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Houses of Healing

for adults in prison and jail

The book Houses of Healing: A Prisoner’s Guide to Inner Power and Freedom, with its new workbook companion, Making Time Count, offer an engaging, research-driven curriculum/program for behavioral change, emotional healing, and successful rehabilitation and reentry.

Overview

Houses of Healing has been a cornerstone of jail and prison programming for nearly 30 years.

The Houses of Healing Program is a powerful 13-session social emotional learning (SEL) curriculum created specifically to address prisoner rehabilitation. The centerpiece of the program is the book, Houses of Healing: A Prisoners Guide to Inner Power and Freedom, designed to offer skillful guidance and equip prisoners with the tools to effectively manage difficult emotions, take stock of and heal the unresolved trauma that often plays a role in propelling criminal behavior, take responsibility for offending behavior, and change life-long patterns of violence and addiction.

Using a proven combination of bibliotherapy, mindfulness based techniques, and cognitive behavioral skills, Houses of Healing (HOH) provides a path to behavioral change, dignity, and respect for oneself and for others. Prisoners learn evidence based skills to cope with the stress of incarceration, manage conflict in healthy ways, and reduce recidivism.  The program also addresses many of the issues that lead to an individual’s incarceration including the lasting impact of early childhood trauma and the legacies of intergenerational abuse, incarceration, and substance use.

The Houses of Healing curriculum provides participants the opportunity to:

  • Practice mindfulness meditation, emotional-regulation, and stress-management techniques
  • Learn cognitive-behavioral skills to reframe challenging situations and alter life-long patterns of violence and addiction
  • Acknowledge, work with, and heal childhood trauma
  • Transform anger, resentment, and unhealthy guilt and shame
  • Work with and adopt forgiveness as a practical strategy
  • Explore and heal grief
  • Acknowledge the impact of crime, build victim awareness, and take responsibility for offending behavior
  • Nurture spiritual growth

More than 170,000 copies of the book, Houses of Healing, have been distributed in state and federal prisons as well as larger county jails nationwide with approximately half of these distributed free of charge. Programs based on Houses of Healing have been the centerpiece of five “Innovative Grant” programs serving more than 1,000 incarcerated men in the CA Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation over the past five years.

Prison inmates and staff nationwide praise the power of Houses of Healing which has transformed the face of programming in hundreds of prisons and has been a cornerstone of jail and prison programs.

Lionheart’s Executive Director with men who had completed the Houses of Healing Program in California
Lionheart’s Executive Director with men who had completed the Houses of Healing Program in California

Who It helps

Houses of Healing is specifically written to address the emotional, social, behavioral, and spiritual growth and development of those involved in the criminal justice system. The Houses of Healing Program offers a transformative approach to helping individuals create lives of purpose and dignity whether they remain inside the prison walls or return to the community.

One formerly incarcerated individual describes how he has changed as a result of participating in the Houses of Healing program.

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Why It Works

Houses of Healing is a trauma informed, mindfulness based, cognitive behavioral curriculum designed to equip incarcerated individuals with greater self awareness while increasing their capacity to manage difficult emotions.

Through the use of research driven approaches to behavior change, and the inspiration derived from first hand accounts of other incarcerated persons, the Houses of Healing Program has been widely embraced by both jail and prison staff and incarcerated men and women. Houses of Healing offers evidenced based, high impact strategies to help participants learn effective skills to regulate difficult emotions, reduce the stress of prison, and manage conflict in healthy ways. In addition to guiding participants through the process of taking responsibility for offending behavior, the program highlights the necessity of self-forgiveness and the forgiveness of others – subjects that are often overlooked and misunderstood despite their well documented link to the cultivation of empathy and emotional maturity.

Program Resources

The Houses of Healing Program includes a range of materials allowing it to be flexibly used across different populations and settings and with programs with varied needs.

