At the thrice-weekly therapy sessions, six or so men sit in a semi-circle, trying hard not to look vulnerable while discussing difficult emotions – a first for many.
As a group, the participants have determined their overarching goal: To stay out of prison and to stay alive.
Almost anywhere else, such an objective would seem simple; life stripped down to its most basic essence. But this is Englewood, one of the most dangerous communities in the city and these men have been identified as being at the highest risk for gun violence involvement.
They are here as part of READI Chicago, a pioneering new program that connects these individuals with jobs and a comprehensive array of supportive services – including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) sessions such as this one, which has the potential to help keep emotions from boiling over into shootings, according to research at the University of Cincinnati.
The hope is that by investing in these lives now, we are also investing in the long-term safety of our city. CBT is based on a singular philosophy: Thoughts impact behavior, so if you can alter – or at least slow down – thinking, “it can open up different options that can lead to better outcomes,” said Joan Liautaud, Heartland Alliance Health’s senior director of clinical operations.
On this morning, Liautaud opens the session by reviewing expectations, followed by a check-in with each participant, indicated by a thumb’s up, sideways or down.
“I need to know if they’re carrying something heavy. Maybe they had a problem with their baby’s mother or had a buddy killed over the weekend,” said the psychologist, who has worked with both mentally ill and criminal-justice involved populations for more than 20 years.
Then, she moves to today’s topic: Giving and receiving constructive criticism, an essential skill for workplace success. But for many here, even the most benign feedback can seem like a personal attack.
They role play various scenarios, with Liautaud gently guiding them along the way. “What do you want to say? Where and when do you want to say it? What was going on in your body when you acted aggressively? How can we behave in a way that serves our higher goals of staying out of prison and staying alive?”
Since violence is often the result of split-second decision-making, a key part of CBT – and Liautaud’s mission – is to teach coping strategies to keep conflicts from escalating and rein in the surge of adrenaline that might spur someone to pick up a gun. She helps them pinpoint tools that would be effective in stressful situations, such as listening to music, counting backwards from 20 or even walking around the block – “all ways to slow down the automatic thoughts that have gotten them in trouble.”
After six months of working with the READI Chicago participants – some of whom have committed extremely violent crimes – Liautaud is keenly aware of not how their worlds are so different, but how much is shared. For example, almost every man has talked about the missed funerals of parents and other loved ones while they were in prison, she said.
“We always find the commonality between me and them, as we are all human beings.”
