What is AVP?

The Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) is an international network of trained volunteers, which delivers workshops for people who want to learn how to manage anger and handle conflict without using, or being the victim of, violence in any of its many forms. We help people address anger and aggression, whether they are perpetrators or victims. We also provide training for people who want to become workshop facilitators themselves.

Workshops draw on participants’ own experiences and definitions of different forms of violence – physical and psychological - and use group exercises, activities, and discussions to explore non-violent ways of dealing with aggression, anger and conflict. Facilitated by trained volunteers, workshops are designed to help develop and strengthen:

• Listening and communication skills
• Self-esteem, and seeing the good in others
• Trust in yourself, and other people
• Awareness of personal choice and responsibility
• Respect and empathy
• Co-operation and community
• Problem solving and conflict resolution

In London, our ‘Facing up to Conflict’ workshops are delivered in Shoreditch, just five minutes’ walk from Old Street tube station.

Our history

AVP began in 1975, in New Haven Prison, New York, in response to a request from a group of long-term prisoners for support with conflict management. The success of the programme led to it spreading within the prison system at first, then into the wider community, and ultimately overseas. AVP now has a presence in over 40 countries around the world, including New Zealand, Costa Rica, Israel, Russia and South Africa.

AVP started working in the UK in 1988, and became a registered charity in 1997. Since then, workshops have been delivered to countless ordinary people who have recognised their need to address the conflict, anger and violence in their lives.