Welcome, Chris! Could you introduce yourself and share your role with the Pen Pal Program?
Hello, I am Chris C., a crystal meth addict from San Jose, CA. For over two years, I’ve served as the PenPal Matchmaker. I am very excited to be working with two new Matchmakers, Cortlen Y, and Anthony R, who are currently being trained for the positions of PenPal Matchmakers.
Can you tell us more about the Pen Pal Program and its mission?
The CMA PenPal Program gives incarcerated individuals or patients in other facilities or institutions the opportunity to get the CMA message that recovery from crystal meth addiction is possible. CMA PenPals exchange letters to share their experience, strength, and hope with their PenPal Match. The experience of writing with a PenPal from CMA often is the only contact or interaction these folks have with a member of the CMA Program.
Here’s how it works: Folks who write in from jails, prisons, or other institutions seeking information or CMA literature are “matched” with a PenPal. The matched PenPal writes a letter to the incarcerated or institutionalized individual, sharing their story of recovery in CMA, using the CMA General Service address as the return address. Receiving PenPals send letters back to their PenPal via the CMA General Services address in Los Angeles, ensuring the PenPal’s anonymity. Ongoing H&I PenPal relationships can also turn into sponsorship by mail. The CMA Hospitals & Institutions Committee is currently working on a sponsorship-bymail program that would integrate well with the PenPal program.
How do you match individuals in institutions with those in recovery outside?
Individuals are matched with several different factors in mind. Primarily, PenPals with at least six months to a year of continuous sobriety, who have completed or are actively working the 12 Steps, are considered ideal candidates for matching. CMA PenPals carry the message that recovery from Crystal Meth addiction is possible by working the 12 Steps. Knowledge of the program and experience working the Steps is essential. Gender identity, age, and geographic location can also play a role in matching PenPals. Of course, the safety and anonymity of the CMA PenPal are extremely important to the program, and the matching process takes this into consideration. While these are often great starting points or touchstones there are other things to be considered. This is where the matchmaking comes into play. The goal is to provide the writer a PenPal they can trust and feel comfortable corresponding with and sharing their story.
If someone is interested in joining the program, where can they sign up or learn more?
They can use the following link: https://bit.ly/CMAPenPal
Once completed, their information will be added to the PenPals database. When matched, you’ll receive an email containing detailed guidelines, instructions, and correspondence from your match. At that point, you can decide whether to participate in the program.
Do you have a success story from the program that you’d like to share with us?
Any answered letter is a success, but in the few years I have been doing this, I have seen a few PenPal correspondences develop that have gone on for years. Successes also come in the form of incarcerated folks telling their friends about CMA, who then also write in for literature and PenPals. This happens frequently and is a great example of our message being carried to those who are not able to attend a meeting. Folks who have heard the message through the program and H&I in jails and institutions often show up at meetings when they are out, are also successes. Reading the letters sent to us and seeing the willingness to reach out for help, I see success. It’s a powerful sign of honesty and the beginning of working Step 1.