FULL : AVP: You, Your Community and the World

Workshop number: 
1
Nancy
Shippen
Nadine
Hoover
Audience
Who may register: 
Open to All (adult & high school)
full-time attenders only
Time breakdown
Worship/worship-sharing: 
15%
Lecture: 
5%
Discussion: 
15%
Experiential Activities: 
65%
Description
Leader Experience: 

Nancy Shippen has led workshops in prisons in Massachusetts, South Africa and Kenya. At New England Yearly Meeting she was member of the FWCC Women’s Peacebuilders panel and the Youth Peacebuilder. She led a Junior High School group at FGC in Amherst, MA. She has provided ‘Taster” workshops in a variety of settings.
Nadine Hoover has led interactive AVP workshops in prisons and communities in New York, Florida, Georgia, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia. Nadine Hoover is a graduate of Friends World College. As a teenager at Powell House she participated in trying out activities as AVP was being formed. She learned to integrate activity and reflection through the Philadelphia work camps and later through training with Peace Brigades International. Nadine began a teen nonviolence community in Florida and later in New York as well as nonviolence communities in former war zones in Indonesia, as well as senior military and security officials in Indonesia.

Short Description: 

This Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) Basic workshop uses experiential activities developed around the world to practice peace and heal from trauma—personally, in community and with global neighbors. After this workshop, you may join AVP or Friends Peace Teams in communities, prisons and former war zones around the world.

Long Description: 

This workshop welcomes newcomers and old-timers to Alternatives to Violence Project workshops. Once you have taken this AVP basic workshop, you are eligible to attend any AVP advanced or special topic workshop. As AVP practitioners, we commit to practicing peace and nonviolence in our daily lives. Frequently attending basic workshops (once or twice a year) is a significant support to this commitment and practice. Therefore, beginners and advanced peacemakers are all encouraged to attend. This workshop is also excellent preparation for anyone hoping to join a Friends Peace Team to Central America, Colombia, Indonesia or Africa.
In this workshop, we will use the shared experience of participants, interactive exercises, games and role-plays to examine the ways in which we respond to situations where distress, injustice, prejudice, frustration and anger can lead to aggressive behavior and violence.
Activities in the AVP basic workshop follow a specific road-map that is the foundation of practical peace work: set simple cooperative agreements, get to know each other, affirm one's self and others, communicate, cooperate, learn from and resolve disputes creatively and reconnect with others and a practical faith in trusting community. The three main stages of trauma healing—safety, remembering without just reliving and reconnecting—follow the main road-map of AVP—affirmation, communication and community building—so that some of the trauma healing activities may be used in this basic workshops, although the core of the trauma healing activities are beyond the scope of this workshop.
An AVP workshop can help you to:
• manage strong feelings such as grief, anger and fear
• deal more effectively with risk and danger
• build good relationships with other people
• communicate well in difficult situations
• recognize the skills you already have and learn new ones
• be true to yourself while respecting other people
• understand why conflict happens
• achieve insight into family experiences; however, AVP is not therapy
AVP has spread from one prison in New York State to over 30 states and 25 countries. It has been shown to be effective and empowering with youth, men and women who are incarcerated, ex-combatants and marginalized groups. A specialized trauma healing program has been developed. We will learn about many of these applications.
We will follow an AVP format of exercises which include individual, dyad, small group and whole group activities. These will include personal reflection, worship sharing and opportunities to come into solidarity with those using AVP around the world. Activities will include interactive exercises, guided meditation, role plays and reflection. We will be active so please wear comfortable clothes and shoes.
Friends Peace Teams has been one way AVP has traveled, grown and been adapted for many purposes. Conscience Studio developed and published an AVP Advanced manual in trauma healing used by Friends Peace Teams to Indonesia. The African Great Lakes Initiative of Friends Peace Teams developed a separate program called, Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities (HROC). Peacebuilding en Las Americas has adapted both for Central and Latin America. Friends Peace Teams has used AVP as the foundation for building rich, diverse communities, moving forward together from this solid foundation to local issues such as trauma healing, developmental play, environmental work, gender equality and election monitoring.
We will learn about this work and the efforts of the AVP International Coordinating Committee to support programs, ensure quality and provide communication within and between programs.
Participants who want to know more about this work before the conference can visit www.AVPInternational, http://friendspeaceteams.org/, and http://www.avpusa.org/. However, please know that reading is not the same as experiencing. Arriving with an open mind and heart is the best preparation. It is helpful to come with an awareness of community and conflict in your own life and to be willing to share both your wisdom and difficulties in dealing with them.