NCJ Number
235401
Editor(s)
Thom Stromer
Date Published
2010
Length
0 pages
Annotation
In this DVD, the camera captures the life story and current activities of Tonier "Neen" Cain as she talks about her childhood abuse; subsequent life of prostitution, drug abuse, and cycle of incareration; her successful trauma therapy; and as she engages in her current activities as a mental health team leader in the Maryland correctional system and as a nationwide advocate for trauma-informed therapy in corrections work.
Abstract
Neen describes her early childhood with an alcoholic, physically abusive mother, who allowed her men friends to sexually abuse 9-year-old Neen. Neen talks about her efforts to please and gain the love of her mother by becoming like her, i.e., engaging in a life of prostitution and drug abuse. These behaviors brought her into contact with the criminal justice system and incarceration in the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women. In prison, she was sexually and physically abused by the prison guards, and being in isolation was a common experience. There was some administration of medication, but no personal therapy. When she was not in prison, she lived homeless under a bridge for shelter. The turn-around in her life came when she received personal therapy from a mental health professional who helped her interpret and deal constructively with her childhood abuse and subsequent coping behaviors. Her gifts of communication and empathy, as well as her commitment to the type of therapy that brought her into a new life (trauma-informed therapy) led to her current role as a professional mental health provider for the Maryland Corrections System and as a speaker on trauma-informed therapy across the Nation.