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Dear Ms. Thompson:

Thank you for your detailed description of what you and Circles of Support and Accountability have been doing during the past fourteen years to reduce the risk of re-offense by individuals re-entering the community after release from imprisonment for sexual offenses. Your humane and innovative delivery of valuable services, the broad range of your operational partnerships, your work with volunteers, and your ongoing collection of data stand as inspirations to us all!

We all can learn a great from you.

A fundamental issue comes immediately to mind, about which my colleagues and I seek comments from others whenever we can create the opportunity to do so.

In preparing volunteers to work with clients (ex-offenders), and in the interactions between volunteers and clients, how do you deal with the central question that faces all of us who are committed to ending violence and changing the world by working with people in non-violent ways: How shall we be directive in our work without being authoritarian or manipulative? To put it in other terms, in the intersection between theory and practice, if we want to help people develop a commitment to interacting in collaborative rather than authoritarian or abusive ways, how shall we structure our activities so that everyone understands our goals and no one is dominated, demeaned, or domesticated by our practice? For example, what guidelines do you follow in your preparation of volunteers, and in the activities of volunteers, for dealing with a situation in which one person interrupts another? In dealing with an instance of one person dominating another, how shall we model the Golden Rule, or Gandhi’s teaching that we must be the change that we wish to see in the world?

Again, please accept my expression of appreciation for what you are doing and for sharing what you are doing. I shall be grateful for the opportunity to continue learning from you.

Warmly,

Herman M. Frankel, M.D.
Building Caring Families
www.changemakers.net/en-us/node/167
frankelh@earthlink.net

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