PEER MENTORING, WELCOME

They told me that on Thursday I would be in a program for Peer Mentoring. I was excited about this news, because my mentor, Calvin, had been going on and on about Peer Recovery. Another program that an incarcerated friend took before me.

Calvin felt that this was a program that could push me to another level of thinking. So, I had my head wrapped around spending 6 hours in the program with other incarcerated men.

I headed to bed early, thinking about being the greatest peer mentor in the world. My dreams were filled with the Governor, and Director of Virginia coming to shake my hand. I woke up from that dream invigorated.

I ate a crappy breakfast tray, drank a cup of milk, then headed to the gymnasium for the program. I linked up with one of the aides, who ushered me to a small, windowless room. Inside were tables, file folders with our names on them, and a staff member who put the program together. I found my seat, saying good morning.

As I waited, I was handed a box with multicolored ties inside of it. I hadn't expected to wear one. Shoot, it would be the third time in my life that I wore one; a graduation, when I was in court, and in a room of incarcerated men who needed to understand the seriousness of being a Peer Mentor. I had to get help with tying a tie around my neck.

Once we had our ties on, Mr. Perkins strolled in reminding me of Mr. Rodgers from Mr. Rodger's Neighborhood. He wore the wired frames and had a welcoming smile. He even took a Snoopy tie from the box and placed it on.

We're having a chitchat as we're being told it's time to take pictures. Outside in the cold, I was smiling brightly as we took five or six pictures. The men were all in on the photo opportunity, and smiling, but we wanted to learn how to become Peer Mentors.

Back in the room, Mr. Perkins introduced us to the many workbooks that an incarcerated man and woman would read. Now he did stress that we remained focused on the structure of each workbook. It'll help you paint the picture for those incarcerated. He followed this up by asking us open-ended questions.

You see, it's about having the participant step outside of themselves, by being willing to talk about their thoughts and feelings. We achieved this by veering off a bit, sharing stories of personal struggles, or success, which allowed the participants to become comfortable in expressing themselves.

Now you'll have a rambunctious participant, and there were tactics for dealing with them as well. We learned how to do this by putting on presentations for Mr. Perkins, and three other women from the Central Office. They critiqued us by sharing their insight, which was welcomed.

Everything about Peer Mentoring was enjoyable, but also enlightening. Why? It showed me that for the first time in my 27 years of incarceration people not in state blues (our uniforms) cared. It surprised me because as I wandered many of these prisons, it's always been about a foot on our necks.

I meant that, but now, I'm sitting alone thinking about the impact of a Peer Mentor. I never had one in my early days of mass incarceration. The men coming in have more of a chance to walk out of prison ready for society, by having men like me, prepare them. I'm as shocked as you are, the prison system actually wants us out there again, ready to be productive citizens.

Peer Mentoring has given me a chance to see that things were changing for us. I'm glad because speaking to a 62-year-old man who desired an education seemed much better than a discussion about who'll go first in the NFL draft.

Peer Mentoring arrived and I'm grateful that it has because tomorrow's incarcerated individuals now get a chance to see where a mentor can take them. My hope is that it'll be somewhere great.