Following a community panel in Camden, Maine, focused on mental health, addiction, and stigma featuring Deconstructing Stigma, the Maine Department of Corrections asked to collaborate with the Deconstructing Stigma team to bring exhibits to the men’s prison in Warren, Maine, with a focus on correctional staff mental health, and to the women’s prison in Windham, Maine, with a focus on offender mental health.
Maine State Prison: Warren, Maine
Working closely with prison staff, we installed a highly specialized Deconstructing Stigma campaign focused on reducing stigma and increasing understanding and compassion among the corrections staff.
This exhibit, installed in areas of the prison that are accessible to staff only, features compelling stories of MSP staff—including Warden Randall Liberty, who openly discusses his own struggle with PTSD, trainings for prison staff with McLean Hospital mental health clinicians, and access to local and regional mental health resources.
The MSP staff, like all volunteers in Deconstructing Stigma, have shown incredible courage in sharing their very personal stories of their experiences with mental illness. They have chosen to be part of Deconstructing Stigma in hopes of leading by example and supporting their colleagues who may otherwise be fearful of asking for help.
Maine Correctional Center: Windham, Maine
Recognizing that individuals who are incarcerated are an underserved and marginalized community—especially when it comes to seeking mental health care—the Maine Department of Corrections and the Deconstructing Stigma team have collaborated to bring a Deconstructing Stigma exhibit to the women’s prison in Windham, Maine.
The exhibit aims to encourage women who are incarcerated to recognize that they are not alone in coping with depression, anxiety, substance use, and other psychiatric illnesses.
The goal of this Deconstructing Stigma exhibit and other mental health educational opportunities is to empower the women of the prison to find hope and resiliency.
By sharing these stories on the prison walls and in electronic form, in combination with educational outreach programming, we are working toward improving the conversation around mental health and encouraging inmates to seek treatment that will have a positive and lasting impact on their lives.