Overview: Fundamental Social Skills

This curriculum is intended to begin the introspective process of examining how  current social skills (or lack thereof) were formed and developed in the context of  the social environment during formative years.

Personal history of family/significant others is a critical determinant for the behavior patterns and belief systems that are shaped in every individual.  In these sessions, participants begin the process of identifying role models, teachers and influences both positive and negative.  The intention is not to excuse present behavior or choices, but to initiate the process of bringing to consciousness the factors that influence decision-making.  Participants engage in a variety of exercises and groups that focus and identify their responses to different social situations, the kinds of associations they have made and maintained, and the “messages” they have received. 

The work done by Rene Spitz powerfully depicts the influence of abandonment
on the social development of children.  This is particularly reflective of the experience of many convicts.  By making conscious the impact of abandonment, students can put into context the source of some of their negative social skills,
and can begin to assess their own behaviors towards their own children, siblings, or those they have influenced by inducting them into the world of addiction and criminality. 

The theme throughout these modules is that each person becomes a composite
of the social influences around them.  Individuals have the ability to embrace or reject patterns of behaviors handed down to them, but only after they identify them.  The intent is to introduce students to the concept that it is within their control to make choices that will positively alter the influences they are having
on younger generations.

Overview: Conflict Resolution

This curriculum develops the theme of emotional reflexes that result from stress and conflict.  The material is divided into two parts: 1) Conflict and violation, and 2) Reconciliation and restoration.  Students identify situations in which they have developed conditioned responses to stress and focus on their ability to honestly articulate them.  Exercises are provided regarding honesty as a prerequisite to truthfully examining personal violation of others.  Letters from TC graduates are presented and discussed, and participants write their own letters of conflict to those who have created conflict for them, and to those for whom they have created conflict.  (NOTE: This is a class exercise.  These letters are not mailed.)  Students examine their personal history of validation and also their ability to validate others.  Students engage in exercises that promote development of mediation and validation skills within their class.

The material in this unit emphasizes modalities commonly used in the therapeutic community.  Drill questions, encounter groups, and personal introspection followed by articulation to a trusted group are just a few of the standard TC teaching tools.  These are methods that participants will likely encounter in subsequent TC’s, whether they are in incarcerated settings or in community-based settings. 

The participant is exposed to a wide range of tools that can help him minimize the conflict-creating behaviors in his life, and resolve the conflict that exists for him.  By helping participants resolve areas of conflict, the Therapeutic Community provides a mechanism for introducing restorative justice into the criminal justice system. 

Overview: Personal Moral Development

Since the 1970s, “best practices” in the Therapeutic Community have been viewed as setting the stage for the conditions for personal moral development. The TC provides a setting in which there are credible role models, sustained responsibility, possibilities for role development, and teachers who teach in a manner that is accessible to participants (peer mentors). In these tasks, participants are introduced to the basic conditions that social scientists agree must be present in order for moral development to occur. Students engage in assignments and groups in which they personalize past behaviors and articulate new behaviors they need to develop. A distinction is made between “feeling sorry for oneself” and being truly remorseful for ones actions through the use of TC Ceremony. In the final task, each student is responsible for presenting their “blueprint” for personal moral development, should they be fortunate enough to gain entrance to an in-prison Therapeutic Community.

Students are presented information through PowerPoint presentations, peer mentoring, peer seminars, and the use of DVD media. The first DVD, Hasten Slowly: The Life Story of Sir Laurens Van Der Post, is a documentary depicting the organization of a prison school with one thousand detainees in a Japanese Prison Camp. Students have to identify the principles of moral development at work in the documentary. The second DVD is a TC training video with a TC Practitioner giving a seminar on the TC as a school for moral development. Interspersed in the seminar are insights of a racially diverse group of TC participants articulating how they have used these principles in their own lives, as well as to help in the lives of others.