DAY OF HEALING
We host and coordinate Days of Healing (DOH) at California prisons—day-long trauma-informed programs that bring survivors from the community together with incarcerated survivors to share and process their experiences of grief, loss, harm, and resilience.
The Day of Healing is designed to provide the space and safety for survivors to grieve, connect, build community and share wisdom that they have learned through their tragic experiences. We partner with the community to identify survivors for whom the Day of Healing opportunity would be transformational. We also work collaboratively with in-prison victim awareness and restorative justice programs to identify incarcerated people who are survivors and would like to participate.
For some family members of murder victims, Days of Healing offer the opportunity for a different narrative. Instead of their loved one being defined solely by the violence they experienced, they can celebrate their loved one’s life, mourn, grieve, and talk about that person with complexity and dimension.
From an inside participant in a Day of Healing at California State Prison Los Angeles County:
“Being able to sit down and converse with members of our communities is amazing. I am able to actually express the pain and hurt that I have felt due to the loss of a loved one. I never thought of myself as a survivor because I was a perpetrator. But now I understand that hurt people hurt people and I was hurt because of all of the trauma I experienced as a kid and as a teenager.”
