Philanthropy

"Uniting people to improve the lives of children affected by poverty.

One World is a non-profit organization that provides fiscal sponsorship and raises funds and awareness for effective grassroots organizations serving children with education, healthcare, and shelter. 80+ One World Champions have raised more than $7 million for 50+ organizations in 23+ countries."-One World Children's Fund

Enneagram Prison Project

“I can't say enough about the amazing work Susan Olesek is doing inside the California Penal System and with the Enneagram Prison Project (EPP) at large.

In 1995, after ten years of teaching the Enneagram, I was asked to teach the Enneagram ‘Inside’ the San Mateo County Department of Corrections Jail Complex Facility to drug-addicted female felons. It was a truly awe-inspiring and life-changing event for me. In that training, I learned more about the Enneagram, human nature, and what was possible than I could have ever imagined. I was so profoundly touched by the experience that I was forever changed. It was then that I knew I wanted to teach the Enneagram to as many people as possible, from all walks of life and in every field possible.

Twenty years later, in 2014, David Daniels, MD, a psychiatrist, a friend and a fellow Enneagram teacher asked me if I would share my experience of working in San Mateo County Jail, and work with Susan and the Enneagram Prison Project. I met Susan and said yes! So I worked alongside her in the men's area of the Santa Clara County Department of Corrections Jail Complex and in 2015, I worked with the women as well.

The inroads Susan has made in EPP were unsurpassed. She was hope in a bottle...hope for the inmates and their futures, hope for their families, hope for the future of rehabilitation, and hope for our communities. She was and continues to make a difference.

Susan is focused and instructive when she teaches and, at the same time. She holds back to allow the inmates to come forward and claim their types and inner experiences but is always open, honest, and self-revealing in return.....  More importantly, she is sensitive and validating... and always so compassionate to the amazing men who wish to reclaim their lives and support their families while still ‘inside’ (incarcerated) and are preparing for when they return to their families and communities ‘outside.’

I was all in! And so were the inmates I met and worked with...the beautiful souls that took a wrong turn and found themselves in over their heads.... and now need to reenter the workforce ‘outside.’ Part of EPP is mentoring former felons. In addition to my mentoring as Katherine Fauvre Consulting, I mentored formerly incarcerated individuals as well.

Over the years, each person I have worked with, whether ‘inside’ or ‘outside’; in a board room, or classroom, has had the opportunity to grow and change exponentially because they learned about their Truetype, their Enneagram type, Tritype® Archetype, and Instinctual type, and discovered their unique view of reality and how to recognize and work with their idealized images, core fears and defense strategies.

These inmates, just like everyone else, just needed a chance to learn what we all have learned about the gifts of the Enneagram. We can all have that chance. . And, Susan continues to make that possible.
— Katherine Chernick Fauvre

How can you help to create change?

Many people ask me what they can do to make a difference. Whether you have a lot of time or only a tiny amount of time, there is a lot you can do to make a difference. Here are the key actions that can be taken to support the possibility of change using the Enneagram, Tritype®, and Instinctual Types.

1.  Engage with the Enneagram: Explore the Enneagram teachings in your own life. By understanding your own Enneagram Type, Tritype®, and Instinctual Type, you can discover your idealized images, core fears, defense strategies, and those of others. With this knowledge, you can improve relationships and support individuals undergoing transformative experiences.

2.  Begin the Dialogue: Initiate conversations about the Enneagram Tritype®, Archetype System, and Instinctual Types and their impact on personal development in the home, at school, at work, and in unconventional settings like correctional facilities. Assist others in their development by discussing ways they can explore not just what they do but why they do what they do, going beyond the surface behaviors to get at the motivations that are underneath.

3.  Encourage Open Discussions about Personality Diversity: Discuss the ways Personality Diversity can impact your relationships at home, at school, at work, and when parenting. Engage in conversations that demonstrate how personality diversity can expand your understanding of the different personality styles.

4. Promote Sensitive and Supportive Communications: Embrace compassion and sensitivity in your interactions with others. The Enneagram fosters self-awareness and personal growth, and leading by example encourages others to engage in their own journey of self-discovery. Remember to depersonalize what seems personal.

5. Donate to Enneagram Type and Tritype® Programs and Certifications: Your contributions directly impact those striving to transform their lives. Donate an In-depth Tritype® Typing Interview to help someone find their Enneagram Type, Tritype®, and Instinctual Type and to promote the critical self-awareness needed to create change. Or donate an Enneagram Tritype® Course as a scholarship. www.enneagramtritypetest.com

6. Spread Awareness: Share the stories of Katherine’s experiences teaching the Enneagram and Tritypes® in county jails, as a child, and as a mother and the EPP with your network. Help raise awareness about the transformative power of the Enneagram Tritype® System and its role in life by sharing videos from Katherine’s YouTube Channel at Katherine Chernick Fauvre | Creator of Tritype®. And share her blogs on the different Tritypes www.katherinefauvre.com.

7. Volunteer: Consider volunteering your time and expertise to the Enneagram Community, Tritype® Projects and the Enneagram Community. Your knowledge and commitment in the field you have mastered can contribute to the success of the any project's initiatives, whether by teaching, mentoring, or providing other forms of support.