The Houses of Healing resources include (click on image to learn more):

Book for incarcerated individuals <br>(English)
Book for incarcerated individuals
(English)
Add to Cart
Book for incarcerated individuals <br>(Spanish)
Book for incarcerated individuals
(Spanish)
Add to Cart
13-session Workbook <br>Integral support for Houses of Healing (English)
13-session Workbook
Integral support for Houses of Healing (English)
Add to Cart
13-session Workbook <br>Integral support for Houses of Healing (Spanish)
13-session Workbook
Integral support for Houses of Healing (Spanish)
Add to Cart
6-session Workbook <br>Integral support for Houses of Healing <br>(English)
6-session Workbook
Integral support for Houses of Healing
(English)
Add to Cart
Facilitator’s Manual <br>Offers a complete guide to group facilitation
Facilitator’s Manual
Offers a complete guide to group facilitation
Add to Cart
DVD Series <br>Assists in the delivery of the program
DVD Series
Assists in the delivery of the program
Add to Cart

Ways to Utilize It

Houses of Healing offers considerable flexibility in how it can be utilized with a range of resources supporting varied implementation approaches. The Houses of Healing program can be used:

  • By simply reading the book and reflecting on the exercises.
  • As a 13-session program/intervention delivered with the guidance offered in the Houses of Healing Facilitator Manual.
    Houses of Healing has been taught by hundreds of corrections professionals, mental health and substance abuse counselors, chaplains, prison volunteers, and increasingly by mature prisoners with long term sentences.
  • As a 13 session self study program offered through the Making Time Count Workbook, in conjunction with the Houses of Healing book.
    • Can be used in groups in general population, but also lends itself to self-study programming for segregated and restricted housing
  • As an adjunct to individual work and groups focusing on life skills, anger management, violence prevention, victim impact and restorative justice, substance use/recovery treatment, and reentry programs as well as other focused interventions and individual counseling.

Many prison staff, including chaplains, embrace the program because it is infused with an inclusive spirituality meant to increase participants’ social, emotional, and spiritual maturity.

Research

Research and ongoing program evaluation are critical components of ensuring that the Houses of Healing resources are not only effective, but are revised to incorporate the growing body of knowledge in the fields of social emotional learning, trauma, and victim-offender impact treatment.

LEARN MORE

Reentry Programs

The Lionheart Foundation regularly receives emails and calls from concerned family and friends of incarcerated adults who are due to be released from prison. Thousands of inmates are released each year without access to, or knowledge of, the support networks to help them transition back into society. We have compiled a list of reentry programs below, listed by state, to help people connect with the services or contacts they might need.

ACCESS STATE-BY-STATE LISTS

Testimonials

There is not a doubt in my mind that every person in prison needs to read Houses of Healing. I was hardly able to put it down to eat or sleep. I found myself all through it.

Edwin, Marion, OH

“Participating in this course [Houses of Healing] has impacted my life dramatically. The program helped in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Coming into the course I had little expectation.  Now I would recommend this course because everybody deserves a chance to rehabilitate the way they think. Especially in this environment.”

Program Participant in California

Houses of Healing helped me look into some areas in my life that I wanted to bury and never attempt to look at. In reading HOH and being honest with myself I was able to not only bring them back up but to then work thru them. I’ve been doing time since the late 70’s and I’ve never felt freer in my life. I can’t praise the course enough.

Program Participant at Pelican Bay State Prison, CA

Houses of Healing is now and will continue to be an essential component of our A.S.A.T (Alcohol & Substance Abuse Treatment) curriculum.  The material has been exceptionally well received.  Obviously it is no small feat to actively engage this generally resistant population. Houses of Healing not only captures their attention, it inspires the desire to challenge themselves.  A rare and refreshing phenomenon.

Diane Arnesen

I would definitely recommend HOH to others because it cracks the hard shell of the self-created personas created to survive in the streets. It installs compassion or turns it back on when it’s turned off. I love this course.

Augustus
NJ State Prison

I’ve been incarcerated for 23 years and over the years I’ve seen your book but never took the time to read it, or even open it up. I’m so glad I took this course. It has helped me in so many ways to find the peace I’ve been searching for my whole life. I got insight into my life in every chapter. I really didn’t know who I was or where I was going until this program.

James
Mason State Prison, GA

For 16 years nothing else had deeply reached me. After sincerely working with Houses of Healing, the desire to reach out from my Core Self to improve the world I see around me has transformed the way I deal with some of the most oppressive situations.

