Wake Up Call Segment Host/Producer MK Mendoza speaks with internationally acclaimed Trauma-Informed Expert, Tonier Cain, a leading voice in transforming the paradigm in social, criminal and human justice systems around the world.
New Mexico has one of the highest incarceration rates in a nation with the highest in the world. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, New Mexico houses a higher percentage of both male and female inmates convicted of violent offenses with female incarceration growing at the higher rate - while more than 3/4 of first offenders will be re-arrested within five years.
All these numbers have led professionals across every arena of social justice to rethink their approach - enter -what’s called ACE's - Adverse Childhood Experiences which have a measurable impact on future violence victimization and perpetration alongside lifelong health and opportunity. Experts and officials are also learning something about themselves in the process - that their approach in handling these populations may have been unknowingly worsening things, adding more trauma to the mix: And not just to those on the receiving end but also on the provider side, causing higher turnover rates and burn out and even expanding to include caretakers and family members - leading many away from criminalization to what’s now being called Trauma-Informed Care. Tune in to hear a one-of-a-kind rare human story of survival, victory, hope and inspiration.
Trauma-Informed Care was a literal game changer and lifesaver for Tonier Cain - catapulting her as she says from "jail to Yale", the gutter to glamour, human invisibility to international acclaim. It is nearly unfathomable that this highly successful international Lecturer, Educator, Author, Award-Winning Filmmaker, and Global Entrepreneur once found prison as familiar as the streets she lived on for nearly two decades.
In just 15 years she’d been arrested 83 times with 66 convictions. Nicknamed "Neen", she had and lost four children and was given every stigmatizing label a person could have to make her as invisible as the pain she was buried in - that she so desperately tried not to feel - one without words nor an ear to listen, acknowledge or understand. From being called "Crack Addict" to "Prostitute", "Pissy Neen" to "Crazy Neen" and assigned a full variety of mental disorders that depended upon the day - she was that disheveled person standing on the street corner or that familiar seemingly invisible clump of ragged clothing sleeping under the bridge or on the street - that we as a society all too often choose to ignore, pretend isn’t happening or even avoid and runaway from altogether.
But, she says "Where there was breath there was hope". After 19 years hustling on the streets Neen's crumb of hope turned into a seed of trust and her life was transformed. Her story now put in book and film form entitled "Healing Neen" isn’t just another story of survival and redemption, but ultimately a story about the power of human connection - if we choose to seize it.
It is a story about how being seen amidst a sea of invisibility can return the righteous good news, grace and presence to a human being who had always been deserving. And in so doing it provides a renewed sense of hope for our collective potential. It is the story of a courageous and exceedingly strong woman’s journey back into the human race and a testament to the buried potential deep within our most vulnerable - a journey and strength that she humbly attributes to "God's Grace" while maintaining that ever present sense of humor that reflects her inextinguishable inner light as she continues to as she says keep it "raw and real". Her story isn’t just about her victory but the value of human life itself. It’s a convincing call-to-action for better practices in the way we treat not just those we counsel caught in the cycles of trauma, addiction and serial incarceration but simply each other as human beings. She brings us face to face with the ubiquitous corruption, neglect, abuse and flaws in some of the systems meant to safeguard at risk women and children. She’s a leading advocate for Trauma-Informed Care across the globe and every sector of social and human justice. She is a champion for all who still need to hear "where there’s breath there’s hope" and one of the most remarkable human stories you will ever hear.
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To find out more about Tonier Cain, see link below:
www.toniercain.com