Coaching Kids

Possibilities – Alice Coles

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I met Alice Coles at The Bigger Game Expo in May 2013 in Silver Bay, NY, along with her daughter, where they were invited by The Bigger Game as Special Guests.
The November 2003 video of Alice Coles and Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes has been seen by thousands of Bigger Game workshop participants as an example of a Bigger Game Player. She finally got to meet the Bigger Game community and we got to meet her last month at Silver Bay, NY.
Here are two links to the story:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/13/60minutes/main629384.shtml

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/26/60minutes/main585793.shtml

In short, Alice lived in the squalor community of Bayview, VA where in 1995 a 270 acre Federal Prison was planned to be built right in the middle of the community. After organizing the community, enrolling the press and politicians, and others, she won. WOW! She realized that if they could do that, what else could they do. They raised millions of dollars and rebuilt the community – with a new house for every community member – right across the street. She now is Executive Director at Bayview Citizens for Social Justice.

She agreed to update us on the rest of the story. Here is her first post as a blog here:

“My Experience at the Bigger Game Expo:
While traveling to the Bigger Game Expo, all I was envisioning was an opportunity for a get-a-way, a secluded place of natural beauty, another award of recognition and an opportunity or two to network with the possibility of receiving new ideas and funding.
Oh, my Lord; to my surprise there was an awakening for me. This great awakening was an acute awareness that jolted my perception of a Bigger Game, sparked by the impacts, lessons and shared principles learned at this powerful event and all of its attendants. This diverse group surfaced a hidden truth of creativity and design within me that began to undo the negativity of (low self esteem) thoughts I had about myself and added positive ideas that sparked a personal change within. This assembly of folks opened their hearts, shared their experiences, wisdom and talents while coaching and steering us to higher heights towards our Bigger Game. After attending this event, my life has taken a paradigm shift. EVERYTHING, the way I once knew it has shifted. This experience has caused me to re-evaluate my current life’s goal while snatching me right out of my victim mentality.

I am so proud of Rick and Chuck and I am honored to help tell the Bigger Game Story.
I have so much more to share with Rick, Chuck and others.
Alice

Our website was hacked…

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You may have noticed our Coaching Kids website was hacked, hijacked and replaced by some radicals protesting the USA and others. We have taken the site down, removed the hack and viruses and it is partially back up.

Coming next, our third week in the women’s prison was replaced by a Thank You Banquet for all the volunteers at Denver Women’s Prison.

Then a blog from the Oklahoma Women’s Prison Project and some on the Moore, OK tornado.

Then a blog from Alice Cole – a real Bigger Game Player, she was on 60 minutes 19 years ago, where is she now, we met at the Bigger Game Expo in NY two weeks ago, and we will be posting her first blogs here…more to come.

Tonight we go back into the Denver Women’s Prison for our third class…

Thanks,
Reuel

Second day in Denver Women’s Prison – 2nd volunteer post…

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Another volunteer post…
Reuel

Day 2 of the Prison Project was more relaxed than day 1. Part of being more relaxed was the familiarity of the surroundings, but another part was the enthusiasm of the participants. From 10 in the first class to 6 in the second, I know that we have the core group right now.

We had an additional person join us, and the ladies from the first class taught her everything she needed to know. The group covered powerful questions and listening skills concisely and with clear understanding, and I was in the coaching triad with the new person and I saw that she jumped right in to try everything out. It was great.

The ladies shared that they had been talking about the class to their peers and trying out their new skills. (more more!!) It is clear to me that they are “getting” that this is not just another class, this is a place where they can try out new skills and embody them, then take them into the world and change things. Change their perception and change their experience of the world. And they can impact others in their world as well.

We could not be doing more meaningful work.

Debra DeVilbiss PCC
http://www.forwardmomentum.com

Our second evening of Journey Back to Yourself.

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May 7th 2013.

Our second evening of Journey Back to Yourself. It began well and started to bubble with the energy of sharing insights and practicing skills. As things went along, things really started cooking. Somehow everyone knew that this plain, overly hot classroom had become a small oasis of safety and support for those two hours. Prison slipped away for that slice of time, whether we were inmates or volunteers.

We had a new woman in the group, who was updated on what she had missed the previous week by the other women—levels of listening and coaching triads. We did some more coaching in triads and then looked at values. That really opened up an uplifting train of thought. As the weeks unfold I know that we will be looking at the gap between our values and our lives, then taking steps to be accountable for action steps towards fully living our values. Can’t wait for the next session!
Dido

A Journey Back to Yourself – Co-Active Life Coaching Skills Training in Prisons.

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Our first workshop in Denver Women’s Correctional Facility in almost 4 years was last Tuesday night, with our new streamlined upgraded program – coaching skills for mothers, also titled “Journey Back to Yourself – Co-Active Life Coaching Skills Workshops”. There were only 10 female inmates in the program and three of us, and they were amazing – so engaged, participative, open, and teachable & coachable – and in just two hours, great little coaches, two of the volunteers got some great coaching from the inmates. We walked out of prison with our heads held high, proud, grateful and fulfilled. We interviewed 22, selected 15, and 10 showed up the first night – every Tuesday for 12 weeks…

Our work in the Oklahoma Women’s prison is very different than our work in Colorado prisons. I think most of it is due to the very different cultures in the two states. And, I get a look at the two cultures from the bowels of each state’s humanity – mothers in prison, without their children. Some whose children were murdered by the men in their lives, for which they are serving prison time. Oklahoma is one of the most conservative states and Colorado has legalized growing and smoking of marijuana and legalized same sex ‘union’, as of last week. This blog will be about the work we are doing in the two states women’s prisons, though it will not be focused on the culture differences, that will be noticeable. I notice the big difference, in the female inmates, and in the volunteers.