{"id":190,"date":"2014-06-04T20:36:25","date_gmt":"2014-06-04T20:36:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nashvillerecovers.org\/?p=91"},"modified":"2017-07-09T06:21:53","modified_gmt":"2017-07-09T06:21:53","slug":"overcoming-fear-women-go-back-to-jail-to-help-fellow-addicts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/2014\/06\/04\/overcoming-fear-women-go-back-to-jail-to-help-fellow-addicts\/","title":{"rendered":"Overcoming fear, women go back to jail to help fellow addicts"},"content":{"rendered":"

We folks in recovery have lots of chances to help what we can \u201cthe still sick and suffering addict\u201d, but few are as daunting \u2013 or as rewarding \u2013 and going into prisons and jails. That can be even more intimidating for women (although it\u2019s plenty intimidating for us guys), especially if they\u2019ve never been inside any sort of lock up.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I wanted to highlight two Nashville women in recovery, Lauren O. and Rachel G., who regularly bringing 12-step meetings and workshops into jail and prison.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lauren, 24, has three years sober, and it wasn\u2019t that long ago that she was in and out of jail as an inmate \u2014 12 times to be exact.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Lauren<\/span><\/a>Lauren has been through jail and both misdemeanor and felony drug court treatment programs in Nashville, on a variety of charges, including drug possession, theft and contempt for not showing up for court appearances.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was on the run,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Lauren, of Donelson, would get caught and spend several months in a row in jail, she remembers well the women in recovery who would bring meetings inside.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey were so kind. They would hug us,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people fear touching inmates. But they would hold us and touch us and we would cry,\u201d Lauren said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hope they brought with them was that there\u2019s life outside the walls. And the hope came from people who were using [drugs] like me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lauren was so moved by these women that she decided when she got out, she\u2019d do the same thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

So Lauren started telling the corrections officers (COs) that after she was released, she was gonna come back and bring meetings to this very jail.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some COs nodded, others laughed. They\u2019d seen Lauren come in and out in handcuffs too many times.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Lauren was released this last time, she got really active in recovery fellowships. And she eventually applied to be a jail volunteer, but Metro turned her down. Jail officials wants volunteers to be completely free of probation or parole before they come back in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eight months later, still on probation, Lauren got a call saying she was cleared to volunteer in jail.<\/span><\/p>\n

What happened?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGod,\u201d Lauren said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first time she went back to jail as a volunteer, Lauren was nervous.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGoing back in, I was nervous about seeing who I was going to run into. Oh, and what if they had a hold on me from another county and they didn\u2019t let me out?\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut mostly, I had major major gratitude. It was very humbling to realize how far God and the program and my sponsor had brought me.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I pulled up and was walking up the jail, I thought I was going to start crying. I was very humbled.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Those COs who\u2019d laughed at her saying she\u2019d come back as a volunteer? \u201cThey were shocked to see me. And happy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lauren says her jail service work is the most fulfilling.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have a passion for inmates. I get it. They did things because of drugs and alcohol. They didn\u2019t do things because they\u2019re bad people,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m not a bad person. I get it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cInmates, they\u2019re people just like us. We\u2019re able to get sober before them, that\u2019s the only difference. Helping other addicts and alcoholics. These people deserve the same help and hope, and respect,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not what you see on TV. It\u2019s just not.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s all I can really say about that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 –<\/span><\/p>\n

Rachel G., 34, of Antioch, has nearly two years clean, and only two days in jail, for a DUI in Kentucky.<\/span><\/p>\n

So when she heard announcements at her home group about jail meetings, Rachel hesitated.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Rachel<\/span><\/a>\u201cOf course I had prejudiced ideas, the women being very masculine, very aggressive, bitter and resentful, blaming other people; that\u2019s what I expected,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Rachel, a teacher, felt drawn to the jail meetings.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I\u2019d worked with a lot of their kids. I wanted to help the parents to help the students,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Plus, Rachel added, \u201cI was so miserable in my life and this has changed my life so dramatically, maybe my story can help some of them become better parents and better humans.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, Rachel said she was a bit nervous for that first meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what to expect. But I was with ladies I highly respect. I didn\u2019t know what I was doing, but they did. I was really quiet my first time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And dare I say, with tons o\u2019 love and respect, that Rachel is not often quiet.<\/span><\/p>\n

With time and experience, Rachel became more comfortable sharing in those jail meetings.<\/span><\/p>\n

And she made an interesting discovery.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI realized those women were exactly like me. They\u2019re me. And I\u2019m just them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve heard this said \u2014 life\u2019s not fair, and I\u2019m glad because if life were fair, I\u2019d be in jail for the rest of my life. Those women are serving my time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Why are jail meetings more powerful than those on the outside?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really thirsty for another way. In other meetings, they don\u2019t pay attention so much. Sometimes you don\u2019t feel heard. But women in jail, they\u2019re so eager.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can connect with someone at their raw and most vulnerable state, it\u2019s more powerful. It\u2019s very uplifting. It\u2019s inspiring. You feel like you\u2019ve made a difference.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For Rachel, it\u2019s her favorite part of recovery.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel a lot of gratitude when I walk in \u2013 and when I walk out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Thanks so much to Lauren and Rachel for sharing their experience.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We folks in recovery have lots of chances to help what we can \u201cthe still sick and suffering addict\u201d, but few are as daunting \u2013 or as rewarding \u2013 and going into prisons and jails. That can be even more intimidating for women (although it\u2019s plenty intimidating for us guys), especially if they\u2019ve never been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nashvilleprevention.org\/nashville_recovers\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}