August 2011 - Christopher Walker - Journal letter

Alternatives to Violence Project

Dear Friends,

I write my final journal letter in disbelief that my Peaceworker year has gone so quickly. My time working at Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), a small charity that helps people all over Britain handle conflict without using or suffering from violence, is coming to a close. With just weeks left here at AVP, I’m reluctantly tying up the ends of my projects.

Since my last journal letter, a lot has happened with my project organising AVP workshops for offenders and ex-offenders in the community. Like all AVP workshops, these 3-day experiences help participants find new ways of handling conflict and building good relationships. Participants take part in experiential group exercises, and build a trusting and supportive workshop community. However, the workshops that I have been organising for offenders and ex-offenders are also accredited by the Open College Network, so that participants can get credits towards a qualification. This means that, at the same time as building skills that help make conflict manageable, they also increase their chances of employment, a key safeguarding factor against re-conviction.

For our first workshop in April, we teamed up with a small charity providing training and support for people recently released from prison or serving sentences in the community. Having attended a series of workshops myself as a participant and recently having trained as an AVP workshop facilitator, I was able to join the facilitation team. We had an amazing three days. When the participants arrived, many were nervous and sceptical about doing ‘just another course’. Whereas some participants started out thinking the workshop wasn’t relevant to them, others having experienced violent and damaging conflicts in the past believed that they simply couldn’t be helped. As the workshop went on, the group started to relax. We persuaded the participants with exercises and discussions that everyone experiences conflict, and everyone can get better at handling it. We built a trusting community spirit by sharing personal stories of conflicts and let our guards down by playing ‘light and lively’ games. By the end of the workshop, both participants and facilitators had got a lot out of it. We had all tried out handling difficult situations in new ways by using role plays and groups exercises. We got great feedback from the participants. The organisation was excited to see our unique approach and immediately asked us to deliver more workshops. The best part was that a number of participants said they wanted to attend a Level 2 AVP workshop. Two even said they wanted to eventually train as an AVP facilitator, which they are now on course to do.

But with our excitement about delivering more workshops with this group, came bad news. A week after our workshop, the offender support charity heard that, due to government spending cuts, they had lost their statutory funding and had to close down. This meant that their clients we had gotten to know, so in need of training and support, would now receive less help and would more likely remain unemployed and commit further crime. It also meant we had to find a new partner to deliver workshops for offenders in the community.

After a lot of publicity work, we soon met up with St Mungo’s. Although, St Mungo’s is a leading provider of accommodation and support for homeless people, many of their clients also have an offending background. A recent survey found that around 50% of people attending accommodation and day-care centres for the homeless are ex-prisoners, let alone those who have served community sentences. St Mungo’s was delighted to see the offer of our workshops, reporting that training in conflict-handling skills would help many of their clients greatly. So in July, we delivered another accredited workshop for clients with offending backgrounds, and it was a success. A number of participants have already recommended it to friends and family.

In my other work, the AVP distance learning course for prisoners: ‘Facing Up to Conflict’, is nearly up and running. I have been designing this course with the help of a number of experienced AVP workshop facilitators. This course will be a free resource for prisoners to work through AVP’s ‘building blocks’ needed to handle conflict well: self-esteem and self-awareness, communication, cooperation, trust, and problem-solving. Each week the learner will explore a ‘building block’ and reflect on their own experience, and then try ‘experiments’ in handling situations well for the rest of the week. I have piloted the course with 18 prisoners over the country, who have given great feedback and ideas. By the end of August, the course pack will be printed and ready to go.

As I come towards the end of my year, I’ve had the pleasure of going to speak to a number of Quaker Meetings about the Peaceworker scheme and my work. It’s been great to meet different communities of Quakers, and I’ve been encouraged by the interest and support they’ve shown in the scheme and what AVP does. I’ve even got a few meetings to try out a few AVP workshop exercises. As I write this letter, Hannah, the Peaceworker based at the Oxford Research Group, and I are preparing for our workshop at Yearly Meeting Gathering at Canterbury. In this workshop, Hannah and I are going to explore the links between our work; Hannah’s in the international context, and mine in the interpersonal and local context. We’re going to examine how we can build a sustainable peace at all levels of society, and move beyond attempts to control your opponent in solving conflicts.

My year ‘peaceworking’ has been a fantastic experience. It’s given me valuable experience working for a small NGO and has given me the opportunity to put my commitment to the peace testimony into action. I’m extremely grateful to QPSW for giving me the opportunity and supporting me in it. Many thanks to all those who support the scheme.

In friendship,
Chris Walker

August 2011