Healing in a Hard Place

Greetings!

Last year I began research on an Oregon program that allows victims of serious and violent crime to meet with their offenders. The program is called Facilitated Dialogue, and it has led to some remarkable transitions in people's lives. Prior to the establishment of the program, victim survivors were not allowed to have any contact with their offenders, not even letters could be exchanged.

I am happy to share an article I wrote about the program, which was featured in today's Sunday Oregonian.

HEALING IN A HARD PLACE (The Oregonian May 23, 2010)

How do people heal from violent crime? How do they mend after a rape or assault, or after losing a loved one to murder? How do they get over the grief, anger and gnawing sense that no matter what happens, justice will never be served?

For Patricia Dahlgren, whose mother, June Duncan, was abducted and strangled in December 1995, the answer came from an unusual source: the man who killed her mother.

Full Article

ON-LINE CHAT

Tomorrow (Monday, May 24,) at noon Pacific Time, you can join me in a live Q&A hosted by the Oregonian. If you have any questions about the program, please join me by logging onto Oregon Live. If you go to the site now, you can sign up for a reminder.

Thank you so much for your continued interest and support of my work. I have been speaking at church assemblies on the topics of forgiveness, restorative justice and the death penalty, and continue to meet with book and writing groups. If your group or congregation is interested in a presentation, please feel free to contact with me or my publicist at the following email addresses: naseem@naseemrakha.com or jessica@terracommunications.biz.

Sincerely,

Naseem Rakha