Come to kale: Accompaniment across barriers of species and situations.

Abstract

Come to kale is an expression attributed to the Gaels, which describes the act of sharing food, even with a stranger or when food is scarce. Such action is emblematic of the deep connection between companions who are knitted together in a mutually awakening journey, referred to by Watkins ( 2019) and Martín-Baró (1994) as accompaniment. In this presentation, we share our experiences of trauma-informed, nature, and attachment-based accompaniment with men living in a high-security state prison. In addition to offering insight into complex posttraumatic stress disorder experienced by many prisoners, this case example illustrates the effectiveness and essentiality of this approach over current hierarchical, adversarial approaches characteristic of most correctional settings. Accompaniment's nondual, relational approach inspired by nonhuman nature resulted in intergroup cooperation, open communication, collaborative resolution, exchange of information, and relational evolution. Through this experience, prisoners who were labeled violent transformed into colleagues and healers.

Inside of a prison: How a culture of punishment prevents rehabilitation.

“…Instead of reeducating prisoners, improperly presented CBT programming leads to their memorizing CBT maxims, parroting them back upon cue, and remaining focused on saying the right thing or saying nothing at all, while never addressing the deep emotional lesions that lead to prisoners’ violent acting out and other antisocial characteristics (Bloom et al, 2021; Bradshaw & Bloom, 2020; Garbarino, 2017; Roach, 2013). More heinously, this punishing process is retraumatizing.…”

“…Such catastrophic failures in other public sectors would trigger rigorous problem analysis and reassessment, resulting in subsequent demands for alternative approaches (Whitely et al, 2014). When viewed through the lens of psychological theory and data, the source of failure in prison rehabilitation efforts unveils (Bloom et al, 2021; Bradshaw & Bloom, 2020; Garbarino, 2017; Roach, 2013).…”

“…It is necessary to provide empathy and compassion to heal the traumatized (Schore, 2019). In over 8 years’ experience working with men who were considered to be the most violent in a statewide prison population, we found that providing a trustworthy presence via attachment-based psychotherapy (Costello, 2013) and accompaniment (Watkins, 2015), while embedded in a nature-based culture, was effective in transforming prisoners (Bloom et al, 2021; Bradshaw & Bloom, 2020). Therefore, it appears that the problem in corrections is the delivery of rehabilitative content, and not the content itself.…”

In the company of animals: Accompaniment transforms prisoners into colleagues, teachers, and healers.

“…Accompaniment is about sticking with a task until it's deemed completed-not only by the accompagnateur, but by the person being accompanied (p. 19) By feeling accompanied, the prisoners experienced a profound, newly developing sense of care, compassion, and even love for humanity and Nature. They demonstrated genuine empathy as prisoner-colleagues, caregivers, and teachers (Bloom & Bradshaw, 2017, 2018Bradshaw & Bloom, 2020). For example, they encouraged Bloom to contact Bradshaw so that Elephants in the Forest could be shared with others and expanded to diverse venues, human and nonhuman, which precipitated their sustained collaboration.…”

“…Bloom and Serrano presented and discussed these accounts without initial disclosure of the animals' species. Other prisoners were also involved in such intensive mentoring (Bradshaw & Bloom, 2020;Mitchell, 2017Mitchell, , 2018.…”