Over the past 25 years, Houses of Healing has transformed the face of programming in jails and prisons across all 50 states. Houses of Healing is a trauma informed, mindfulness based, cognitive behavioral curriculum designed to equip incarcerated individuals with greater self awareness while increasing their capacity to manage difficult emotions.
Through the use of research driven approaches to behavior change, and the inspiration derived from first hand accounts of other incarcerated persons, the Houses of Healing Program has been widely embraced by both jail and prison staff and incarcerated men and women. Houses of Healing offers evidenced based, high impact strategies to help participants learn effective skills to regulate difficult emotions, reduce the stress of prison, and manage conflict in healthy ways. In addition to guiding participants through the process of taking responsibility for offending behavior, the program highlights the necessity of self-forgiveness and the forgiveness of others – subjects that are often overlooked and misunderstood despite their well documented link to the cultivation of empathy and emotional maturity.
Estimated time to complete: 25 - 30
Courses: 1
Languages Available: English
The Houses of Healing Program is a powerful 13-session social emotional learning (SEL) curriculum created specifically to address prisoner rehabilitation. The centerpiece of the program is the book, Houses of Healing: A Prisoners Guide to Inner Power and Freedom, designed to offer skillful guidance and equip prisoners with the tools to effectively manage difficult emotions, take stock of and heal the unresolved trauma that often plays a role in propelling criminal behavior, take responsibility for offending behavior, and change life-long patterns of violence and addiction.
Using a proven combination of bibliotherapy, mindfulness based techniques, and cognitive behavioral skills, Houses of Healing (HOH) provides a path to behavioral change, dignity, and respect for oneself and for others. Prisoners learn evidence based skills to cope with the stress of incarceration, manage conflict in healthy ways, and reduce recidivism. The program also addresses many of the issues that lead to an individual’s incarceration including the lasting impact of early childhood trauma and the legacies of intergenerational abuse, incarceration, and substance use.
More than 170,000 copies of the book, Houses of Healing, have been distributed in state and federal prisons as well as larger county jails nationwide with approximately half of these distributed free of charge. Programs based on Houses of Healing have been the centerpiece of five “Innovative Grant” programs serving more than 1,000 incarcerated men in the CA Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation over the past five years. Prison inmates and staff nationwide praise the power of Houses of Healing which has transformed the face of programming in hundreds of prisons and has been a cornerstone of jail and prison programs.
Practice stress-management techniques, including meditation
Learn how to see challenging situations in a more empowering way
Change and heal patterns of violence and addiction
Heal from trauma
Transform anger, resentment, and unhealthy guilt and shame
Learn how to forgive yourself and others
Heal sadness and grief
Take responsibility for offending behavior in a way that feels truly liberating
Nurture your spiritual growth
Manage your emotions (rather than being ruled by them)
Exercise new levels of choice and control over your life
Find a greater sense of hopefulness and possibilities for your future even while in jail or prison – regardless of the length of your sentence.