Interpersonal Issues

Florida Inmate Training
FIT 100 Hour Curriculum

PART 3 - RELATIONSHIPS

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THE NEED [Top]

This area emphasizes the interdependencies that all of us have. We are parents, children, aunts, uncles, nephews, and nieces. Those around us affect us and we affect them. All of us must learn to deal with anger as well as grief. Many of us are “in a rut” and not knowing how to get out of it. To a large extent we are blind to much of what is going on and need help to communicate and interact well. Another way to put it is: “we don’t know what we don’t know”.

Inmates are not immune to these dynamics. Florida statistics show that over 60% of them have less than a 9^th grade education and generally speaking, their need for learning positive interaction skills and gaining emotional stability is even greater than the public at large. Their lack in this area is exactly what has led many of them to their current predicament.

OUR MATERIALS [Top]

We have chosen two study areas for Interpersonal Issues: "Anger" and "Handling Loss and Grief". The "Anger" group meets for 9 2-hour sessions and "Handling Loss and Grief" for 13. We use the Living Free booklets entitled “Anger: Our Master or Servant” and “Handling Loss and Grief”. These topics were chosen both because they are issues that the inmate population have great difficulty with and because of the track record of these particular materials in the institutional setting. All sessions are two hours in length.

FORMAT [Top]

Groups are restricted to 10 inmates and taught by a trained facilitator and a co-facilitator. Co-facilitators learn “on the job” so that they eventually can be an effective facilitator. Groups are “closed” after the first session. This means that no new members will be admitted until the group is finished with its modules. These restrictions, though at first may seem to be an annoyance, are the very things needed to make the experience successful. They encourage openness and trust that can come no other way in a group setting.

ANGER-Our Master or Our Servant [Top]

All of us have to deal with anger. None of us are exempt. Sometimes those of us brought up in church think that denying our anger is virtuous. This study shows how anger can be a positive force in our lives and not always a negative one. It also helps in dealing with destructive anger. 9 Sessions.

Sample Questions	Session Topics
How do you see anger as a positive influence in your life and family? Is anger simply a biological or animalistic response?	You’re Angry! No, I’m Not! What Is Anger? Its Composition Anger: What causes it? When Anger is a Sin (Part I) When Anger is a Sin (Part II) Beginning Steps in Managing Your Anger Managing Your Anger Managing Anger in Your Marriage and/or Family Relationships Accepting Responsibility for Managing My Anger

HANDLING LOSS AND GRIEF [Top]

Inmates need to deal with the deaths of family members, just like anyone else. Also, loss of relationships, such as a spouse or friends, must be dealt with so that a person does not become bitter and calloused. 9 Sessions.

Sample Questions	Session Topics
What death has been the most difficult for you to handle? What made this death significant? Name life events other than a death you have experienced that brought grief to you. How did this/these loss(es) impact your life?	Facing the Losses of Life A Christian View of Death Ministering to the Dying Coming Face to Face with Death Coping with Loss by Death Facing the “Little Deaths” of Life The Language of Loss The Language of Recovery Lessons Learned Through Grief