The Compassion Prison Project

"When you study prison populations, you see a common preponderance of childhood trauma and mental illness. The two go together. So what we have in prisons is our most traumatized people in our society."
​                                            ~Dr. Gabor Mate

I feel grateful to have had the chance this past week to interview the inspiring Fritzi Horstman, the Executive Director and Founder of the Compassion Prison Project. Fritzi's work aims to bring more humanity and compassion to incarcerated men and women, so that they can experience the love, connection, and belonging needed to re-enter society and to give back in ways that not only make a difference in the communities that they came from, but to also empower themselves to find meaning and purpose in their own lives. 

Fritzi's most important message to the men and women that she works with in the prison system is that their true nature is not violent and hateful but instead magnificent and magical. She wants them to understand that they are not defined by their trauma or the crimes that they have committed that put them behind bars. She wants them to understand that deep within themselves, they are kind, caring, and good people who never had the chance that other people had in life. Fritzi wants each inmate she works with to find the good within themselves and to find a purposeful way to give back to their communities and to better learn about the devastating impact that trauma can have. 

As Dr. Gabor Mate says, our prisons are filled with the most traumatized individuals in our society. Childhood trauma comes in many different forms. In this episode, Fritzi discusses the Adverse Childhood Experiences Test (ACE Test) which anyone can take for free. This test has a series of questions that you either answer 'yes' or 'no' to and then gives you an ACE score out of ten. She highly recommends that all people take the ACE Test as it can help them understand the impact that trauma may or may not have had in their lives. 

Fritzi has a very creative side to her that was developed even further through her work in the movie industry. She is a TV producer, director and writer and won a Grammy award for best music film working alongside Dr. Dre in 2017 in the documentary series The Defiant One. She has also worked with many other well-known stars over the years including Jewel, Richard Dreyfuss, Christian Slater, Jennifer Lopez, Alyssa Milano, Ashton Kutchar and many more. Although she found success in the movie industry, she has found much greater purpose and meaning in the work she now does with the Compassion Prison Project.

My conversation with Fritzi dives very deeply into the impact of childhood trauma, the importance of compassion for others and compassion for self, the power of belonging and connection, and the need to look more closely at our own lives and the work we need to do to live with more fulfillment and meaning. 

If you intend on listening to this podcast, I highly recommend that you first watch the video below. In this video you will see Fritzi lead the 'compassion trauma circle' with 235 inmates in Lancaster, California on February 12th, 2020. It is a powerful video that reveals the inspiring work that Fritzi has devoted herself to. 

Hope you have a chance to listen to my conversation with Fritzi Horstman. Please share the episode with anyone who you think will benefit from listening to it. You can access the podcast by clicking on the photo below and if you want to connect with Fritzi, she'd be happy to hear from you. All of her contact information can be found in the show notes of this episode.