Council in Prisons
Center for Council has been introduced to 22 prisons in California.
The impact is best explained by the inmates themselves.
The impact is best explained by the inmates themselves.
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Former Prison Warden Randy Grounds took a risk by introducing Council to his leadership staff, and then supporting it's introduction to inmates. The results of this risky choice have been stunning and have helped create more positive culture in Soledad, as well as in prisons throughout California. In this clip from a recent symposium, the former warden and a former inmate exchange thoughts on the power and impact of Council in very different sectors of a complex and often dehumanizing system.
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Bearing Witness to Suffering:
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Turning toward suffering can take many forms. As a practice, it can seem counterintuitive and, to be wholesome, it demands skillful means, deep fortitude and compassion. For over twenty years, Zen Peacemakers International has led "Bearing Witness Retreats" to places of great historic suffering. Council practice anchors these plunges into Not-Knowing, Bearing Witness and Compassionate Action.
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In partnership with Zen Peacemakers, Center for Council organizes daily small group Councils and nightly large Councils at these retreats to support participants' experience of being with the stories of the place (Auschwitz, Rwanda, Pine Ridge), how it speaks to us and what arises in us. This clip is from a Dutch documentary that chronicled the 2016 Bearing Witness Retreat to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The suffering of the Bosnian people is deep and profound and the events of twenty years ago are still tender and uncomfortable. So much there has gone unaddressed, unrestored, unmet… and a deep and embodied experience of coming together to witness, grieve, release, celebrate in Council was a transformative experience for many.
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Transformative Programming
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Through a variety of programs offered within the criminal justice system, through community-based organizations, and in numerous other community settings, Center for Council has become a recognized leader in providing grassroots resources for diffusing conflict and building community.
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Participants from the 2016 Social Justice Council Project Talk about Council's Impact on Their Organizations |
At the end of Center for Council's second Social Justice Council Project, members from the 20 participating non-profit organizations came together to celebrate their collective achievement in completing the program. Center for Council interviewed participants in the Social Justice Council Project to talk about the impact that the Council practice has had among their organizational staff and how it has affected the work they do with communities across Southern California.
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Watch More Stories of the Impact
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Joseph"I recognized a need for a change, a need to give back."
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Aniva"It's made me feel more human."
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Mitch"I learned how to feel someone's story..."
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Juan"I can listen to someone, even though
I don't agree with what they believe." |
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