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Beyond Violence+. A Prevention Program for Justice-Involved Women and Gender-Diverse People, Participant's Workbook. Edition No. 2

  • Book

  • 368 Pages
  • June 2025
  • John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • ID: 6006518
A gender-responsive, trauma-informed path forward for incarcerated women

Beyond Violence: A Prevention Program for Criminal Justice-Involved Women is a comprehensive, evidence-based program specifically designed to meet the unique needs of women in correctional settings who have committed a violent crime. In 20 carefully designed sessions, it identifies personal factors correlated with violence, examines the importance of relationships, and explores how violence can manifest in various settings. This package includes both a step-by-step Facilitator Guide and a Participant Workbook. Beyond Violence encourages active participation, leading women to a deeper understanding of violence and of themselves.

Author Stephanie Covington is nationally recognized for her expertise in creating, implementing, and facilitating women's treatment programs. In Beyond Violence, she offers counselors, mental health professionals, and program administrators the tools they need to implement this respected program within the criminal justice system. Participants will: - Understand the relationships between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors - with a focus on anger and violence - Learn new skills, including communication, conflict resolution, decision making, and calming soothing techniques - Discover the effects of our families, our relationships, communities, and the larger society on our lives - Become part of a group of women working to create a less violent world.

The Facilitator's Guide contains the theory, structure, and content needed to run effective groups. The Participant's Workbook is designed so that women can process, record, and refer back to their therapeutic experience.

