learning the other person is deaf, as if that would help or correct life's imperections, hiding rejections with a smile as fake as a $3.00 bill.

If you will, try to imagine what goes through the mind of a child pushed aside like damaged goods; left alone on a stage of indecency, ridiculed for exposing in honesty the actions of a family friend . Trauma comes to mind.

Reminiscent of my own times I've tried suicide to hide the pains of an inferiority complex, issues of abandonment and loss for my own identity I've spent a life sentence trying to resolve.

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Domestic violence, family violence, sexual violence, child abuse, elder abuse, factors that do impact ones mental health with a wealth of life altering trajectories causing most of us to be either uncomfortable with conflict or are too comfortable with conflict.

Or as we say: Comfortable in the chaos of the mind behind the times we had no control or control was stolen by those emboldended with their own issues of mental health.

Please, understand that in spite of the past that has us where we find ourselves today behind these razor wire topped chain link fencing with cable ready bathrooms we reside in, we each do have a unique gift and purpose for being. That is we are human beings.

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Incarceration is not only difficult for someone who comes in with mental health needs, but it creates and aggravates disconnection with correctional staff, personal despair and overall psychological distress. I had to come to understand and accept that I was in prison because of my own actions and consequences.

The consequence was a prison sentence of life without the possibility of parole or Death by Incarceration (DBI). And yet, even though I was a prisoner before a prison sentence existed, I can, We Can, still achieve and make a success of our lives.

If I could have back just a moment of time for each time I did not live up to my potential or ability(ies), perhaps I would not have been born, yet, today, and the world will not have known the pains of so great a loss like yesterday

But in my yesterday my memeory serves me to understand the troubles of others and be a help as I live this life in honor of those hurt along my lifes way.

Thank You.

Should you wish to assist in the rehabilitation of former inmates and help put money into the pockets of those who have struggled to earn a living during and after incarceration, click HERE

The article was facilitated by Erin Parish from the Human Kindness Foundation (HKF).

The Human Kindness Foundation's mission is to encourage more kindness in the world beginning with people in our prisons and jails.

HKF has published several books including: We're All Doing Time, Lineage and Other Stories, Deep and Simple, and Just Another Spiritual Book and provide these books for free to people currently serving time in prisons or jails.

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