The mission of The Collective Healing And Transformation (CHAT) Project is to expand community capacity to respond to and transform interpersonal conflict, harm, and violence without the use of state intervention and the criminal legal system.
1. Strengthen communities—not systems
All of our work must move to support and sustain communities — not our organizations, not our professions, not state systems of intervention.
2. Support the transformation of all involved and impacted by family violence
Our attitudes and practices must take into account the well-being of everyone, including people who have caused harm, experienced harm, children, friends, family, and community.
3. Trust the wisdom of those most impacted by family violence to be the experts in their own lives.
People facing violence are experts on their needs, their cultures, and their opportunities for change.
4. Build opportunities for truth-telling and truth-listening.
We hold space for difficult conversations – saying and hearing the truth isn’t always easy.
5. Lift needs and perspectives of children & youth.
We honor the wisdom and participation of children and youth.
6. Foster Individual and collective responsibility and accountability.
Everyone has a responsibility for the safety and well-being of ourselves and our community.
7. Balance safety and risk-taking
Safety is important — physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, financial — and sometimes, we need to take risks in order to gain deeper and more long-lasting conditions for safety.
8. Create the process alongside the people that are present.
We must practice openness and flexibility to make sure that the values, practices and processes are grounded in the cultures and vision of our participants.
9. Practice language justice.
It is our collective responsibility to center language justice and full language access at all levels of work- participants, partners, community, materials, etc.
10. It is a way of being/it takes all of us.
We are committed to living our values and to practice the hard work of self-learning, community building, and accountability with each other, in our personal lives, with our learning partners, and with our participants.
“We had tried to have conversations in the past with my family, but it just never worked out. [During the circle], everyone took a second to breathe…i feel like everybody still said what they needed to say, but wasn’t disrespectful in any way.”
"
"
