Where did AVP start?

In 1975 a group of inmates in Greenhaven Penitentiary in New York State, USA, were worried about the level of violence in the prison. They approached the local Quaker group to help, as the Quakers had been used as marshalls in the Anti-Vietnam marches and had helped to minimise police/protester confrontation during the marches. The Quaker group, along with other interested parties, designed a workshop based on many exercises and games available from the public domain. In 1975, the exercises were gathered into a Basic Manual.

All 3 levels of AVP manuals were published by 1985. The manual's disposition, themes and workshop activities emerge out of a spiritual concept, Transforming Power. This term was coined in 1960 by Larry Apsey who was influenced by Gandhi's Satyagraha and Martin Luther King's Beloved Community. The Philosophy Page expands upon these themes.

How did AVP come to Australia?

AVP came to Queensland in 1990, when Steve Angell from Pennsylvania (who developed the AVP Mandala, and toured USA and the world) conducted a series of AVP workshops in Queensland and NSW. Steve Angell was brought to Australia by Relaxed Ron and Louise Hunter, who thought AVP could bring a positive energy into Australian Correctional Centres. Ron still works with AVPQ and Louise is actively involved in AVP Victoria.

The first AVP Prison Workshop in Australia was run in Moreton Correctional Centre in Wacol, Brisbane in April 1991. The workshop was very successful and since then AVPQ workshops have been held in Queensland at Moreton B, Borallon, Sir David Longlands, the Brisbane Women's Prison, Woodford, and Toowoomba jails.

The organisation, Alternatives to Violence Queensland Inc. (AVPQ), was incorporated in 1992. Since that time, AVPQ has continued to be active, conducting workshops in prisons throughout Queensland and establishing community workshops in and around Brisbane.