By Mikayla Aubry
A year ago, I began interning at A Curiae, and as I close this chapter of my life, Wyatt asked me to write about my experience, challenges, and knowledge gathered. I found this task to be more daunting than some of the literature reviews I wrote in my Master of Public Health (MPH) program. How do I put into words the growth both professionally and ideologically that I have experienced during this past year?
I started this internship with no criminal justice experience neither professionally nor personally. All my knowledge of the judicial system was from my 12th-grade government class which I could have probably paid closer attention to. However, Wyatt had a dream, an idea of what the collaborative court could be in partnership with public health. He can see the common goal between the two professions and how this partnership can better serve our justice-involved population. By the end of our first meeting, I was hooked. I could feel the passion and potential of A Curiae, even through a Zoom meeting, and I couldn’t wait to help in the pursuit of that dream.
In the beginning, I was a fish out of water. I am sure Wyatt got tired of me asking the same questions over and over again as I tried to figure out the inner workings of the federal collaborative court system. Once I learned about the work these therapeutic courts were doing, I struggled to understand why anyone wouldn’t full-heartedly support it. Why is there pushback? Why does not every person have access to this? Why would this program not always work? After a year, I still have a debate in my head about those same questions, but one of the many things this internship taught me is the importance of gathering and truly listening to your stakeholders. All of them. The ones for it, against it, neutral, and ones not even aware they are a stakeholder. Their voice, opinion, and experience all matter and should be understood and taken into consideration, especially when you don’t agree.
In the second half of my internship, I finally found what felt like my holy grail, All Rise’s “Adult Treatment Court Best Practice Standards”. Within that massive body of research, I found an answer to what I can bring to the table. I was searching for something that the collaborative courts and public health could both understand and use to support the justice-involved population. They recommend the use of a recovery capital assessment tool which will aid and guide clients in rebuilding themselves, relationships, and environments to support their reintegration back into society and desistance from criminal behavior. This would not only help in identifying areas of support and need during the collaborative court program, but it can also assist in the handoff to public health professionals to understand the needs and resources of this community and individual to have long-term success.
After many meetings, discussions, hundreds of pages of research, and a half-baked plan that was scrapped, we finally had an assessment tool that can be tailored to the A Curiae client. I had never developed a program before, and going through that process with such supportive, inquisitive, and client-centered mentors, Jenee and Wyatt, was incredibly beneficial and insightful for me. I am so glad I was able to be a part of the development and implementation of their recovery capital assessment tool, and I am truly proud of the work we were able to do.
As I am closing this chapter, A Curiae’s next MPH intern will be stepping into the role, and I am excited to see what she can do with this continued partnership between Public Health and A Curiae. I have learned and grown a lot through this experience, and my biggest takeaway from this internship is the importance of breaking down walls between professionals.
Even though criminal justice professionals and public health professionals seem to be from different worlds and ideologies, we both serve people and want to see our clients thrive. How we can support one another in that pursuit should be the focus of many more partnerships down the road. I hope that one day in my future career, I will be able to further help support A Curiae in pursuit of that dream.
