Volunteer

To complete the AVP training and become a facilitator, a person must participate in the Basic, Advanced, and Training for Facilitators workshops and then serve as an apprentice co-facilitator in an actual workshop. (Find out more about our workshops here.)

Currently AVP workshops are active in the following Massachusetts prisons:

• MCI-Cedar Junction
  The coordinator is responsible for the handling of workshops. This is a new program in 2010 and trained facilitators are needed.
• MCI-Concord and Northeast Correctional Center Facilities
  The coordinator is seeking qualified AVP facilitators for workshops and outside participants who may want to become facilitators or pursue other volunteer programs in the prisons. Also, an AVP support group meets weekly at MCI-Concord.
• MCI-Norfolk Facility
  The coordinators are responsible for the scheduling and volunteer staffing of all workshops. This program began in March 2007. With the beginning of a six-month cycle in February 2008, there will be monthly workshops. Outside participants and facilitators are welcome and should contact a coordinator. Please note that there is a need for Spanish-speaking facilitators at this facility.
• MCI-Shirley Medium and Minimum Facilities
  The coordinator is responsible for the scheduling and volunteer staffing of all workshops taking place at these two facilities. Shirley Medium has 12 workshops each year. Shirley Minimum currently has 4 to 6 workshops a year. Also, an AVP support group meets weekly at MCI-Shirley Medium.
• Old Colony Correctional Center (OCCC)
  The coordinator is responsible for the handling of workshops. This program, new in 2007, provides 7 to 8 workshops each year for the general population and several per year in the Special Housing Unit (SHU). In addition, a monthly study group is held in the general population.
• Souza Baranowski Maximum Security Facility in Lancaster
  (on MCI-Shirley grounds)
  The coordinator is responsible for the scheduling and volunteer staffing of all workshops. AVP provides 12 workshops per year. This facility requires a Department of Corrections orientation before participating. There are two distinct prison populations at SBCC. Currently, AVP workshops are being offered on the North side only.

There are several other prison and community possibilities – the two women’s facilities (MCI-Framingham and South Middlesex Correctional Center), MCI-Gardner, and churches and community centers in Boston. If you have any interest in providing this powerful intervention project in any of these settings, please come train in one of our established programs.

Note: Trained facilitators, and those interested in being trained, are needed to help with workshops at all the active AVP MA prison facilities. If you are a trained facilitator and can help, please contact the appropriate prison coordinator. Spanish speaking facilitators are needed.