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G powerful A but N not G violent

An option for male offenders with a violent background

JVA Bielefeld-SenneJVA AttendornHaus Nordpark

Bewährungshilfe Bielefeld

A joint project by

Getting away from Violence

How does GANG work?• The project: 5 days training workshop

at a convention centre

• The participants: 12 men with a background of violence

• The team : 2 women and 2 menInterdisciplinary team, each member with

pedagogic qualifications and special advanced training, and

all with extensive experience in working with

prisoners .

About the Project• 14 seminars have taken place since 2002

with a total of 168 participants.

• These participants were selected by the team from more than 380 candidates who wereinterviewed as to their motivation and suitability.

• Participation in the GANG training workshop is conditional on the following. Each candidate must

• be voluntary• be willing to cooperate• be capable of working in a group / team• be willing to accept responsibility, and• want to alter his own conduct.

How do participants experience theGANG Training Workshop?

Where do the participants come from?• The people participating are inmates at the prisons in

Bielefeld-Senne and Attendorn

and

Offenders registered at the probation centre, for residents of Haus Nordpark, and clients at the ambulant

Counselling Centres in Bielefeld

GANG want to implement various training elements to

• to sensitise people to violent forms of communication in their present environment,

• to help identify violent forces in the men’s own life histories,

• to define violence from the viewpoint of the offender or the victim,

• to get people to accept responsibility fortheir own actions.

What is the aim of GANG?

• To encourage the ability to perceiveoneself and others,

• to develop alternative ways of behaving jointly with other participants,

• to try out and reflect on new ways of behaving so as to solve conflicts,

• to motivate and enable the participantsto transfer what they have tried and testedinto everyday life.

Further Aims of GANG

The GANG Methodology• The GANG method is based on social teamwork orientated to own

experience; it functions in a process- and topic-oriented way.

• In small groups, the men consider their violent actionsagainst the background of their biographic offender andvictim experiences (biographic work)

• In role play, the participants try out non-violent alternativebehaviour based on specific case sequences.Role playing is a core element of the seminar.

• The preparation for this mode of working includes, for instance, body-orientated exercises in plenum, aimed at promoting respectful and trusting relations within the group.

• The main focus is always on identifying and accepting their own limits as well as those of others.

How do participants experience theGANG Training Workshop?

Woran lässt sich der Erfolg messen?

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