Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
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NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 68 MARCH 2020 I N - D E P T H PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF SELF ESTEEM BOSTON Having good self-esteem isn't always easy, but when it's completely missing, it can be nearly impossible to change your life for the better. "When you're sitting in jail, it's really hard to have good self-esteem," says Deborah Linett, interim director of Head Start in Haverhill. Self-esteem is required to believe oneself capable and worthy of change. That's where the nonprofit Self Esteem Boston comes in, by helping people—especially women—develop the self-esteem they need to get them through some of the hardest times in their lives. There's a huge system that exists to help people remake their lives after abuse, drugs, ad- Self Esteem Boston helps women find their value. BY ALEX ANDRA PECCI WORTHY CAUSE diction, or prison. There are recovery programs for alcohol and drug addiction, rehab centers, transitional programs, shelters, domestic violence resources, homelessness help, and programs that prepare people for leaving jail. But Self Esteem Boston executive director Marion B. Davis says what's often missing from all these forms of support is a self- esteem program. If someone doesn't believe they are capable or worthy of success, how can they achieve it? "Self-esteem is not just a necessary part of recovery; it's a necessary part of life," Davis says. "We see it as two components: believing that you're worthy and [having] the confidence to do the things you need in your life, like paying your bills." Self Esteem Boston partners with community agencies throughout the region to both directly train clients in need and also provide training programs for staff within those agencies. "We provide a service that doesn't exist in the system," Davis says. "We are a small nonprofit that does a huge amount of work." The training and educational programs cover a wide range of topics and are of- fered in a number of formats and modules. For instance, the "Keeping it Real" program CONTACT selfesteemboston.com provides nutrition, wellness, and self-esteem tools and knowledge, and the "You're Worth It" program provides job-readiness skills for women in transitional programs. Still other programs are longer and more in-depth. In addition to partnering with community agencies to work directly with clients, Self Esteem Boston also works with the staff of those agencies and trains them to facilitate the self-esteem programs themselves. YWCA Northeastern Massachusetts, for expample, takes advantage of that training. "We send as many staff as possible," says executive director Susan Staples. "Every time they offer a new workshop, we send staff, as many staff as they have slots for." Head Start's Linett is also a trained facilita- tor, and has seen firsthand how the program helps clients. "I think the curriculum is bril- liant and the women respond to it," she says. Often, women who are in recovery or about to leave incarceration are "constantly thinking about all the disappointment and hurt they've caused their families," Linett says, making it hard to move forward. The Self Esteem Boston programs can help them remember a time that they experienced a sense of achievement; maybe they were a member of a championship cheerleading team or were a good friend to someone in need. "It gets them to travel to a place when they're successful. We rediscover those mo- ments of success [and] hold that feeling of success," she explains. The program also teaches women to focus on the things they're good at and small victories that prove they're capable of bigger ones. Linett remembers one client who was great at organizing and was able to successfully reorganize the meal service at the prison. "They have things they need to make amends; they have value. Each and every one of them does," she says. "I get them to remember that, and remind them that that person is still there." Self Esteem Boston also works with the Essex County Sheriff 's Department's Women In Transition (WIT), a minimum-security and pre-release facility in Salisbury for women with drug and alcohol addictions. Self Esteem Boston programs help empower women who have lived through difficult experiences such as incarceration and drug addiction.