“When you study prison populations, you see a common preponderance of childhood trauma and mental illness. The two go together. So what we have in prisons are the most traumatized people in our society.” – Dr. Gabor Mate.

What do you think of when you think of a prisoner? How would you feel knowing your neighbour, that mom, or dad, or child had once been incarcerated?  In this episode of Rise Resilient, I hope to challenge the assumptions we may have of those whose circumstances have led them to the corners, the margins, and the prisons of our communities,  and instead open our hearts and eyes to see and understand a person first.

Episode 2 of Rise Resilient is a very vulnerable conversation with  Fritzi Horstman, the director and founder of the Compassion Prison Project who was generous with her time and in sharing her own story.

Fritzi Horstman is a producer and post-producer on dozens of television projects and documentaries, is a Grammy-award winning producer for her work on “The Defiant Ones”. and most recently, has committed her heart to shining a bright light on a taboo topic-prisons and adverse childhood experiences, to ensure we can bring compassion to the men, women and children living in prisons today.

More than anything, she encourages us to see our shared humanity when considering the NEEDS of those within our prison system: NEEDS such as connection, compassion and forgiveness, all of which the margins, corners and prisons of life simply can’t provide.

Compassion Prison Project:

To transform prisons and communities through compassionate action

Compassion Prison Project (CPP) focuses on bringing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma awareness to prisons and communities. We’ve created compassion-based curricula for people who have experienced ACEs, empowering them with awareness, information and tools for healing.

Website:

https://compassionprisonproject.org/projects/prison-and-community-outreach/

CPP Documentary PSA:

https://compassionprisonproject.org/the-documentary/

Support:

https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/step-inside-the-circle-childhood-trauma-behind-bars-documentary-film/compassion-prison-project

LEARN:

ACEs study:

https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/index.html

Toxic stress:

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/toxic-stress/

Executive function:

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/executive-function/

Brains Journey To Resilience:

https://youtu.be/HJvDrT6N-mw