Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), a creative conflict resolution program.
This particular video takes place in the area that Avp-Kingston serves.
This is an Actual AVP workshop at Warkworth Penitentiary in Canada
Testimonials are an credit to the power of personal development gained through workshopping with AVP.
May 15, 2014
“A Case For AVP” by Dennis Henderson (Decent Dennis)
I served 25-yrs. in prison. Seventeen of those years were spent in some form of segregation, for some form of violence. I had established myself as one of ISP’s most violent prisoners because I believed violence worked.
From early childhood to adulthood, I was surrounded by violence, and it always appeared that the people who exhibited the highest propensity for violence were the people who received the most admiration/respect. It wasn’t until I was two or three workshops into AVP that I realized violence is usually an act of insecurity.
I was introduced to AVP by coercion. (ISP administrators gave me an ultimatum, either I attend AVP or I remain in administrative segregation.) I stayed in the group and returned to the group not because of the threat but because of the positive effect it was having on my disposition/ perception. Once I learned I was not alone in the misconception of violence, I began to analyze why I really relied on violence. AVP taught me how to be confident in who I am and not how people perceive me to be. It gave me tools to deal with my insecurities in a rational manner.
Today I give praise to AVP for the changes it helped me make in my life, and I advocate its expansion from prison to juvenile homes to communities. And I believe it should be taught early and often.