With You on the Journey: Families of People in Prison Tell Their Stories, Part 3 with Special Guest

With You on the Journey was a performance of monologues written by family members of people in prison, it included 11 monologues by 10 family members. The performance was the culmination of six writing workshops and was held at The First Unitarian Church of Portland on October 18th, 2015. This project was conceived of by Carol Imani, a college writing instructor who has taught creative writing in juvenile detention facilities and adult prison and it was funded by the Regional Arts and Cultural Council. Prison Pipeline is airing a recording of the performance in segments. The fifth monologue will air on January 11th, 2016 and will be accompanied by a conversation with local mental health advocate, Teri Robinson. This monologue, titled Handcuffs not Healing: Our Shameful Treatment of the Mentally Ill, was written by a mother of a person with Schizophrenia. She discusses how her son's illness led to him being in prison and  jail and how his treatment in custody exacerbated his condition. Her experiences with her son's incarceration and re-entry into society showed her our failure as a society to treat mental illness.

Our guest, Teri Robinson, has been a volunteer with the National Alliance on Mental Illness(NAMI) since 2005, NAMI Family to Family Teacher since 2007, and NAMI Family Support Group Facilitator since 2010. She has also been a member of the ReEntry & Mental Health Action Team since 2011 and part of Crisis Intervention Team International since 2011.

Here is a link to With You on the Journey, Part One: http://kboo.fm/withyouonthejourneyfamiliesofpeopleinpri
And Part Two: http://kboo.fm/withyouonthejourneyfamiliesofpeopleinpri0