The AVP program began in 1975 when a group of people inside the walls at Green Haven Prison (NY), calling themselves the Think Tank, felt the need for nonviolence training in preparation for their roles as counselors in an experimental program with young people.
They collaborated with the Quaker Project on Community Conflict, and devised a prison workshop.
The success of this workshop quickly generated requests for more, and AVP was born. The program quickly spread to many other prisons.
As the program spread, it became obvious that violence and the need for this training exists just a much outside prison walls as within, and that everyone in all walks of life and circumstance is exposed to and participates in violence in some way.
Violence comes in many forms: physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse including put-downs, some jokes and some sarcasm, emotional abuse, psychological abuse, neglect and oppression.
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