Graduation from Challenge Program

@USPCanaan Khalid 1.4.22 11:33am (Man Its easy to forget the years that have passed....)

Good Afternoon. We are graduating tomorrow. This is from the Challenge program. It took a little longer than expected but we have made it. There are four types of guys who come to this program.

1). The ones who are quitters.

2). You have the ones who are "faking it to make it".

3). The ones who just want the certificate to use mitigation in court

4). The ones who are able to incorporate the core concepts into daily practice, and reap the full benefits of the program.

In the street Cognitive behavioral therapy is big business, to the tune of $175 an hour. In here it is free? An option that most of us do not explore because of "peer pressure"(the bad kind), there is a stigma associated with programs like these in this environment. The penitentiary has norms, and values. They refer to its culture, and how it does not encourage change. Penitentiaries were created to warehouse people not to change them. So doing something positive is usually frowned upon, while negativity gets you "likes"? Crazy contrast, yet this is what it is. Now can we create an environment that is conducive to change? This is a start. I learned in this program not to focus, on why others have come here. Focus on you, and why you are here. We use I statements, to accept responsibility and take ownership. For years I felt like there was nothing wrong with selling drugs in the community? I blamed others(police, school, not having a dad in the house), to justify or make right something that was clearly wrong. There has to be ownership in order to move along in treatment.. Okay enough of me? How are you guys? Hopefully you get the message "focus on you before you judge and pick about others".