The Enneagram Prison Project Community

The Enneagram Prison Project Community

I am a volunteer with an amazing organization called The Enneagram Prison Project (EPP) which is a non-profit group that teaches, guides, and inspires transformation through the Enneagram which is offered to all people, including those behind bars.  I am currently on the path to becoming a guide with EPP where I will hopefully get to teach the Enneagram to those individuals who are in our prison system.  I believe strongly that everyone deserves the opportunity for personal development and should have access to these tools and insights.        

The approach that the EPP uses is to start out by saying, "There is nothing wrong with you."  It can often be hard to hear this and can take time for it to sink in, and it is absolutely true.  Each of us has an Enneagram type and this character structure or personality type became the way in which we survived our childhood.  The thoughts, feelings, and behaviors were smart tactics to take in order to stay alive and to navigate the world and environment where we grew up.  Whether your childhood was nurturing and healthy or if it was not that way at all, we learned these techniques.  A few examples may be that we figured out how to get what we needed, or wanted, from our caregivers, we learned how to fit in with and make friends at school, and/or we realized what we had to do in order to "stay under the radar" from a bully or even from abuse.  All of these choices and behaviors are part of our Enneagram type structure.      

Now, as adults, some of these survival tactics may not be serving us anymore.  This realization is what opens up the door to personal growth and development.  This is where the Enneagram can help, and where EPP courageously steps in to say, "We are on a mission to understand why we do what we do, using the Enneagram to inspire transformation on both sides of the bars through self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-compassion; we do the work together." 

EPP offers training programs to the public offering a positive and shared learning approach to the Enneagram.  The first program is called 9 Prisons 1 Key, it serves as an introductory course.  Then if you want to take your learning further the Path to Freedom course is also offered.  EPP uses a type of "pay toward the impact" approach to determine the cost of these programs.  Since we are a non-profit organization and in order to align with our values these courses are offered on a sliding scale with the amount determined by the participant.  I have taken both courses and can honestly say, that I wished I could pay more due to the amount of impact they have had on me.

Learn more about EPP, volunteer, or join a community that believes in, "Freeing people - all over the world - from the prisons of our own making," then contact EPP and get involved.  We truly do the work together, and all are welcome as they are because nothing is wrong with you.