GUIDING RAGE INTO POWER​

 

We believe that people are not the worst things they’ve done, and that with the right tools and support, they can lead lives rooted in healing and service.

What is the GRIP Program?

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Our flagship program, Guiding Rage Into Power (GRIP), is a transformative, evidence-based course designed to help incarcerated individuals become peacekeepers. Rooted in the Leaving Prison Before You Get Out coursebook, this 52-week intensive curriculum emphasizes deep trauma healing, the development of emotional intelligence, and restorative justice principles.

GRIP has been refined over 25 years of direct work with thousands of incarcerated people—mostly with violent offenses—and their victims/survivors. What started in San Quentin has expanded to seven prisons statewide.

Students in the program:

  • Gain insight into the origins of their violent behavior
  • Learn to track and manage their impulses
  • Develop skills to respond rather than react

By learning to identify and express the underlying feelings often hidden beneath anger—such as sadness, fear, and shame—students come to understand and communicate the unmet needs that can fuel rage, guiding it into strength, resilience, and self and community empowerment.

Four Elements of GRIP

A Breath of Freedom

 
 

A Breath of Freedom is a 5-month introductory course designed to plant the seeds of self-awareness and transformation. Drawing from the flagship GRIP program, this course introduces incarcerated individuals to mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and somatic awareness.

Originally developed during the COVID-19 pandemic as an individual in-cell packet-based curriculum, it’s become GRIP’s introductory program in new prison facilities.

A Breath of Freedom

The Women’s Initiative

A Latina woman and a Black woman sit in cap and gown, smiling and looking over their shoulders at the camera
 
 

With a disproportionate number of women having survived abuse, and traditional prison programs often overlooking these realities, GRIP’s initiative provides healing that addresses gender-based trauma.

Launched at Central California Women’s Facility in 2023, the program began with A Breath of Freedom and grew to include a full-year cohort of 28 women in the flagship GRIP program, graduating in January 2025.

A Solution That Works

The GRIP Training Institute has proven that transformative rehabilitation is not only possible—it’s happening. With a track record of results and the infrastructure to scale even further, we’ve built a trauma-informed program that consistently delivers deep personal transformation, reduced recidivism, and cost savings to the state. Its ripple effects reach well beyond individual participants, healing families, communities, and institutions.