Table of Contents

Orientation Session 1

Introduction to the Program 1

Overview of the Program 3

Your Workbook 3

Group Introductions 4

Topics Covered in This Program 5

Group Agreements 5

Our Group Agreements 6

Triggers and Coping Tools 7

Five Senses 8

Breathing and Exhaling 8

Statistics on Violence in the United States 9

Definition of Violence 12

The Social- Ecological Model (People in the Environment) 13

Creating a Container 18

My Container 19

Discovering Your Anger Style 20

Anger Survey 23

Between- Sessions Activity 24

Self- Soothing Activity: Palms Down, Palms Up 25

Part A: Self

Session One: Thinking Our Thoughts 29

The Spirals of Violence and Nonviolence 30

Thinking, Feeling, and Substance Use 31

Automatic Thoughts 31

Cognitive Distortion 32

My Typical Distorted Thinking 34

Feelings Inside and Outside 36

The DVD of What I Want My Words To Do To You 37

Understanding Keila 37

Understanding Me 40

Between- Sessions Activities 42

Session Two: Feeling Our Feelings 43

Identifying Feelings 44

Beliefs About Feelings 47

My Faulty Belief 48

Feelings as Clues 48

Intensity of Feelings 49

Emotional Wellness 53

Five Steps to Emotional Wellness 53

Feelings and the Body 54

When Feelings Threaten to Overwhelm You 55

The Observer Self 56

Between- Sessions Activities 58

Session Three: Violence and Trauma in Our Lives 59

Violence in Relationships 60

Types of Abuse 60

The Process of Trauma 61

Calming Strategies 63

Two Calming Activities 64

Mindful Breathing 64

Ten- Point Body Scan 64

Between- Sessions Activities 65

Session Four: The Effects of Trauma 69

Adverse Childhood Experiences Survey 70

The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study 72

The Effects of Trauma and Substance Use on the Brain 74

Risk Factors for Addiction 75

Personal Experiences with Substances 76

Triggers or Activators and the Body 77

Yoga Poses and the Mind- Body Connection 80

Between- Sessions Activities 81

Session Five: Anger and Me 83

Anger 84

Words for Anger 85

Meeting a Feeling 86

The Anger Funnel 89

Anger Triggers 92

Anger- Management Strategies 93

Anger Dos and Don’ts 95

Hidden Anger 97

Self- Inflicted Violence 98

Between- Sessions Activities 99

Session Six: The Risk of Suicide in Prison 101

DVD of What I Want My Words To Do To You 102

The Iceberg 104

My Iceberg 106

Making Life Livable 107

Between- Sessions Activities 109

Session Seven: Fostering Connection, Hope, and Meaning in Prison 111

My Hope- Practice Plan 112

My Safety Plan 113

Letter to My Future Self 116

Between- Sessions Activities 117

Session Eight: Understanding Ourselves 119

DVD of What I Want My Words To Do To You 120

Understanding Keila 120

Understanding My Crime 122

Understanding My Behavior 124

Becoming Whole 126

Between- Sessions Activities 128

Part B: Relationships

Session Nine: Our Families 131

Self- Soothing Activity: Deep Breathing 132

Risk Factors 133

Family Sculpture 134

The Cost of Violence 135

Feelings and the Family 136

Unspoken Rules 136

The Anger Questionnaire 137

Wheel of Nurturing Children 140

Between- Sessions Activities 143

Session Ten: Communication 145

Communication Styles 146

Nonverbal Communication 147

Communicating Emotions 148

Group Discussion Questions 149

Strategies for Creating Connection Through Communication 150

Responses to Stress 151

Between- Sessions Activities 153

Session Eleven: Power and Control 155

The Power and Control Wheel 156

Differences Between Women and Men in the Use of Force in Relationships 160

Types of Abuse in Relationships 161

The Violence Continuum 164

Escalation and De- escalation 166

Violence in Prison 168

Using the Time 169

Between- Sessions Activities 170

Session Twelve: Conflict Resolution 173

Fair Fighting 174

Guidelines for Fair Fighting 175

Words, Words, Words 176

Words That Escalate and Words That Help 176

Impulse Control 177

Tips for Impulse Control 178

The Equality Wheel 180

Between- Sessions Activities 183

Session Thirteen: Our Children 185

Nurturing Children in Our Lives 186

Messages About Nurturing and Raising Children 186

Abuse of Children Wheel 187

Patterns of Abuse with Children 189

Our Nurturing Legacies and What We Pass Along 190

Between- Sessions Activities 191

Session Fourteen: Nurturing in Action 193

Parenting and Caregiving Triggers 194

Drawing Our Family Dynamics 196

My Family Dynamics 197

Discipline, Consequences, and Punishment 198

Caregiving Checklist 199

Creating Connection 200

Nurturing in Action 201

Between- Sessions Activities 202

Session Fifteen: Caregiving over Time and with Others 203

Parenting from Prison 204

Our Villages 205

My Village 206

Caregiver Triggers 207

Power and Control and Caregivers 208

Caregivers and Communication 209

Caregiving Chapters 210

Between- Sessions Activities 211

Session Sixteen: Relationships in Prison 213

Relationship Roles 214

Sources of Joy, Connection, and Conflict 215

Power and Control Wheel 218

Creating a Power and Control Wheel 219

Equality Wheel 220

Creating an Equality Wheel 221

Between- Sessions Activities 222

Session Seventeen: Everyday Actions in Our Relationships 223

Common Relationship Situations 224

Relationship Decisions 227

Between- Sessions Activities 229

Session Eighteen: Creating Our Relationships 231

Falling in Love 232

Love and Addiction 233

Contrasting Intimate Relationships and Addictive Relationships 234

How To End a Relationship 235

Between- Sessions Activities 236

Part C: Community

Session Nineteen: Our Communities 239

Self- Soothing Activity: Progressive Muscle Relaxation 240

Our Communities 242

Visualization 243

Friendship 248

Between- Sessions Activities 249

Session Twenty: The Importance of Safety 253

Safety in the Community 254

The Four Kinds of Safety 256

Environment and Behavior 260

Safe and Unsafe Environments 262

Safety and the Body 263

Community Maps - Past, Present, and Future 264

Between- Sessions Activities 269

Session Twenty-One: Creating Community 271

DVD of What I Want My Words To Do To You 272

Crossroads 274

Making Good Decisions 276

Between- Sessions Activities 277

Session Twenty-Two: The Power of Community 281

DVD of What I Want My Words To Do To You 282

Activity: Writing About a Kind Act 284

Between- Sessions Activity 285

Part D: Society

Session Twenty-Three: Society and Violence 289

Self- Soothing Activity: Breathing in the Positive 290

Reviewing the Risks for Violence 291

The Culture Wheel 292

Institutional and Cultural Supports for Domestic Violence 294

Working To End Violence 296

National and International Organizations 297

Local Organizations 299

Art as an Expression of the Levels of Violence 300

Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Nonbinary Art 301

Between- Sessions Activities 302

Session Twenty-Four: Creating Change 305

Health, Harmony, and Wholeness 306

The Spirals of Transformation 308

Between- Sessions Activity 310

Session Twenty-Five: Transforming Our Lives 311

Visualization 312

The Role of Remorse in Transformation 314

The Process of Transformation 315

Making Amends 317

Forgiveness 318

Between- Sessions Activities 319

Session Twenty-Six: Honoring Ourselves and Our Community 321

The Relational Wheel 322

Respect, Mutuality, and Compassion 323

Are You Becoming the Person You Want To Be? 324

Orid 325

Appreciation 327

Appendix 1: Yoga Poses 329

Appendix 2: About the Women in the What I Want My Words To Do To You DVD 335

About the Author 341

About the Cover 343

Authors

Stephanie S. Covington