Center for Council

Center for Council is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization that trains practitioners in using Council to promote wellness and resiliency and utilizes the practice of Council to advance social and restorative justice and foster resilient and thriving communities.

Council is a codified practice, derived from ancient traditions,.^[1] that involves bringing individuals together in a council circle, under the guidance of a trained facilitator, for a candid and heartfelt conversation. Within the circle, the opportunity to talk is offered one-at-a-time, with the intent to speak from one’s personal experience rather than opinion. Participants are encouraged to speak authentically when it’s their turn, and to listen deeply, without comment or judgment, while others are speaking.^[2] Intention is focused on the common stories, values, fears and aspirations that make one human, encouraging taking the perspective of the other and finding common ground. Council is a compassion-based attentional practice that fosters greater awareness of self and others and capacity for cultivating skillful communication, respectful relationships and ethical action.

History

For over 30 years Center for Council existed as a program of The Ojai Foundation. In 2014, Center for Council restructured to become its own independent organization, fiscally sponsored by Community Partners.^[3] The organization is an outgrowth of the practices and ideals codified in Jack Zimmerman and Gigi Coyle’s “The Way of Council.”^[4]

Jared Seide, Founding Director, currently leads Center for Council. He works along with a large team of certified and affiliated Council Trainers to deliver the organization’s programming^[5]

Programs

Center for Council provides Council training and facilitates Council programs within the criminal justice system, as well as with community-based organizations, institutions, and businesses. Its programs are structured in a “train-the-trainer” format, where participants learn skills to facilitate circles for their peers and community.^[6]

Center for Council’s Inmate Council Program is a six-month intervention where prisoners are trained to facilitate Council sessions for other prisoners. This program is active in 17 California prisons. Through the Inmate Council Program, participants learn and teach Council-based convening and communication skills to support healthy and productive perspectives and behaviors. The program contributes to a shift of culture within the prison and provides inmates with tools for success upon release.^[7][8]

Following the expansion of Center for Council’s work with inmates, the California Office of the Inspector General released a special report on High Desert State Prison in December 2015 that recommends implementing a Council-based Wellness and Resiliency Skills Training program for correctional officers as an antidote to the “entrenched culture” of racism and violence there.^[9] Center for Council is working with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to develop this program.^[10]

Center for Council’s Social Justice Council Program provides staff at social justice and social service organizations with Council training in order to more effectively engage with constituents and provide quality support, while also helping foster more cooperative and supportive work environments. Current and past Social Justice Council Program participants include: LA Gay & Lesbian Center / Lifeworks Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project WINTER (Women in Non-Traditional Employment Roles) SAJE (Strategic Action for a Just Economy) Youth Mentoring Connection Contra-Tiempo San Gabriel Conservation Corps Flintridge Center/ Sustainable Pasadena Project Public Works/Learning Works Ventura County Social Justice Collaborative/One Step a la Vez Homeboy Industries Peace Over Violence The Actors’ Gang A New Way of Life Anti-Recidivism Coalition Community Coalition Dignity and Power Now El Centro Cultural de Mexico Extraordinary Families Heart of LA (HOLA) LA Conservation Corps MEND (Meeting Each Need with Dignity) Para Los Ninos Altadena/Pasadena Council for Reconciliation P.S. ARTS SAY San Diego TKF (Tariq Khamisa Foundation) TreePeople youTHink/Zimmer Children's Museum Wolf Connection

Additional program partners include: RAND Corporation, Illuman, Continuum Movement, MOSTE (Motivating our Students Through Experience), Zen Center of Los Angeles, Windhorse Integrative Mental Health, University of the West, Rinzai-Ji Temple and Zen Peacemakers.^[11]

External links

• http://www.centerforcouncil.org/

References