Courtesy photo.
SANTA BARBARA — As founders of The Freedom to Choose Project, husband-and-wife team David Paul, M.D., Ph.D. and Bonnie Paul, Ph.D. have worked with thousands of inmates and large volunteer teams in medium-to-maximum security prisons. Presenting the April 2 SBCC School of Extended Learning Mind & Supermind lecture, the dynamic couple will help attendees discover their own potential for transformation through selfless service.
From 7:30-9:30 p.m. Monday, April 2, at the SBCC Schott Auditorium, the experiential lecture “How Selfless Service Can Transform You and the World” will include a video showing the power of this transformational work in the prisons. Drs. David and Bonnie Paul will discuss how volunteers serving in traumatic circumstances can also care for themselves, allowing them to flourish in their work.
Through practical exercises informed by recent findings in neuroscience, attendees will begin to learn and practice service skills that have the potential to transform both their lives and the world around them. They will also learn to incorporate these skills into their personal and work lives and discover how to “be the change they want to see in the world.”
“Our natural capacity for caring and empathy for others, without good self-care practices, can lead to what’s known as ‘secondhand trauma’ and caregiver burnout,” said Dr. David Paul. “Many of us experienced this in the aftermath of the recent Montecito debris flows. We will discuss recent findings in neuroscience that inform self-care practices that volunteers in any service capacity can benefit from.”
Through their volunteer work at The Freedom to Choose Project, Drs. David and Bonnie Paul train volunteers to serve in prisons, working with inmates on practical life skills, such as communication, self-responsibility and emotional intelligence. These volunteers often hear difficult stories but are able to restore themselves and avoid the all-too-common experience of volunteer “burnout.” There are typically waiting lists for their 80-90 person prison volunteer teams. The Pauls have been leading prison programs for over 13 years and co-founded the nonprofit Freedom to Choose Project in Santa Barbara in 2010.
- WHAT: SBCC School of Extended Learning Mind & Supermind lecture, “How Selfless Service Can Transform You and the World”
- WHEN: Monday, April 2, 2018, 7:30 – 9:30pm
- WHERE: Schott Auditorium, 10 W Padre St, Santa Barbara, CA 93105
- ADMISSION: $20
- EVENT INFO:(805) 687-0812
- MEDIA CONTACT: Angel Pacheco/Juliana Minsky, (805) 687-3322
Please register here.
Course number: 202197
SBCC School of Extended Learning partners with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department to offer skills training to inmates at the local jail. This includes short-term vocational and General Educational Development (GED) programs.
About the SBCC School of Extended Learning: The School of Extended Learning responds to the diverse learning needs of the adult population in the Santa Barbara community by advancing career and life skills, and building bridges to credit. www.sbcc.edu/ExtendedLearning