NCJ Number
212902
Journal
Corrections Today Magazine Volume: 67 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2005 Pages: 22-23,25
Date Published
June 2005
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article explains the "Four Steps to Emotional Healing," which have been designed and implemented by the author for the HOPE (Helping Offenders Pursue Excellence) for Life Program.
Abstract
In the HOPE Program, inmate fathers and juvenile offenders who do not know one another are brought together in a structured environment to participate in the four steps. In the first step, called "admission and grieving," participants write their autobiographies, with attention to the individuals considered responsible for them. This exercise forces participants to think about the painful experiences that have influenced their antisocial attitudes and behaviors and the impact they have had on others. The second step, called "confrontation and disclosure," assigns juvenile offenders to write letters to their real parents and other caregivers, confronting them with specific abuses they perpetrated against the juvenile. Adult inmates write their own children to assume accountability for the abuse they have inflicted on them. The letter-writing is followed by the pairing off of an adult and a juvenile. The adult reads his/her letter of accountability to the juvenile, imagining that the juvenile is his/her child, while the juvenile is instructed to imagine that the adult inmate is a parent assuming accountability for abusing the juvenile. The third step, called "forgiveness and reconciliation," is a group session that focuses on the decision to forgive and the cost of forgiveness, which involves releasing participants from the vengeance that has permeated their attitudes and behavior. The fourth step, called "restoration and healing," assumes that in the previous three steps participants have visited their past, recognized and confronted its negative impact on their lives, and committed themselves to rebuilding their lives for a better future. The implications of their emotional healing for future attitudes and behaviors in various contexts are addressed.