Workshops We Offer

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STEP BY STEP WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

Our workshops are designed to offer women in prison a structured environment for learning and self reflection. Most women in prison have been told from earliest childhood that they are no good. This has been an overt message for some, and for others it has been told by their being abandoned, rejected, abused and/or neglected as children and as adults. They want to make sense of their having survived so long and through so much violence and give meaning to the rest of their lives. Being in a workshop focused on naming their gifts and strengths gives them the opportunity to begin to believe in themselves and to claim the power to rewrite their stories by both facing the pain of their lives and celebrating themselves.

228 South Plymouth Avenue

Rochester, NY 14608

Phone (585) 224-0763

Fax (585) 288-8026

info@stepbysteprochester.org

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Our current 8-week workshop:

LIVE YOUR DREAMS

Women name a dream they have had and the fears that keep them from realizing this dream. They name steps to overcome these fears. At the end of the workshop, each woman is given a picture of a rainbow on which are written the strengths that have been named in the course of the workshop. In the picture is a cloud on which is written the fears she has named. A pot of gold sits at the end of the rainbow, symbolizing the dream she has named.

Workshops for specialized circumstances:

GIFT GIVING

Gift Giving is offered in December, focusing on the meaning of a gift coming from the intention of the giver, not the price. The women choose a person who has been important in their lives and write a poem for this person that they enclose in a card they have decorated.

LET YOUR LIFE SHINE

Women reflect on the negative images we hold of ourselves, how these images developed and the tools for overcoming these negative images. In the first session, each woman makes a cardboard puppet of herself and in the ensuing weeks, as images of self are named, colored dots symbolizing these images are placed on the puppets. In the last session, strengths that have surfaced are placed on the puppets over the images.

CLAIMING THE POWER OF OUR VOICES

This program helps women to experience and learn the power of raising their voices for justice by learning about other women who have done this. They study women of the Civil Rights Movement and the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo who have fought against violence and for justice. The women study violence in our society and make plans for raising their voices against it.

WOMEN BRAVE

Is based on a book named ‘Women Brave in the Face of Danger’ that celebrates the lives of women in Latin America. The workshop looks at the lives of various women who can teach us how to live ‘brave’ by their example. These women serve as role models for facing fears and overcoming obstacles.

THE TREE

Involves reading the book ‘The Tree That Survived the Winter’ each week and applying that story to the their own lives. Questions explored include: What have I survived? Who has helped me through the winters of my life? How has my family tree influenced my life?

TAMING THE LION

Teaches us how to deal with the difficult people in our lives including ourselves. It focuses on learning that the difficult relationships we have begin with our own actions and attitudes, not the faults of other people. We have drawn many of the exercises from the book ‘LionTaming:Dealing with the Difficult People in Our Lives.

MOTHERING FROM PRISON

This program is a 22 session workshop offered twice a week at Albion Correctional Facility. It covers topics like: my experiences as a child and how they relate to my role as mother; how children develop; what are effective means of discipline; how can I parent from prison?

The objectives of this workshop are to increase the women’s knowledge of:

· Child development.

· Difference between punishment and discipline.

· Methods of discipline.

· Issues for children of having an incarcerated mother

· Issues on reintegrating into the family

· Re-enforcement of the learning from each class

Because the majority of women in prison have had poor parenting, including abuse, alcoholism and neglect in their own childhoods, we have designed the first module to help them deal with and begin to heal the pain of their childhood experiences. Then they are ready to develop the skills to become better parents to their own children. By participation in the workshop, women can learn good parenting skills and begin to use them with their children while still incarcerated. This will lead to increased knowledge about child development and effective discipline, more frequent visits, a smoother reentry into the family upon release, and links to community services for ongoing support.