Compassion Unlocked: A Journey Through Trauma-Informed Practices

By Jessica Charles- Healing Beyond Bars

"When we feel seen, we begin to heal."

Inside the prison system, something powerful is happening.

Not a programme that skims the surface, this work goes deeper.

Each week, a group of prisoners sit in a circle. No masks. No performances. Just a chance to be real. To be vulnerable. To look at the things they’ve spent years pushing down—anger, shame, fear—and begin to make sense of them.

They’re not being judged. They’re not being told what to do. They’re being listened to, and beside them, prison staff are doing something equally brave. They’re stepping into their own vulnerability too, looking at how trauma shows up in the people they work with, and sometimes, in themselves. It’s not always comfortable, but it’s honest. And it’s changing the way they see their roles, and each other.

This is Healing Beyond Bars. A trauma-informed approach built on the belief that real change happens when people feel safe enough to drop the armour.

Vulnerability isn’t a weakness. It’s the doorway to connection, growth, and healing.

🔓 Unlocking the Story Beneath the Surface

In prison, behaviours speak louder than words. But behind every outburst, withdrawal, or mask of defiance, there’s often a hidden history—neglect, abuse, loss, or a childhood spent learning that the world is not safe.

Our programme invites people to pause, feel, and make sense of their inner world.

Through:

• Weekly psychoeducational and psychotherapeutic workshops

• Sensory tools and body-based calming strategies

• Auricular acupuncture

• Journaling, reflection, and connection

• Peer-led support that honours lived experience

  
  

...we’re witnessing something extraordinary. People are beginning to understand their own nervous systems. They're recognising shame, naming anger, and—perhaps for the first time—offering compassion to themselves.

👥 Staff Need This Work Too

That’s why we’re also delivering a 3-day trauma-informed staff training in prisons across the UK.

This isn’t a tick-box exercise. It’s an experiential, reflective, at times even playful space where staff explore:

• The impact of complex trauma on behaviour

• How addiction can be a survival strategy

• Relational de-escalation techniques grounded in neuroscience

• The emotional toll of working in high-stress environments

Because when staff feel supported, they become better at supporting others. Compassion isn’t just for prisoners—it’s for the people who show up every day in a system that rarely asks how they’re coping.

🌱 The Small Moments Matter

One staff member recently said:

“I’ve worked here for years… but I’m seeing people differently now. It’s changed how I speak to them. And to be honest, it’s changed how I speak to myself.”

One prisoner shared:

“No one’s ever asked me about the part of me that’s trying to protect me. Now I know why I’ve been so angry.”

This is what trauma-informed practice does. It brings softness into hard places. It invites safety where there’s been survival. It unlocks compassion—within others, and within ourselves.

📌 Follow us for future reflections, real stories, and practical tools from the frontline. Let’s keep the conversation going—because healing isn’t a destination, it’s a journey. And it starts with compassion.

#CompassionUnlocked #TraumaInformedCare #HealingBeyondBars #HMPOakwood #SecondChances #PrisonReform