Hi, Brendan dear. (and hi, everyone - the email monster ate many of my incoming and outgoing messages so I am just catching up after my trip to Halifax) How very very good to hear your 'voice'. Brendan, you wrote: <I am about to depart for a day's 'space-making' in a maximum security prison with long-term offenders.. I will be present and holding space with individual men - my dream is that one day there may be more collective open space within such confinement... Anyone ever opened space in a prison?>
I have 'opened space' in a way, in a maximum security prison with groups of men - whomever comes. As some of you may or may not know, at least in many prisons 'the management' wants to see what appears like 'order' when they look across the yard, or into a room, or peer down from a guard tower. Chaos does not look good to them from their perspective. And they want to tell at a glance 'whom is in charge'. Seeing a bunch of prisoners huddle together in different corners of the room and even get animated and sometimes even look upset as they discuss things is not a comfortable thing for the 'folks in charge'. [The prison I usually work at is in 'lock-down' right now due to fighting among different factions erupting to affect more prisoners around them. So everyone is stuck inside their cells and cannot come out and interact for their prison jobs or their workshops or anything right now. I hope that will change in a week or so as I am hoping to teach a workshop 'inside' towards the end of this month.] I develop and facilitate workshops where inmates who are peer health educators learn about HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis, harm reduction, immunology, virology, peer counseling and public speaking. Or about how using drugs affects and furthers disease progression and healthy choice-making. Those workshops are not Open Space, though they are indeed participant-focused and carry the same 'wisdom is in the room' values. However, I have set up a circle of chairs on a prison exercise yard -- and whomever comes by sits down, and people come and go, and the group talks about whatever anyone wants to talk about, and the topics of conversation shift and change. It's a deep listening from all the participants in the circle and a speaking from the heart, with very little facilitation from me aside from holding space while sitting in the circle and saying a few affirmations ('that must be hard for you' or 'your daughter is lucky to have you'). It goes like this for a few hours. Invariably, by the way, the topic gets to grief and loss. Worry for family members, worry about younger siblings who are at risk of going to prison, worry for meeting the education and emotional needs of their children on the outside, grief for not being able to assist sick family members or attend funerals and memorials of loved ones. Brendan, they are lucky to have you as a deep listener and a true believer for each individual, their heart and their spirit, Lisa ___________________________ L i s a H e f t Consultant, Facilitator, Educator O p e n i n g S p a c e 2325 Oregon Berkeley, California 94705-1106 USA +01 510 548-8449 <mailto:lisah...@openingspace.net> lisah...@openingspace.net <http://www.openingspace.net> www.openingspace.net * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of osl...@listserv.boisestate.edu: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist