Who are we?
The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) is a network of independent not-for-profit grass-roots volunteer groups offering experiential workshops on self-awareness, nonviolent relationships and creative conflict transformation in prisons, schools, and the wider community. The Help Increase the Peace (HIP) Program is an adaptation of AVP for schools.
These workshops empower individuals to liberate themselves and others from the burden of violence. The fundamental belief of AVP is that there is a power for peace and good in everyone, and that this power has the ability to transform violence. AVP builds on a spiritual basis of respecting and caring for self and others.
AVP NSW started in 1992 when Stephen Angell ran the first workshop at the Devonshire Street Quaker Meeting House. The AVP Sydney community workshops started in 1993. Since then the active Sydney group has conducted workshops in the community, in a number of schools, in a number of prisons, in interfaith communities and recently with refugees.
Since 2012 AVP NSW has been running conflict transformation workshops in partnership with the NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS), a section of the NSW Department of Health. These workshops have a mixture of refugees, workers from refugee support groups and members of the general community. In 2018 STARTTS and AVP was involved in an evaluation program studying the impact of AVP workshops on the development of social capital amongst refugees. For more information about STARTTS check their website http://www.startts.org.
Want to get involved?
Are you interested in attending 20-hour workshops on creative conflict transformation?
Or are you interested in learning how to facilitate these workshops?
If so, there are a series of three sequential workshops – Basic (Level 1) , Advanced (Level 2) and Training for Facilitation (Level 3). These workshops are held in Sydney and Newcastle, The workshops are experiential (learning that is experiencing without lecturing) and cover self-awareness, self-esteem, affirmation, community building, communication, cooperation, conflict resolution and conflict transformation.
Need to pay off a fine?
If you are eligible (e.g., are on a Centrelink benefit) you may be able to pay a fine by completing an AVP workshop (at a rate of $50/hour). AVP NSW is a Work and Development Order (WDO) sponsor which means eligible participants can be registered to undertake a WDO through the workshop. You can find more details about WDOs here.
