ADULT PROGRAMS
"You helped to restore my humanity back to realize I am a worthy individual who has healed and can be a change agent no matter where I am in life. I felt the love every session..."
- HDA Program Graduate
Restorative Justice Classes
HDA currently facilitates Victim Awareness classes for people experiencing incarceration at California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) prisons to encourage reflection, accountability, and healing from trauma. We bring survivors who have lost loved ones to homicide inside to share their testimony.
Symposiums
Healing Dialogue and Action holds Transformative Justice Symposiums that bring up to 100 participants together for two-day gatherings inside prisons. Participants include survivor family members, incarcerated individuals serving life sentences, policy makers, law enforcement, and prison officials. On the first day, survivors and those responsible for causing harm share their stories with one another while advocates and others bear witness to their stories and the ripple effects of crime. On the second day, the conversation shifts to action and the group works collectively to brainstorm and strategize around specific policy issues.
“I had the opportunity to attend a recent Transformative Justice Symposium at San Quentin Prison where I participated in a circle with both offenders and families of victims… what I took away from this experience was the value of having the opportunity to express feelings without judgement, the art of active/compassionate listening, and the significance of healing and validation. I hope to participate in future “circles” or similar events.”
Nolice Edwards, Chief CDCR Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services
"Pain that is not transformed is transmitted."
In October of 2023, Camilla Floyd, a journalist who primarily highlights children's rights and restorative justice, composed and published a piece in the New York Times featuring Healing Dialogue and Action. Joseph Rodriguez, a photojournalist who has reported extensively on incarceration, gangs, the police and re-entry, captured the powerful images for the publication.
