I am a mental health professional, who, through a complete whim has ended up working in the prison system. I've been "in" for some months now, and my experiences have been heart breaking, hilarious and frustrating. In a quick review of the blogs available, most are by inmates; few by staff. I wonder if that is because we have difficulty viewing our jobs with objectivity. We have trouble staying human.
The Stanford Prison Experiment, something I remembered vaguely from my undergrad years, stands as a grim reminder of how easy it is to fall into an unhealthy, unprofessional stance in this type of environment. My goal over time is to remember my own fallibility and to treat each person as an individual. And for fear of becoming a bug myself, to remember to laugh.
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This is Prison blog from the point of view of Mental Health staff. Something I can't find other places on the net... My boss told me the story my second week of work. He had the experience after 20+ years of working in the prisons, where he noticed how lovely the razor wire looked, sparking in the sunlight. He believed it indicated some sickness in his soul.
Confidentiality
Just a note to say I’m in a position of intense confidentiality from all sides. My patients are foremost of concern, and at this time, I’m not so focused on their stories as my own. Identifying details will be changed where the intention of the story remains. To further protect them and myself, I choose not to put accurate identifying details of my own. My children, grandchildren and husband depend on this. Although I don’t walk around believing I am important enough to be targeted, my naïveté is no excuse for jeopardizing their safety.
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