Houses of Healing Program Participant

I recommend [this course to others] because it not only teaches you how to interact with yourself, it also contains exercises that develop the skills you need. One of the things I didn’t appreciate in my life was when people said I should change, but then wouldn’t show me how. I’m not saying my behavior was anyone’s fault, but how do you ask a blind person to describe the color blue if they’ve never seen it? How can you? – they have no point of reference. Same philosophy applies when asking someone to think in new ways.

Houses of Healing Program Participant
San Quentin Death Row

Our first Houses of Healing class graduated this past Friday. The change in these women was phenomenal and clearly recognized and acknowledged by them. Our participants have shared that this is the best of all classes they have taken and come have taken all that’s been offered by their facility.

Houses of Healing Program Facilitator
Auburn, Alabama

Houses of Healing is the first program the Administration has accepted in 18 years. There are always more than 40 inmates on the waiting list. We have now worked with more than 300 inmates. Thanks for your incredible book and insight into the lives of those behind the wall.

L. Wilbert
Chaplain, IL DOC

I personally witnessed men, who like myself, were empowered to open up and begin a profound healing process on the emotional level. I’ve witnessed men who, after years of being locked in by denial and shame receive the empowerment to deal with highly charged issues… [Houses of Healing] is not only ‘cure’ but also ‘prevention.’

Michael
Donaldson CF, Bessemer, AL

Thanks to Houses of Healing, I have discovered spirituality, love and forgiveness. It has truly changed my life, which is amazing, because up until now, nothing else has.

Roger
State Prison, Ione, CA

Houses of Healing taught me how to cope with things. I’ve gained peace from it, this peace that is unbelievable. Well, before if I needed money I would go into a supermarket and rob it. And today I have a business, I enjoy the business, it’s just totally different.

Henry
Formerly Incarcerated

I read your book (HOH) and loved it. I was overwhelmed with a sense that you believe in us…in our ability to change our damaged selves into thoughtful, mature, compassionate people. You are a blessing to those of us who struggle with ourselves and try to find a more peaceful existence despite external turmoil. Thank you.

Ruth, Houses of Healing Program Participant
MCI Framingham

I have been facilitating Anger Management for both men and women at Riverhead Correctional, a maximum-security facility, for almost five years and have been working with inmates and former inmates for 26 years. I use Houses of Healing almost exclusively. Your book is life changing and has set countless lives on the path to recovery.

Forensic Intervention Specialist

This past Monday I met with a few women whom I had taught earlier in the fall. It was their opinion that, without a doubt, the Houses of Healing Program is the most powerful program that is being offered to inmates, bar none. They felt that the material, the class discussions, and the personal writing of the program helped them peel off the layers of hurt and denial, giving them a window of understanding into the past and the tools and resilience to plan for the future. I can’t tell you how wonderful I felt to be a part of that.

Houses of Healing Volunteer Facilitator

The experience of facilitating the HOH program has been the highlight, thus far, in my journeys through the department. It renewed my faith in humanity more than just about anything else. Prison can be a horribly dark, evil place. The men are so scared, filled with self loathing, etc. To be able to shine a light there was incredibly rewarding. Your work continues to make such a profound difference in so many lives. How can anyone possibly thank you enough.

Houses of Healing Program Facilitator

Thank you, my search is over, after two years of incarceration, three years of sobriety, and forty-two years of pain. I’ve finally found someone who looked into my heart and soul…. You identified the secreted anger, loss, pain, denial and causes of criminal behavior. You gave us a ‘How To’ manual on surviving prison. You gave us a practical and spiritual guide out of this nightmare time loop in hell.

Frank
Danville Correctional Center, Danville, IL

This book has touched a part of my life I’ve been trying to forget. I cried so much when I was reading it… See, I got a beautiful little son who is everything to me. I realize I must do something about myself before I will ever be able to be half the father I wanted as a child… I would just like to say thank you for the help.

Michael
Berks County Prison, Leesport, PA

This letter is to say thank you because this program, without any question, saved my life. I still have a lot of time to do here, but you know what? It’s not important to me because one day I will walk out of here a new man, with a better outlook on life, but most importantly, a better look on myself. My life means something now. I may not be the man I want to be yet, but with this program I am not the man I used to be.

Bill
Tennessee DOC
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