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Rhonda Describes the GRIP Program and Interviews\xa0GRIP Graduate,\xa0Shakur Ross

The Guiding Rage Into Power (GRIP) Training Institute serves incarcerated men and women in California.\xa0 Their mission is to create personal and systemic change to turn violence and suffering into opportunities for learning and healing.

I (Rhonda) was introduced to the GRIP program when two of my dearest friends, Steve Zimmerman and Vicki Peet, invited me to a yearly celebration of the GRIP Training institute.\xa0 I was blown away by who I met and what I learned that I wanted to share it with the Feeling Good Podcast listeners.\xa0 Thank you, David, for letting me deviate from our typical subjects.

The GRIP program is a different subject for the Feeling Good Podcast, because it is not about TEAM-CBT.\xa0 What the GRIP Program and TEAM-CBT have in common is that they are both evidence-based programs that incorporate CBT theory and methods into their treatment methodology.\xa0 But the main thing they have in common is that people who engage in these two therapies experience profound, enlightening changes in their lives.

From their program:

\u201cThe GRIP program is an evidence-based methodology developed over 25 years of work with 1000\u2019s of incarcerated people and many victim/survivors. Rooted in Restorative Justice principles, the program\u2019s trauma informed model integrates cutting-edge neuroscience research.\xa0 Students engage in a yearlong, in-depth journey to comprehend the origins of their violence and develop skills to track and manage strong impulses rather than acting out in harmful ways.\xa0 They transform destructive beliefs and behaviors into an attitude of emotional intelligence that prevents revictimization.\u201d

The GRIP Training Institute was started in 2011.\xa0 As of October 2020, nine years after running its first group, 915 students have graduated.\xa0 Of the 915 graduates, 369 were released from prison.\xa0 Only 1 graduate in nine years returned to prison, which is a recidivism rate of 0.3%, which is very impressive considering the recidivism rate for California is between 44-46%.\xa0 Many, if not all of the graduates, say that GRIP saved their lives.\xa0 Something many people who have benefitted from TEAM-CBT echo.

At the GRIP celebration, I was standing in line waiting for the buffet.\xa0 A man got in line behind me.\xa0 It was confusing where the line ended, which was not directly behind me.

In another circumstance I might have mentioned to him that the line ended somewhere else, but he was kind of scary looking, big, buff with obvious prison tattoos on his neck so I didn\u2019t say anything.\xa0 But the line moved slowly and I was curious so I asked him what his connection to GRIP was.\xa0 He told me he was a graduate of the program and then politely asked me the same question.

It has been my experience that often people love to talk about themselves more than they are interested in other people so I was immediately impressed that he was as interested in me as I was in him.\xa0 When I told him I was a therapist, he asked me what kind of therapy I practiced.\xa0 I explained TEAM-CBT, and he was super interested!

He told me he loved CBT, and had learned a lot about himself through that kind of therapy because GRIP incorporated it in their program.\xa0 I asked him about his experience in GRIP and his tough exterior transformed right in front of me as he talked about how GRIP saved his life.

I talked to several other men (so far only men have graduated from the GRIP program because the services have only recently been brought to a women\u2019s prison), and had the same experience.\xa0 I met our guest on this podcast, Shakur Ross, who kindly agreed to share his journey of transformation with us.

GRIP graduates continue to do the work and live as Peacemakers.\xa0 Shakur works for GRIP and returns to San Quentin and other prisons to provide the same lessons that he received.

The podcast starts with an interview with Kim Moore, the Executive Director of the GRIP Training Institute, who explains some of the key concepts of the program.

Thanks for listening today!

Rhonda