Here is a comment by one of our volunteers in Colorado:
April 29 2013. Denver Women’s Prison.
It was our first session of the Coaching Kids “Journey Back to Yourself” life coaching workshop for inmates in Denver Women’s Prison, headed by Reuel Hunt, Debra deVilbiss, and assisted by myself, Dido Clark. We went through the security check-in. After getting through sets of barbed wire and many secured doors we got to our classroom and settled in.
The inmates started arriving. One was in a wheelchair. The worst-case scenarios from our prison volunteer training ran through my mind. But immediately after we started I knew things were going to go well. Launching straight into the basics of listening grabbed their attention. Many of them seemed to be familiar with some of the concepts Reuel was going over. But it got better. We started practicing coaching, being coached and observing each other in groups of three. I could feel the magic happening. And it kept going. The women were fully engaged and courageous in their disclosures. Reuel and Debra held the space for this—safe, confidential, and encouraging.
I can’t wait for next week!
Dido Clark