welcome to this site--a space for people in activist communities who have faced trauma in actions, people who want to learn about trauma recovery and other generally interested folks. this site was established quickly to get info out to all the people who were assaulted by the police during actions against the ftaa and has grown daily since then. we want to explore issues of mental health as they relate to activist communities--including political trauma, ptsd, dissociation, burnout and how to create healing spaces to work through trauma and sustain the important work we do.

coming out of jail stronger

by starhawk (http://www.starhawk.org)

in the many times i've been to jail, here are some of the overwhelming responses i've noticed in myself and which you might be experiencing:

rage: jail is simply the distilled form of the larger violence around us. anger is a sane and healthy response, but you may find it deflected onto your friends and families instead of directed to the systems of oppression we're fighting. warn your friends and coworkers to tread gently and not order you around for a while. be prepared for flashes of rage, and try to remember whom we're really angry at.

self-blame: you've been in a system designed on every level to make you feel bad, wrong, inadequate and powerless. the men and women who run it are experts in psychological manipulation and intimidation. they spend a lifetime developing their techniques,you had at most a few hours training in how to resist them.
when you're in jail, you're constantly faced with decisions to be made with inadequate information under conditions of fear and exhaustion. you may make mistakes. you may end up complying when you later wish you'd resisted, or failing to act when you think you should have. you may make decisions you later regret.
try not to blame yourselves. one of the ways the system functions is to keep us focused on what we, individually, did or didn't do instead of on the violence of the system itself. self blame is the way we take the violence of the system in, and beat ourselves up instead of making the guards and police do their own dirty work. and it rapidly turns into blame of each other, becoming a force to divide us and cut us off from the very support we need.

difficult re-entry: it's hard to go back to regular life after the intensity of an action. it's hard to go home to a lonely apartment after the strong community we've felt in the action and in jail. it's hard to go back to a school, a job, or to any institution that suddenly seems like a softer-edged version of the jail. and everything suddenly does look like a version of jail,a system of punishment and control.
you may find yourselves tired, depressed, unable to take pleasure in things you usually enjoy, vicariously experiencing the sufferings of all the oppressed and dispossessed. food may seem tasteless, work or studies meaningless. you may lose things, get confused, and have difficulty functioning.
these are common human responses to loss, trauma and stress. they are not a sign of your personal weakness or inadequacy. here are a few things that can help:

talk about it: ideally with the others who were with you, with your affinity group or with someone else who has been through a similar experience. if that's not possible, find a friend who is willing to lend a sympathetic ear, or a counselor. you need to tell your story, sometimes over and over and over again.

rest: we've all put out a phenomenal amount of energy. sleep. take yourself out into a natural environment with trees and green plants. lie on the ground. restore your energy.

cleanse: do something physical and symbolic to release the energies of the jail. take a shower and scrub with epsom salts, bathe in the ocean or a running stream, wash your clothes. do it with the conscious intention of letting go of the jail energy, of emerging renewed.

renew: if you have a spiritual practice, now is the time to intensify it. if you don't resonate with spirituality, take time for what does inspire you and feed you, whether it's the forests, music, or the company of friends.

learn: you've just received a priceless educational experience. you now know more about the underlying workings of the system we are fighting. you've had a small taste of the violence and repression experienced every day by the poor, by people of color, by those who end up in jail without the support of an action and a media team. you will never be the same person you were before this action.

honor yourself: and all of us,for the courage, strength, and commitment we've shown in taking action, for the movement we are building together, for the ways we've listened to one another and struggled with our differences and already changed the world. i'm deeply, deeply proud to have been part of this action, and to be in a movement that contains such brave, committed and caring people.

carry it on: rage can be an energizing force. so can love. as hard as a jail experience can be, it can also be empowering. we can come out of it stronger than we went in. what we've learned from this action can move us into the next phase as we build the movement that will transform the world.