Meet the CSC Team: Liz Alameda's Story

by Liz Alameda, CSC Finance Manager

Liz Alameda

I was employed for 25 years with the Santa Clara County Probation Department in Juvenile Hall with offenders sometimes as young as 11 years of age. My time as a supervisor was to monitor the contractors who came to deliver services to our incarcerated juveniles. One of those contractors was The Department of Alcohol and Drugs, 3 Principles division. They delivered Three Principle training to a selected group of juveniles.

At this particular time, I was also responsible for what is known as the 707B offenders, juveniles who have committed adult crimes. This population, if found guilty, was headed for some serious time in custody, up to double life, in some cases. Imagine a “double life” sentence at the age of 16.

After a trial, it was procedure to place inmates returning from court on a suicide watch where they were monitored every 5 or every 15 minutes.

I began to notice that juveniles who had participated in the 3 Principles group were removed from their suicide watch sooner than those who hadn’t. That really surprised me, and I got very curious. Eventually, administration sent me and another supervisor to 3 Principles training.

My life changed in two ways after that. First, I began to see the minors in custody, not the crime. I have to admit, prior to understanding the 3 Principles, I could view some inmates with compassion, but others, especially those who had committed crimes against children, I could not. If a certain inmate asked for an extra blanket, I could refuse to provide one, for example. When I began to understand that my thoughts and feelings come from me, not from someone else’s actions, I began to soften towards these youth. And I believe that to be effective when working with those who are incarcerated, or anyone, you have to see the person, not the crime, or the behavior. Behavior is a symptom of our thinking. I know that now.

The second realization that occurred for me was that, despite my appearance of success – I had a big house, a husband, two children, and a good job – I was not having fun. My quality of life was poor. Today, I would say I was sick, because I had twisted thinking. If someone “pissed me off,” I placed the blame for my stress, my bad mood and my behavior on them, instead of understanding where all my stress was really coming from – my own thinking.

I decided to take early retirement from the County and focus on having more fun and improving my community. These days, I work as an independent 3 Principles trainer with groups of both male and female perpetrators and victims of domestic violence in my town of Hollister, CA. I had known Gabriela Maldonado-Montano for a long time, and when she told me earlier this year that the Center for Sustainable Change needed help with bookkeeping, I offered to take on the job. I keep the finances in order, and I teach online courses through CSC.

Someone recently asked me why I don’t watch the news more often and become better informed about the issues of the day. I said, “I don’t sit and watch the news. When I sit in my living room, I think about how I can help my community, and when I walk out that door, that’s what I’m doing.”