I just wanted to share this experience with you. A week ago I stgarted a book discussion group with severfal female ex-offenders. Some of them live ina group home in my area, and others are clients of the organization that runs the home. We are starting with Wally Lamb's "Couldn't Keep It to Myself" and will follow that with the sequel, "I'll Fly Away." Both these books have been used successfully in book groups by my colleagues in two Virginia female community corrections sites.

Participation in the group was made mandatory by the staff of the home, but the response was overwhelmingly positive at our first meeting. I have the services of a volunteer tutor who is also an ex-offender as well as a college level instructor in creative writing. Our hope is that an outgrowth of this group will be a writing group.

If you are not familiar with these books, you need to know that they are very powerful accounts of the lives of several women who were incarcerated for serious crimes in the York Correctional facility in New York State. Best-selling author Wally Lamb coached their writing group for some time. Even if you don't want to start a book group, I recommend both these books if you work with female offenders.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2008 04:57PM by LindaA.

I just wanted to post a little update on the group. We have been meeting weekly since I first posted with the exception of Memorial Day. That must have been a big week-end for the residents of the residence where we have been holding the groujp, because when we returned the following week, one was MIA, another had broken house rules and was asked to leave. Two more had moved on as planned, and we had one new resident. One who moved on chose to continue attending the group sessions.

We will continue the group and see who moves into the home. We had several very helpful sessions in which the women related their own experiences to the experiences of the women in the book. The best thing to have happened is that the ex-offender who has been leading this group is being considered for a paid possition on the staff of the organization that runs the home. Although she has two masters' degrees, this woman has been working for the past year for $7 an hour in retail. Getting this job would mean a great deal to her. More importantly, she has just blossomed during the time she has been leading this group.

As an extension of the book group try to get ahold of the video "What I want my words to do to you." [www.pbs.org]

BJ Berquist
JUV SIG Chair

Thanks, BJ. Our original group has ended. All the women have moved out and moved on. We plan on starting a second group in September. I'll try to get this video before then.