NASW Social Work Talks - EP88: Social Workers Tackle Recidivism

Episode Date: July 29, 2022

Monique Bingham, MSW, is NASW's 2022 Emerging Social Work Leader. She works as a mental health therapist at the Anti Recidivism Coalition, which works to end mass incarceration in California. Ms. Bingham's own father was incarcerated when she was a child and released when she was an adult. She has produced a documentary, "Unchained Scholars," about formerly incarcerated social workers. Read the show notes for resources.

This episode is sponsored by Connect to End COVID-19. From the National Association of Social Workers, I'm your host, Aliyah Wright, and this is Social Work Talks. In today's episode, we're going to discuss recidivism. New statistics from HealthyPeople.gov show that the U.S. releases over 7 million people from jail and more than 600,000 people from prisons annually. However, recidivism is common. Within three years of their release, two out of three people are rearrested and more than 50% are incarcerated again. The good news is that we know from that data that half of those who incarcerated, don't reoffend. Our guest today includes mental health therapist Monique Bingham

with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, also known as AHRQ. Ms. Bingham has also recently been named winner of the NASW Emerging Social Work Leader Award for her work with those who have been incarcerated. Congratulations on your win. Thank you so much. just a little bit more about miss bingham's background a usc grad miss bingham works as a mental health therapist providing individual therapy and co-facilitating adult groups she helps clients in prison change their behavior so they don't reoffend she has held the appointed position as co-chair and chair of unchained scholars a student interest group at the usc Suzanne DeVore Peck School of Social Work. The group of formerly incarcerated MSW, DSW,

and PhD students works with allies to dismantle the barriers faced by people impacted by the criminal punishment system. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. Let's begin, shall we? I'd like to chat with you about your background, Ms. Bingham. How did you begin this work and why okay so um i previously worked as a nursing assistant after completing my undergraduate degree and one of the directors she took note of the fact that that elderly woman who only spoke japanese followed me into her office and she i began telling her you know my one at at the time to pursue psychology. That was really what I was looking and considering

and going into like as an MFT and then proceeding on to becoming a psychologist from there. But she was like, have you ever thought about social work? And I'm like thinking to myself like, no, actually I haven't. And I began doing a little bit more research about it and then seeing if there was a possibility that I could pursue social work

then go on to still be a psychologist and i found that that in fact can happen so um i got more intrigued shortly after that which i believe was a divine appointment i received an email from usc sharing about their online program and at the time i did not drive so it was like hey i just went for it um i was also working as a research assistant at california state university Fullerton under Dr. Russ Espinosa, where I was helping him with his research, which is really looking at how people of color are profiled and automatically seen as culpable based solely on race. So it was just really a pleasure working with him. And I told him that had only applied for one institution and he was like good luck and but i couldn't you know i

couldn't afford i really didn't have much money at all so um i just went with it and um and very much on a prayer and end up getting in which um yeah that was it was definitely um risky and i I just thank God that I was able to get into USC and I really met a lot of people there that really spoke so much into my life and have led me here to where I am today, specifically Unchained Scholars group. I would pop in, I never had my camera on,

which my professor, former professor and male friend, Susie has she would often um say like oh I just heard like this little voice because I was like so sheepish so shy and um it's just been a pleasure just being able to collaborate with her and continue our friendship and continue to um just find spaces where we can continue to work together um and still have a presence with Unchained Scholars which is ultimately what bought me into my wanting to continue on in criminal justice as my field, really looking at ultimately abolishing the criminal punishment system. Wow. So we're going to talk a little bit about Unchained Scholars and what that is

after the break. But before that, I want to talk to you about what types of resources do you provide to keep people from reoffending? Wow. So we cover so much ground from policy, housing. Our life coaches really spearhead that movement. They're walking alongside members, which we can also say clients, in order to assist them in whatever needs that they may have. My key role at this time is acting as the therapist really just to be supportive um a soundboard but i really like to say like really walk alongside members and you know suggest to them like if there's like areas that might make the most sense for them to pursue because what i find that in my work um the members

that have the most challenges usually have the least support and my members you're meaning so clients yeah people who have been the ones okay who have been incarcerated okay just wanted to clear it up for our listeners in case everyone yes absolutely she's talking about okay yeah we call our clients members and they've been previously incarcerated and so these things that you offer them um how successful would you say that that is in helping them get on keep from reoffending i came about because a colleague of mine um by the name of deidre wilson um found this project that she wanted for us at unchained scholars to participate in and so um she and i both kind of like um spearheaded the project and my task was to locate