8. Advocate for Rehabilitation: Advocate for the inclusion of programs like the Enneagram, Tritype®, and Instinctual Types. Highlight the positive impact of self-awareness, mindfulness, and personal growth on overall community well-being

9. Encourage Research: Participate in qualitative research efforts to discover what we still need to learn about Personality Diversity™ and measure the effectiveness of Enneagram-based teachings and programs.

In Closing, by taking these actions, you can support the Enneagram’s Tritype® and Instinctual Type Systems and their transformative impact on individuals seeking positive change and personal growth at home, school, work, and correctional systems. This work enhances relationships and helps you create a more fulfilling life, both personally and professionally.

—Katherine Chernick Fauvre

To learn more about how you can contribute to this heartfelt work go to:
@http://www.enneagramprisonproject.org/contribute.php

--------About Susan and EPP------------
Susan Olesek, founder of the Enneagram Prison Project, has been teaching the Enneagram “inside” for six years. After witnessing the courageous inner work taking place in prison, she became convinced that the Enneagram is a critical and missing piece for real criminal reform. 

In April of 2012, she founded The Enneagram Prison Project (EPP), determined to bring the transformation she witnessed working with hundreds of inmates to the hundreds of thousands of newly incarcerated every year in the United States by teaching the Enneagram along with mindfulness meditation and sensate-awareness practices.
"We are all in a prison of our own making, in the way that we suffer our personalities."
— Susan Olesek

The First EPP Teachers Training-for-Prison Program

The Women of Elmwood Correctional Facility
and Katherine Chernick Fauvre

From Susan Olesek

Ten participants from Denmark, Ireland, Finland, and all across the United States came to the EPP Pilot Enneagram Teachers Training-for-Prison Program at Vallombrosa Retreat Center in Menlo Park last month. Inspired by people like Clay Tumey, Elam Chance, and Victor Soto, EPP’s first Ambassadors (who also participated all week in training), their intentions (now shared online with everyone) reflected the ways in which they have each been moved to take this work into the world alongside EPP.

We had a packed schedule of learning, including visits to three EPP Programs inside Santa Clara and San Mateo County jails for both men and women. Each of the participants brought with them the utmost respect for EPP students, who truly demonstrated what humility looks like. I didn’t know who I wanted to introduce to the other — the incarcerated men and women who have been studying the Enneagram so diligently and with such self-revelations. Or the EPP training participants who were so eager to love on EPP students and learn from them. I felt like Yenta each night before taking the group to jail, match-making the folks awaiting us inside the gates and carefully pairing them with the trainees.

The visits were too short. Many folks were in tears while they shared together. Many of these same incarcerated EPP students will be released and be with us at this summer’s IEA Conference; some will surely go on to certify to teach the Enneagram with EPP.

Our last group visit was to the women’s program at Elmwood Correctional Facility, where I had invited Enneagram Teacher and EPP training participant Katherine Chernick Fauvre, to come and teach with me this spring. Katherine’s take on these women’s vulnerability included a thoughtful musing about her own reluctance to lead with her own vulnerability:

Katherine Fauvre: I discovered that these women want what all the men and women I have previously taught want: to be happier and more self-aware. Whether I am teaching in executive boardrooms or inside county jails, the results are always the same: Participants feel a profound sense of freedom from the tyranny of their egos and their automatic defense strategies. For most, it is a life-changing experience. Those who choose to learn about themselves through the Enneagram want to understand why they do what they do and how to lead more fulfilling lives. These women want the same thing. In addition, they want to succeed when they return home and to life outside. They want to develop the self-esteem and skills necessary to avoid the pitfalls that led to their incarceration. They want to know how to make sure that they never return to Elmwood Correctional Facility.

These women were very real, their sharing heartfelt, and I found their stories painful to hear. My heart was breaking as these women shared the traumas they experienced as children and what they did not have growing up. And, although they didn’t say it, I could see that they were victims long before they ever victimized others. I felt the desire to be as truthful with them as they were with us. My Type 8 stance of toughness melted away, and I wanted to protect the young and innocent girls these women once were. But more importantly, I wanted to give them every opportunity to learn about themselves the way I learned about myself when I found the Enneagram 30 years ago.

I realized it was rare that I was ever as open and honest as these women. I would have said I was always upfront and truthful, but this — in no way — compares to how easily these women talked about their weaknesses and what led to their incarceration. I knew that my defenses had built a wall around showing such vulnerability. My heart opened in a new way, and I was reminded of what touched me so long ago. I felt I was “more” because of this experience and they were teaching me about myself as much as I was teaching them.

Both incarcerated men and women have demonstrated this raw truthfulness and a desire to know themselves. I am in awe of their transparency and respect their willingness to be vulnerable. I knew that I wanted to be a part of the Enneagram Prison Project. At a core level, I was forever changed again, and I wanted others to have the same experience. I look forward to the lessons these women have for me, and the opportunity to help others discover who they are at a deeper level and support them in the process of create the lives they long to have.
—Katherine Chernick Fauvre

Thank you, Katherine, so much. 

—SUSAN OLESEK AND THE EPP TEAM: And a big thank you to each and every EPP training participant for the week and experiences shared as we piloted our way through this first training. As we did our best together on this first attempt to prepare Enneagram teachers to take this life-changing tool into jails and prisons, to the so many of us that just might need this tool more than anyone. To the so many now incarcerated who deserve the best chance possible to be set free.