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Programs Offered

  • Documentary Screening (internal) - Released in 2016, The IF Project is a 90-minute feature length documentary that explores the reasons behind the staggering numbers of female incarceration in the United States. Filmed over a seven-year period in Washington State Corrections Centre for Women, the film follows a group of women incarcerated in a maximum-security women’s prison who are part of a writing workshop by a Seattle police detective and a repeat offender serving a nine-year sentence.
     
  • WRITING INTENSIVE (internal or external) This is a one-day workshop which uses expressive writing and truth-telling to introduce participants to the IF Project’s primary question, “IF there was something someone could have said or done to change the path that led you here, what would it have been?” This initial question invites participants to begin the process of exploring their life experiences with trust and curiosity. Simple meditation and movement practices are also introduced in this workshop.
     
  • PERSONAL REENTRY EDUCATION PLAN (P.R.E.P) (internal)- This is an eight-session program that focuses on participants developing a personalized reentry plan for their transition back to their community. Topics covered include housing, transportation, access to resources, healthy relationships, stigma, family reunification, personal responsibility, employment readiness, access to education and financial literacy.
     
  • CREATIVE WRITERS’ SERIES (internal)This is an eight-session program that picks up where The Writing Intensive left off by using creative writing to help participants explore their lives through themes such as love and forgiveness, rage and shame, grief and loss, art and beauty, and courage and fear. Using poetic expression as a therapeutic measure, they are able to process the complexity of their life experiences and see themselves again with deeper acceptance and understanding.
     
  • HEALTH & WELLNESS (internal)- This is an eight-session program that focuses on life-planning for physical, emotional, and mental health needs. The objectives of the program are to improve self-esteem and self-worth; increase the ability and self-confidence to ask for help; and to provide participants with the tools they need to thrive both while incarcerated and when they are released into the community. Topics covered include communication tools for developing healthy relationships, personal empowerment, chemical dependency, and emotional health support.
     
  • ReSet (Formerly Re-Prep) (External Programming) - ReSet is an eight-session program designed to provide participants the opportunity to revisit and revise their dynamic individual reentry plans based on current challenges and barriers during their re-entry. Topics include community, technology careers, education, volunteering / services, family reintegration, and effective communication. The class ends with an individual and a collective vision board project.

Graduated Reflection (Internal Programming)

This new weekly workshop encourages long-term participants who have successfully graduated from every IF Project Program (Documentary Screening, Writers Intensive Workshop, Creative Writers Workshop, Health & Wellness Workshop, and P.R.E.P Workshop) to remain involved and active in elevated discussion, creative practices and identifying salient themes for future IF participants. This workshop will be offered weekly and will include advanced creative short story writing, discussions regarding trauma & emotional intelligence, as well as input with IF Project curriculum development.

Personal Growth & Development (Internal Programming)

Personal Growth & Development is a new 8-week (weekly) curriculum designed and reviewed by Graduated Reflection participants. The class is designed for individuals who have successfully graduated from at least two IF Project classes and have demonstrated leadership, critical thinking skills or a desire to seek a deeper understanding of self. Each topic will challenge participants to create projects/action plans associated with their learnings. Topics include: Boundaries, Accountability, Self-Esteem & Self Expression.

Introducing the WE THRIVE Engagement Center

WE Engage (in) Transformational Healing, Reclaiming (our) Individual Voices of Excellence

The IF Project is proud to introduce our newest initiative: the WE THRIVE Engagement Center—a bold and community-centered space designed to support system-impacted individuals in healing, growth, and leadership.

WE THRIVE stands for:

WE Engage (in) Transformational Healing, Reclaiming (our) Individual Voices of Excellence—and that’s exactly what this space was created to do.

Located in Seattle’s Central District, the WE THRIVE Engagement Center is more than a resource hub—it is a space where justice-involved individuals can be seen, supported, and celebrated. From peer mentorship and reentry support to wellness workshops, digital access, and leadership development, WE THRIVE offers programs that meet people where they are and walk alongside them as they build the lives they deserve.

What sets WE THRIVE apart is who leads it: individuals with lived experience of incarceration who are now guiding others through the very systems they once navigated alone. Every program, every conversation, and every offering at WE THRIVE is grounded in compassion, dignity, and possibility.

At The IF Project, we believe that reentry is not a single moment—it’s a journey. And at WE THRIVE, that journey is supported by community, powered by lived experience, and rooted in the belief that everyone deserves the chance to thrive—not just survive.