a filmmaker and um however whatever other needs there needed to happen in order to get things done as well as organize um who was going to be in it etc as well as um help with writing um the script for us to kind of follow as the filmmaker documented everything so we ended up sharing it with UCLA and we found however that it was not a completed piece so right now it's I'm still working to get funding so that we can really also share additional stories because one of the goals was really to normalize our experiences rather than because what i find oftentimes is that with um us who are whether directly impacted or system impacted um oftentimes is very much met with stigma having an incarceration experience so in this way we're able to really give light to

um, what happened before that fateful day, as well as, um, it gives life to redemption was really what we were trying to showcase. Um, so your work helps people realize second chances are real. How important has that been to you? Extremely. It's, it's, I mean, it's my, my father he did 20 years um i've gotten the pleasure to see him really really thrive um and i can't say that i know personally having watched him and how difficult that was and at the same time i also recognize that um he did have support that many of the men that i work with don't have and so i find that the ones who don't have the level of support that he has is very easy for you to fall through those cracks. And so it's my life's work to act as a very steady support,

as well as to encourage members, clients, using this interchangeably, those with previous incarceration experiences, to really be there and allow for them to recognize that they do have someone who will be there for them unconditionally, whether they do decide to return We're still there. Join NASW's National Connect to End COVID-19 effort. It's a CDC-funded initiative to support social workers and their clients in informed vaccine decision-making. NASW is collaborating with its partner, the University of Texas at Austin, Steve Hicks School of Social Work, to provide national webinars, chapter trainings, tools, and information that promote vaccine confidence among social workers

and equip social workers to support clients in informed vaccine decision-making. Visit NASW's website to learn more. In what ways can social workers help make an impact in this area? Policy. So much at the crux of incarceration is poverty. And I, from personal experience, again, I do recognize that, yes, there is a certain um romanticizing of gang lifestyle but at the same time it's like i don't know that as a young man perhaps if my father has had other models to model after his life may have

been different maybe it wouldn't have appealed to him so as much as it had at that very young very impressionable time in his life but again you know i can say speaking about his life i'm very careful because i wasn't there right okay that makes sense um and i so so i suppose that he was involved in gangs and that's how he was incarcerated um and so coming from that though he had a support network outside that could help him um focus on the future and what that could mean instead of going back. And so let's talk about the documentary just briefly. So how have some of the social workers featured in the documentary fair? And do you cover that? Can you repeat that? I'm sorry.

How have some of the social workers featured in the documentary fair? Oh, very well. Oh, they're doing amazing. Deidre, she's going for her licensure. She relocated to be closer to her family in the state of Nevada. It's just, her journey has been amazing. She's absolutely just so happy about being able to not only give back, but really, again, just be with her family. And I guess part of, I'm sorry, go ahead. I was wondering though, But if part of the appeal, too, is, you know, these are social workers who've had this experience and now they're able to impart their knowledge to encourage others so that they can see that there is a possibility that there's life on the other side, a better life on the other side. Absolutely. And I've also seen this with other members, like you said, Yehuda, he's very much in the fight. He's also a therapist at this time and he's a strong force.

she's very involved as well with the podcast, Trauma Informed LA. And Fabi, she's also working in substance abuse. And she's a supervisor over there. And just amazing work. And really, people, I feel that in our profession as associate workers, they do, we relate to them on another level because of our direct and system impacted experiences that makes a great deal of sense um so the documentary as you mentioned hasn't been completely hasn't been completed yet because you need more funding so everyone can see it and benefit from it to trauma and go to la.org you will see on the right hand of that screen it's going to say donate and what you would do simply write in that you would like to donate to the Unchained Scholars documentary film.

That's wonderful. And listeners, we're going to make sure that the link to TraumaInformedLA.org and the resources are linked in our show notes. Ms. Bingham, are there any final thoughts? I would say just that we need more social workers that have direct experiences with incarceration as well as more people of color and you're hoping that that will and why do you say that I personally see that again people with the experience that I've had with clients members, I've noticed that they really, um, sometimes are more receptive when they feel that you understand what they are going through and they see that you got through it and it gives so much hope.

Wonderful. Well, we'd like to thank you so much for joining us. Listeners, you can find details about NASW's advocacy around these issues and resources on our website. Thank you so much for listening. And Ms. Bingham, thank you for joining us. You have been listening to NASW Social Work Talks, a production of the National Association of Social Workers. We encourage you to visit NASW's website for more information about our efforts to enhance the professional growth and development of our members, to create and maintain professional standards, and to advance sound social policies. You can learn more at www.socialworkers.org. Don't forget to subscribe to NASW Social Work Talks wherever you get your

podcasts. Thanks again for joining us. We look forward to seeing you next episode.