Life After Crime
One Psychologist’s Memoir of Effective Healing Techniques
by
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Deliris During Sensitivity Group Cringing from allowing a panic attack to possess her, Deliris wrote her worst secret. Her gut flipped as she handed the card with the writing facing downward for anonymity back to Juanita. At that moment, her trust factor went to zero as she watched Juanita shuffle the cards. She tried to keep from running out of the room as Juanita fanned the blank sides of the cards out and had each group member randomly pick a card. After the random cards were handed back out Deliris scrutinized the individual faces as each member looked at each card and silently read the secret that they had drawn. After all the group members had gotten a random card, Juanita said, “Now everyone read what is on your card, and let’s see how honest we have been.” Some of the cards read: I just visited my baby daughter in foster care. They are putting her up for adoption. It nearly killed me. I stole a lot of money from work, and my girlfriend was blamed for it and fired. I said nothing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ p 23 Going home after the group Juanita then stopped and turned to her. She put both hands on Deliris’s cheek and looked directly into her eyes. “You worked hard. I'm proud of you, though time will tell if it lasts. There is more in there and you need follow-up groups. You’re not one and done. This is the start of a long recovery process. I know because I am on it too. We can do it together. You’re staying with me this weekend so we can confirm that you’re back on the road to recovery. Don’t get overconfident!” When Deliris returned home, she was attentive to her young children and rekindled her love and relationship with them. p.34 Tears Tears dripped to the floor and damp tissues were strewn everywhere. Years’ worth of pain, amid sorrow, were spilled as the clients took turns confronting someone from their past. Long repressed agony started to loosen as old ghostly feelings were released and ejected. Historical traumas were cauterized and blown away like moths in the wind. Roots of despair were removed and replaced with love, hope, and healing. The members shared long buried traumas that they had spent years concealing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p.40 Star in a new school In her new school she thought she had found a friend. When walking home from school in the afternoons she would share her past life with Gloria. While Gloria eagerly listened, she did not share her own experiences with Star. Star began to understand that her friendship with her new friend was one-sided. Also, by watching the reaction of the other girls, Star realized that Gloria might have been gossiping about her. When she walked by Gloria in the hall, Gloria would stop talking to the girls. Star became suspicious, which soon inflamed her already distrustful nature. She felt truly a loner and couldn’t find one girl to befriend her. Distrust reigned. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p.57 Narcan Without hesitation Chip grabbed Star’s left arm, Sterling her right, and they ran into the darkness with Star’s limp legs bouncing over the ground littered with rocks, limbs, leaves and tree branches. As they neared the road, both boys saw the forest light up with blinking lights and blasting sirens knifing the air. Paramedics were extracting equipment from the back of an ambulance, and a fire truck was pulling up. “Over here! We’re over here!” Chip screamed as they pulled Star’s lifeless body over a log. Suddenly to their left appeared a dark figure startled them. “What’s going on here?” The officer commanded, turning on his head lamp. “I think she overdosed on fentanyl,” Chip screamed. “Narcan. Get some Narcan over here,” the officer called as his flashlight illuminated the frightened, sweaty, dirty, scratched duo coming to a stop holding the limp body of Star. The command for Narcan echoed through the woods. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 102 Parole Board The rest of the committee slouched into their seats as they turned their eyes to Ray to hear his response. “You are correct. I have no business being here before you. You have every right to feel that this is a waste of time interviewing me. However, I appreciate all of you investing your energies for the brothers locked in here. I am grateful for you finding it fit to release some of them back to their families. Giving them their freedom also gives me a sense of meaning; that my life has some value. I want to tell you how grateful I am for you having mercy on them, to give them another chance for freedom. Many of them are so young and to let them waste away in this depressing place is sad. Again, I want to thank you for your consideration.” Ray took a deep nervous breath. “The recidivism rate at these facilities is abysmal and I get so sad when I see that one of my brothers has relapsed and been returned here.” Ray reached feebly to his forehead and wiped aside the dripping sweat. “I asked for this meeting because I wanted more insight into how we can reach these young men, since I too once was one of those desperate, angry ones. I thought that collaborating with you might help us learn together to develop procedures that could lower the recidivism rate.” Ray continued, “Most of the men that I live with grew up in poverty and despair. How can we reach them and stimulate them to live a healthy life? I talked to Mrs. Bristol, and she said it was okay to ask if you would meet with me occasionally to collaborate on ideas about how to rehabilitate these lost inmates and turn them into tax-paying citizens. I want to help you understand their world view and maybe we can do our part in helping them reintegrate. I know all of you wish them well!” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- p. 161 Ray in College “I just want you to know that I am extremely happy with the quality of your schoolwork. But can I ask you why you are still so nervous in class?” “Well, Sir. Not too long ago I was let out of jail. I have been in jail most of my life. I am not yet used to an academic atmosphere and so many women in the room. That’s why I sit in the back of the room. In jail you needed to constantly watch your back. In class it’s not so dangerous, but I am still on guard. But I really enjoy your class. It has helped me a lot and I wanna graduate from your program.”
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About the Book
Mental health and addictions continue to remain significant health challenges. Dr Coleman and colleagues had many clients and students that needed relief from addictions, psychological pathologies, and unresolved traumas, and understood that new therapeutic methods were needed to help large groups of hurting people. Life After Crime is one psychologist’s memoir illustrating how diverse clients were brought back to health and successful society involvement through innovative and large group therapeutic processes. Their individual challenges, sufferings, and responses to various therapeutic venues are told in this fast paced, action-packed novel. Highlighted stories of recovery include Deliris, an actual recovering addict featured in HBO’s Life of Crime series; Ray, an ex-convicted criminal turned counselor and mentor; Star, a suburban teen who impulsively took fentanyl under social pressure, and numerous recovering broken families. Techniques and processes taught in How to Make Group Psychotherapy Work, New Perspectives on Group Therapy, are brought to life in this collection of real events and true stories, some with happy and not so happy endings.
About the Author
Dr. Thomas Roger Coleman is a Clinical Psychologist who lived for over forty years in New Jersey and now spends his time with his wife between Silverton and Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Born in Wellsville, New York, Tom completed his bachelor’s degree in psychology from New York University. He holds a master’s degree from The New School of Social Research and a doctorate from Nova University. Dr. Coleman has authored articles for scholarly and literary journals as well as academic and literary books. His published books include The Angle of Vision (a novel about a psychiatric hospital where he worked), Legend of Silver Wolf (a novel about prejudice and greed in San Juan County, Colorado in 1876) and Escape the Chambers (a science fiction novel about AI), and the following text books: Abnormal Psychology, Understanding Abnormal Psychology, Understanding Counseling and Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy as a Contact Sport, and How to Make Group Psychotherapy Work. This current book, Life After Crime, is a memoir of a clinician’s struggle to find and develop effective psychotherapeutic techniques. It is the companion book to a textbook How to Make Group Psychotherapy Work. Dr. Coleman has worked in private practice, hospitals, rehabilitation programs and prisons. He was the founder of Sensitivity Empowerment Workshops. He was a professor of Psychology at Essex County College in Newark, New Jersey, as well as teaching in other colleges. Dr. Coleman hosted a cable television program entitled Current Issues in Social Science. Dr. Coleman is married to Jaynie Coleman, has two children, and four grandchildren. A committed athlete, Dr. Coleman ran track and played basketball in high school and college, is an avid mountaineer (climbed over 200 mountains), and has completed over 270 marathons, including thirty-eight NYC marathons. He has completed a marathon in every state in the United States. Dr. Coleman continues to lecture, run workshops and write.