History of Heart-Work
The first pilot programme, 13 weeks long, was run in the Female Section at the Correctional Centre in September 2002. Heart-Work has grown into a project that runs as a 20-week course 4-8 times a year.
How it all started
In 2002 Debbie Jones and her friend Marie attended a Christian outreach programme at the prison called Kairos. They came up with an idea to start something that would offer opportunities for healing and growth. On hearing the painful stories and very stressful ongoing struggles that the women were facing, they decided to bring in a programme where these women could find some emotional and spiritual support, learn more about themselves, and have opportunities to develop their interpersonal skills for their own protection and for the protection of others. Their hope was that this would give these women the opportunity to lead lives that were more whole and more successful. The 13-week pilot course was developed and run with women at Johannesburg Correctional Services in 2002.
Family workshop
After running the courses for a few years, it seemed that the participants gained a tremendous amount as they worked through their painful memories and difficult feelings. The prisonersinmates were ready to restore broken relationships. Their families, on the other hand, were experiencing no support and were suffering as much as their incarcerated loved ones, and in some cases even more. The team then decided to run a full day workshop for the family members. This has proved most meaningful and is now a standard part of all the Heart-Work courses.
Reintegration
Within the last few years, a number of inmates who have completed the Heart-Work course have been released from prison and the work has extended to offering various levels of support in helping these people reintegrate into their families and into society. The enormous challenges around reintegration have led to this becoming a vital aspect of the work.
Working with men
After four years of working with women, the Heart-Work team was approached and asked if they would run a course for the men. After some reservations, the first men's course was run at Medium B prison, in Johannesburg Correctional Facility in May 2006. It proved to be very successful and the course is now run regularly with male prisoners.
Expanding Heart-Work
The Heart-Work program was offered to the prison warders (called members) for the first time in 2010. The course was well received and was a success. Heart-Work will now run regularly with the prisoners and the members.
Sad Goodbyes
Debbie Jones, the founder of the Heart-Work program, decided to move on to other projects during the course of 2009. She handed Heart-Work over to the capable and energetic Ellen Andreae.
The Heart-Work team wishes to honour Debbie for the enormous amount of time and effort she put into growing Heart-Work’s success. As a founding member of Heartwork, Debbie has always been, and will be, an amazing and inspiring woman. Fortunately for us, Debbie remains on our board of Heart-Work, so we have not lost her insight and talents altogether. We do, however, wish Debbie well for the future. May God bless you and walk with you as you move on to other rewarding projects in the future.
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