• join us
    • get involved
    • workshops >
      • in-person council workshops
      • online offerings
    • trainings for organizations
    • certification and standards
    • subscribe
    • contact
  • our programs
    • law enforcement agencies >
      • POWER training >
        • lapd officers discuss power
        • LEMWHA Grant
      • cops & communities
    • incarcerated and system-impacted individuals >
      • council for insight, compassion, resilience
      • council reentry program
      • get a copy of leaving prison behind
      • system-impacted individuals
    • organizations >
      • organizational wellness project
    • council training for mental health professionals
    • healthcare professionals
    • educators
    • community leaders >
      • trainer leadership initiative
    • public council training workshops
  • what we do
    • what is council?
    • origins of council
    • why council
    • FAQ
  • who we are
    • our team
    • our new book
    • our supporters >
      • awards and associations
    • news and stories >
      • the power of story
      • council in session
      • recovering compassion
      • story archive
    • voices from council
  • donate
Center for Council
  • join us
    • get involved
    • workshops >
      • in-person council workshops
      • online offerings
    • trainings for organizations
    • certification and standards
    • subscribe
    • contact
  • our programs
    • law enforcement agencies >
      • POWER training >
        • lapd officers discuss power
        • LEMWHA Grant
      • cops & communities
    • incarcerated and system-impacted individuals >
      • council for insight, compassion, resilience
      • council reentry program
      • get a copy of leaving prison behind
      • system-impacted individuals
    • organizations >
      • organizational wellness project
    • council training for mental health professionals
    • healthcare professionals
    • educators
    • community leaders >
      • trainer leadership initiative
    • public council training workshops
  • what we do
    • what is council?
    • origins of council
    • why council
    • FAQ
  • who we are
    • our team
    • our new book
    • our supporters >
      • awards and associations
    • news and stories >
      • the power of story
      • council in session
      • recovering compassion
      • story archive
    • voices from council
  • donate

council for insight, compassion
& resilience

Read the feature in Corrections Today
download program info sheet

​The Council for Insight, Compassion & Resilience (formerly the Inmate Council Program) is a six-month intervention where participating incarcerated individuals are trained to facilitate council sessions for their peers, empowering them to become positive agents of change, on the yard, and in their lives. The program contributes to a shift of culture within jails and prisons and equips participants with tools for successful reentry and reintegration into their communities upon release. After the successful 2013 launch of the program at Salinas Valley State Prison, the program has now grown to 28 California prisons and received 2020’s “Innovation in Corrections" award from the American Correctional Association.

CICR’s pedagogy is based on restorative justice principles, focusing on taking responsibility for past behavior and the harm caused to victims, to others who have been impacted (friends, family, community) and passed down through generations.
Watch the video above to learn more about the program
~~~~
New videos that introduce and promote the program for
participants in jails and prisons can be found here
CICR tracks the building blocks that lead from self-awareness and empathy to insight into impact on victims and others, laying the groundwork for a transformative journey of rehabilitation and for stepping into a positive, productive next chapter. CICR focuses on cultivating greater understanding of self, environment and networks of relationships, as well as insight into cause-and-effect and the unique perspectives of those impacted by harmful actions. It guides participants to develop greater self-regulation, emotional intelligence, and accountability.

Research has shown that an effective way to foster insight into victim impact and lasting behavioral change is by focusing on emotional intelligence, as well as teaching skills that develop attention, insight, and the ability to sense one’s own physical, emotional, and mental suffering, as a precursor to sensing the same in others. Breakthroughs in neuroscientific research have demonstrated that empathy for others develops as a result of first becoming aware of one’s own physical, emotional and mental states, and that there are trainable building blocks that can develop this capacity. 

When individuals are trained in practices like council, they gain a greater ability to sense and understand others' distress. Our methodology is designed to activate the parasympathetic nervous system (which fosters better listening and learning), increase dendritic connections in neural pathways (which builds capacity for empathy for ourselves and others simultaneously), and induce coherence in heart rate variability (which supports prosocial understanding and behavior). Learning the techniques and practices taught in CICR creates the physiological conditions that prime participants for developing greater self-awareness, compassion and insight into the impact of their actions.

​
For more detail about the Council for Insight, Compassion & Resilience, download the program overview, or contact us.

our impact:
​
28
california state prisons

4100
incarcerated program participants

2020
American Correctional Association
"Innovations in Corrections" Award

Support this program by donating today
download one-page info sheet on cicr

video testimonials

Meet Joseph
Meet Mitch
Meet Juan
Meet Anival
watch more videos

research

Independent program evaluation of the Council for Insight, Compassion & Resilience (CICR) conducted by researchers from the University of California and the RAND Corporation revealed significant positive outcomes in the following areas:
​
  • Reductions in physical aggression
  • Reductions in verbal aggression
  • Reductions in anger
  • Reductions in hostility
  • Reductions in PTSD symptoms
  • Improvements in mindfulness
  • Increases in empathy
  • Increases in resilience
  • Increases in sense of connectedness with others
  • Improvements in mental health​

A 2019 evaluation report on the CICR program conducted by
Dr. Stacy Calhoun and her team at UCLA may be found here.

Dr. Calhoun's 2022 Process and Fidelity Report on the CICR program at Chuckawalla Valley State Prison may be found here. 

On April 4, 2018, Center for Council was asked to present an outline of its evaluation program and preliminary findings to the California Rehabilitative Oversight Board; view more information on that presentation here.
Picture
Picture

sites throughout the state


Center for Council has implemented the Council for Insight, Compassion & Resilience in 27 prison facilities operated by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The majority of the programs began as a result of the Innovative Grant Program, which was established in 2015 by CDCR to "support and advance inmate rehabilitation efforts and increase volunteerism in prisons across the state."

We are also grateful for funding that has come through private sources (including the JIB Fund Community Building Initiative), supplementing the state-funded programs and enabling us to expand the reach of the program to several additional facilities.
read more testimonials
Picture

About

home
center for council
what is council?
FAQ

Support

donate
get involved
contact
subscribe

Connect

Center for Council is a project of Community Partners
© 2014-23 Center for Council. All rights reserved.
  • join us
    • get involved
    • workshops >
      • in-person council workshops
      • online offerings
    • trainings for organizations
    • certification and standards
    • subscribe
    • contact
  • our programs
    • law enforcement agencies >
      • POWER training >
        • lapd officers discuss power
        • LEMWHA Grant
      • cops & communities
    • incarcerated and system-impacted individuals >
      • council for insight, compassion, resilience
      • council reentry program
      • get a copy of leaving prison behind
      • system-impacted individuals
    • organizations >
      • organizational wellness project
    • council training for mental health professionals
    • healthcare professionals
    • educators
    • community leaders >
      • trainer leadership initiative
    • public council training workshops
  • what we do
    • what is council?
    • origins of council
    • why council
    • FAQ
  • who we are
    • our team
    • our new book
    • our supporters >
      • awards and associations
    • news and stories >
      • the power of story
      • council in session
      • recovering compassion
      • story archive
    • voices from council
  • donate