An Introduction to AVP:  The Alternatives to Violence Project

Robert L. Benefield, PhD

Professor of Psychology and Criminal Justice

East Texas Baptist University

rbenefield@etbu.edu

AVP Mission and History

According to the AVP/USA web page (www.avpusa.org) and the AVP Basic Training Manual, the mission of AVP is to empower people to lead nonviolent lives through affirmation, respect for all, community building, cooperation, and trust.  AVP is dedicated to reducing the level of violence in our society. Specifically, this goal is to reduce the level of violence by introducing people to ways of resolving conflict that reduce their need to resort to violence as the solution. The Alternatives to Violence Project is designed to create successful personal interactions and transform violent situations. AVP teaches the same non-violent skills and techniques that were used by Mohandas Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The AVP program began in 1975 at Green Haven Prison (NY) at the request of long-term prisoners.   Inmates collaborated with the Quaker Project on Community Conflict devising a prison workshop. The success of this workshop quickly generated requests for more, and AVP was born.  As the program spread, it became obvious that violence and the need for this training exist wherever there is conflict. Since conflict is a natural and normal part of life, it is found everywhere.  Yet AVP suggests that it is possible to learn new ways of handling conflict. Workshops are offered extensively in communities and schools.   Workshops have been held for businesses, churches, community associations, street gangs, halfway houses, women’s shelters, and many others.  The program has been growing at the rate of 25 to 30 percent each year since. There are currently almost 2000 volunteer AVP facilitators in the USA. In 2007, 840 workshops were conducted in the U.S. (in 32 states), and the program has spread to Canada, England & Ireland, Eastern & Western Europe, New Zealand & Australia, Central America and Cuba, Israel & Jordan, Russia, Africa, India, Hong Kong & Singapore, Japan, and Nepal.

AVP Principles

The basic AVP workshop (24 hours training and experiential exercises) focuses on these factors:

1. Workshops consist primarily of experiential activities including role play activities.
2. Experiential activities are designed to:
   1. Promote as sense of community in the group based on respect for all people in it.
   2. Promote affirmation of self and of one another.
   3. Teach communication skills.
   4. Teach and promote cooperation among persons
   5. Teach basic conflict resolution skills
   6. Ground rules include:
      1. Look for and affirm one another’s good points.
      2. Refrain from putdowns of self or others.
      3. Listen: do not interrupt or speak too long or too often.
      4. Volunteer only yourself, not others.
      5. Observe confidentiality.
      6. Everyone has the right to pass.

The following circle summarizes the key AVP principles:

1)      Respect for self

2)      Caring for others

3)      Expect the best

4)      Think before reacting

5)    Ask for a nonviolent solution

6)    Transforming Power