Since 2021, New Zealand prisons have been providing copies of the book She Is Not Your Rehab to all male inmates in the system. It’s part of an anti-violence movement to encourage men to break cycles of behaviour, take responsibility for their choices, and heal themselves.
She Is Not Your Rehab is published by Penguin Random House, and written by Mataio (Matt) Brown with his wife, Sarah Brown. When the book launched in 2021, the duo raised enough money to purchase over 10,000 copies to give to every man behind bars across Aotearoa.
In this book, Matt shares stories from his barbershop—My Fathers Barbers—a safe space he’s created for men to get a haircut and tell their story, free from any judgment. These stories include tales about how they’ve survived family violence, and abuse, as well as how they turned their life around and healed.
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If you’ve got an interest in the prison system and prisoner reintegration, studying a Master of Counselling, or working in the field of psychology—this book is a must-read.
In May, Matt and Sarah Brown, will visit the Brisbane Correctional Centre as well as the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre. The couple will be providing 500 copies of their book to Australian inmates in Queensland.
Australia is currently facing a problem with recidivism, with the country having one of the highest reoffending rates in the world. For example, in Victoria, 37.0% of prisoners released during 2019-2020 returned to prison within two years.
Compared to the other states in Australia, Queensland had 42.2% of prisoners released during 2019-2020 return within two years. This is almost half of all the prisoners released within those years.
Specifically for violent offenders, research supervised by the Victorian Department of Community Welfare Services and the Australian Institute of Criminology has proven that they have a high recidivism rate.
A study by the Sentencing Advisory Council also found that people who breach family violence intervention orders are also more likely to reoffend than the general criminal populace. People sentenced for breaching a family violence order had a five-year reoffending rate of 53%.
Statistics have shown time and time again throughout Australia that there is a clear issue with family violence and domestic violence—so where do we start with prevention?
She Is Not Your Rehab is just one of many anti-violence movements in Australia, hoping to assist with domestic violence. Another huge domestic violence advocate making a difference along with Matt and Sarah Brown include Shaan Ross-Smith.
Shaan Ross-Smith has spent the past 15 years of her career working in Australian prison systems—concluding that more could be done. She believes that changes and improvements need to happen within the system to help prevent domestic violence and abuse.
Ms Ross-Smith now heads the MATE program, which is a project run by Griffith University in Queensland. MATE was created as a research and prevention program in response to the alarmingly high numbers of domestic violence and recidivism in Australia.
Ross-Smith played a major part in the decision to bring the New Zealand initiative started by Matt and Sarah Brown over to Australia. She saw the impact their book had on prisoners in New Zealand, and saw it as an opportunity to test it out here—leading to the partnership between MATE and She Is Not Your Rehab.
Data from the Queensland Police show that within the 2022-2023 financial year alone, domestic and family-related homicides rose by 50% in the state. This is a terrifying figure—and if people can’t feel safe in their own homes, where can they find sanctuary?
While the results from providing male prisoners in New Zealand with She Is Not Your Rehab is anecdotal at this stage—Matt Brown has said he’s received countless letters from inmates and their family members thanking him.
She Is Not Your Rehab is providing the prisoners with the tools and language to recognise where their behaviour might stem from, for instance, childhood trauma. This also allows them to begin the process to start healing, and find the right resources for it.
If the prisoners can understand and gain perspective on why they did the behaviour that landed them in prison—it might help them with rehabilitation, and lower recidivism.
While She Is Not Your Rehab isn’t a complete fix-all, it is an amazing start for both, New Zealand and Australia. The impact that this one book has had on its own is remarkable. It also goes to show a clear flaw in the respective countries’ prison systems, and how important mental health books and support are for the inmates.
The MATE program—Motivating Action Through Empowerment—has been developed over two decades, aiming to help increase awareness of domestic violence and abuse. Partnering with She Is Not Your Rehab is just one of the few ways the program is looking to change Australia for the better.
