Teams of trained AVP facilitators conduct experiential workshops to develop participants' abilities to resolve conflicts without resorting to manipulation, coercion, or violence.
The workshop events place a strong emphasis on the experiences of the participants, building confidence that everyone contributes something of value to violence prevention.
[1] The project began in 1975 when inmates at Green Haven Prison in New York State asked local Quakers to help them teach incarcerated youth how to resolve conflicts nonviolently.
[2] While particular workshops can be modified to meet the needs of a specific group, the fundamental objectives are: to encourage individuals to take responsibility for themselves and the consequences of their behavior, to serve as one another's community, and to find options other than fight or flight when faced with conflict.
[7] The reasons why transformations are regularly experienced in these two or three-day periods of time may include satisfaction of psychological needs for connection with others,[8] discoveries that one can influence a conflict,[9] and a combination of other factors.