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chaplain’s corner

Greetings to My AJA Family

It is truly a pleasure Stay Mindful Many of us already know
and honor to serve as As jail professionals, we are how to focus on our physi-
your chaplain under the already leaders in our com- cal health, so I don’t need to
leadership of President munities, yet there are so many discuss that here. However, we
Amanda Lambert. I also aspects that can create unique often neglect our emotional and
had the distinct honor of opportunities to serve further. spiritual health.
serving you as a mem- With the ever-changing land-
ber of the JMCC and the scape of corrections, I want to Spiritual Health
Board of Directors. encourage each one of you to Our emotional and spiri-
Shane Dotson, MS, CCE tual health are interconnected.
As we celebrate our remember the focal point of
40th anniversary in serving what we have been called to These two components rely on
local jails, I cannot help but do: to provide a safe and secure each other in order to give us
reflect on the impact AJA has environment for staff, volun- an overall healthy life in both
had on the landscape of correc- teers, visitors, and inmates. our professional and personal
lives.
tions over the last 40 years. With the law enforcement
community currently under I believe it is important to
the microscope, it is important spend time daily focusing on
that we stay mindful of our all three areas of our lives. If we
... spiritual well-being calling. I realize that despite the can balance those three parts of

unique challenges we tackle our health, then we can con-
is critical to our each and every day, we are tinue to serve our communities

success both inside constantly striving to serve the with exceptional service. AJA
has been the leader in serv-
absolute best way we know
and outside the jail. how. Therefore, as we continue ing both our agencies and jail
professionals by focusing on
to provide, I feel there are three
important components that we
need to focus on each day:

• our physical health,
• our emotional health, and
• our spiritual health.

70 | MAY | JUNE 2021 AMERICANJails