A formerly incarcerated 25-year-old, among other community college students, came together in a virtual healing space organized by the LBCC Healthy Viking Initiative and headed by a certified Health Education Specialist.
Edgar Griss is a 25-year-old community college student at Long Beach City College who was previously convicted and incarcerated.
After his release, Griss began the complicated process of continuing his education and feeling like a normal person again by working with organizations closely involved in justice programs.
He moved on to become a member of the LBCC Scholars Club and has been accepted to California State University of Long Beach as a communication major.
Two of the programs he works with are Project Rebound and the Rising Scholar Network, where other formerly incarcerated people band together to make sacrifices to ensure their mistakes are not repeated.
This aspect of Griss’ life was shared during the first of five weekly virtual healing meetings organized by the Healthy Vikings Initiative in collaboration with Nikita Gupta. These meetings are designed to give LBCC Students the space to learn strategies and tools to help manage their mental health.
“Education is a solution, not incarceration,” Griss said.
He further explained that life outside the penitentiary is different now and that the treatment and discrimination he’s faced has created barriers for him and others alike. His need to find a job was the push Griss needed to return to school and seek help.
“I am very grateful for LBCC to have given me a second chance and the Department of Corrections and Justice for giving people as myself a second chance,” Griss said.
The first event began with a short survey that asked questions regarding the students’ mood asking how their emotional, physical, mental and spiritual being felt to them.
Gupta put together a presentation that asked students to slow their breathing and take deep long breaths. This was done as an effort to make students feel invited into her meeting and was paired with asking all attendees to get comfortable with their surroundings.
In order to create an appropriate virtual atmosphere Gupta altered the tone of her voice and asked everyone to turn off their distractions such as their phones, technology and to close their doors.
She continued with what healing spaces could look and feel like and asked participants to self-reflect, breathe and slow down again to highlight what biological healing looks like.
This activity required participants to write down their thoughts and feelings toward each part of their body. The participants articulated what each part of their body felt like highlighting that at times our bodies feel heavy or tense.
Before the Zoom meeting ended, Gupta suggested a list of positive affirmations such as allocating time to practice self-care and how that can positively influence others. One affirmation stressed the importance of being able to determine what’s enough and when to stop to rest.
“See the beauty in the moment by highlighting a self hold, by integrating restoration pauses that could look like taking deep breaths, meditating almost or doing yoga,” Gupta said.
Programs and resources at LBCC are used to create spaces for those willing to collaborate with people from all backgrounds, neighborhoods and communities to help students advance in their studies.
Services by the Viking Health Department are available on campus and online at lbcc.edu.