Introduction

When I heard about the Violence and Learning: Taking Action (VALTA) Project I was immediately interested, as it brought together two areas in which I already had a strong involvement. At the time, I was coordinator of the Read and Write Adult Literacy Program in Camrose.¹⁷ I was also the chairperson of the local Family Violence Action Society.

As a coordinator, I had found that the majority of students in the literacy program were living with past and/or present traumas and had had difficulties in the regular school system. I wanted to create a space and a program where they could experience security and success. I had heard about Deborah Morgan's work with writing in literacy and employment programs and thought that a similar approach would help me create the kind of program I envisioned. As I learned more about Deborah's Writing Out Loud program (Morgan, 2001), I saw that it used many of the techniques and ideas I was learning about in the VALTA course. I began the training to become a certified Writing Out Loud facilitator and wanted to see what would happen if I facilitated a Writing Out Loud group using what I was learning and becoming through the VALTA course. This interest became the starting point for my Changing Practices research project.

My Project

Laurie Kehler, another VALTA Project member, and I chose to cofacilitate a weekly women's writing group. At the time, Laurie worked for the Writenet Project¹⁸ that trains Writing Out Loud facilitators. Laurie and I worked together with a writing group for ten weeks, at which point other commitments took Laurie out of town. We had initially planned to wrap up the writing group at that time, but the group's commitment was so strong that I chose to continue with them on my own for another two months.