jaredferguson.com

So, I started my practicum this week. The first two days were relatively uninteresting considering all I was doing was waiting for my background check to clear. However, on Wednesday, I actually got to go back “on the block” (which is a complete fallacy FYI, very few prisons actually have blocks anymore) and meet with some of the inmates with whom I will be working. Needless to say, I’m completely excited.

I have to say this one thing though: just even in my brief conversations with just a few inmates, I’m shocked at some of the trauma these women have survived. I can’t go into details here, but there is no shortage of difficult circumstances in the lives of these women. It’s funny because when people think about the types of abuse these women have seen, all they can think of is how horrible it is. While some things that have occurred to these inmates are quite unspeakable, I do not find horror in their stories. Quite the opposite frankly, I find strength and resilience. In a few of them, I see hope. Hope for a better life. Sure, the majority of the women housed there will never graduate with a college degree or achieve six-figure salaries, but those possibilities are not the point. They have the hope of being able to live a good life, to be able to raise their children without too much problem, and the hope of being able to “do normal.”

I guess thoughts like these have pushed me into this field of work. People often say to me “I just don’t know if I could handle hearing all of those horrible things.” I guess for me it all comes down to how you look at it. I don’t see situations through the lens of the past. I see potential for change and problems to be solved. After all of these years, I’ve finally been able to tie together my experiences with computers and social work: both involve extensive problem solving (a realization I came to just as I was typing this); something I believe I excel at.

The other day as I was studying at the library, it occurred to me that I might have a future working with offenders in the juvenile justice system. Particularly female offenders. As I read the research and statistics that surround female offending, I was shocked to see how quickly young women are entering into “the system.” No doubt, there is work to be done there. Whether I will be a part of that work or not has yet to be seen.