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After Prison, a Place to Go

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Leaf Seligman (l) and Christine Holland
Leaf Seligman (l) and Christine Holland

The need is evident, say Christine Holland and Leaf Seligman, who have formed a nonprofit that will provide transitional housing for women struggling with addiction who have just been released from incarceration.

“We incarcerate women at an alarming rate,” says Holland, a nontraditional student at Keene State who is on track to graduate this month. “A large percentage of them are primary caregivers. So now we take these women and we incarcerate them. They’re losing everything. And then we open the door and say, ‘Go on.’ They usually can’t get a job, any kind of meaningful job. With a record, they usually can’t get subsidized housing. So it’s a setup for failure.”

“And if there’s a drug conviction, because of federal laws they’re not eligible for student aid,” adds Seligman, a lecturer in the English Department. “They’re not eligible for a lot of federally funded housing. And since it’s likely that many of the folks we work with would have had some kind of drug-related conviction, it really is a setup. In my experience, by the time people have gone through jail or prison, they’re really disconnected – from themselves, from their feelings. People need a stable, safe environment in which to live in order to stay sober, in order to get the psychological help they need, in order to show up for work.”

Holland and Seligman both have considerable experience with prison recovery work. Seligman, a retired Unitarian Universalist minister who leads writing workshops in addition to teaching at Keene State, has been working and volunteering in prison settings for some three decades, teaching writing and other courses and serving as a facilitator with the Alternatives to Violence Program. Holland, a psychology major and addictions minor who works at an addiction treatment center is Keene, is a recovering heroin addict who spent four months in the Cheshire County Jail before enrolling at Keene State.

The two met last spring after the College alumni magazine, Keene State Today, featured Holland’s internship work leading healing circles at the Cheshire County Jail.

Monadnock Restorative Community

In the time since then, they’ve created a nonprofit, Monadnock Restorative Community, and begun the work of partnering with local agencies, fundraising, reaching out to the local community, and exploring options for leasing a house that would be home to five women – and could open as soon as this spring or summer.

Why five? It’s the optimal number for a group home setting for women, according to research, as it allows for both addressing individual needs and establishing a sense of community within the house. Candidates for residency will be referred by the jail and perhaps other agencies, and will then go through an intake process. Residents will commit to living at the house for a year, with the option of staying an additional year. They’ll spend the first three months doing personal work around addiction, trauma, and healing. The day will be structured with training sessions that could include yoga, meditation, nutrition, fiscal responsibility, and parenting skills.

Then, they’ll they be placed in a vocational mentorship – a supportive employment experience – “so that an employer and the community understand that ‘I’m not just giving someone a job, I’m giving someone a chance,’” says Seligman.

The local community will be a key player, say Seligman and Holland. The organization has the support of the Keene Police Department, and other groups and nonprofits also support the organization’s efforts. The Monadnock Restorative Community is working to form alliances with other area nonprofits dealing with addiction and violence prevention.

“The work of re-entry does not belong to the re-entering person alone,” notes Seligman. “You can’t reintegrate where you’re not welcome. So the community has to have honest conversations that we might help participate in – restorative justice kinds of conversations, healing circles, where people in the community could say, Hey, here are my concerns. Or, I don’t know about this. Help me to understand. Or, I’m afraid of this, or I had a bad experience once, so help me to tell a bigger story and a better story. So that feels like the other piece of our work.”

A Community Conversation

Monadnock Restorative Community, Monadnock Voices for Prevention, and the KSC Office of Diversity and Multiculturalism will host a Community Conversation, “Restoring Our Community to Wholeness: Bringing Forth All Our Capabilities,” on Tuesday, January 12, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Centennial Hall in the Keene State College Alumni Center. The moderated conversation will offer a forum for dialogue with brief remarks by a few presenters and an hour for conversation about ways to work together to encourage and enable every member of the community to bring their gifts and talents to bear as those returning from incarceration are welcomed back to the community.

Presenters will include Dottie Morris, Keene State’s Chief Officer of Diversity and Multiculturalism, and Jay Kahn, the College’s Vice President of Finance and Planning, along with representatives from law enforcement, business, and successfully reintegrated community members.

For more information, contact info@monadnockrestorative.org.

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