Henry David Thoreau is credited with saying:

     “For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil, there is one striking at the root.”

     That thought has stayed with us for years. Throughout our careers, we have watched prison inmates struggle with the consequences of their choices.

     Parents tried to help. Teachers tried to help. Counselors tried to help. Friends tried to help. Courts tried to help. Sometimes change occurred. Sometimes it did not. Over time, we became increasingly interested in a simple question: What shapes a person’s choices?

     We call that exploration Root-Cause Rehabilitation. Root-Cause Rehabilitation involves difficult conversations that help individuals face the realities that shaped their lives and choices.

     Those difficult conversations can happen anywhere. Between friends. Within families. In recovery groups. In counseling sessions. In churches. In prisons. Anywhere trust, honesty, and a desire for change come together.

     Most of us know something about that. Real change rarely begins with more information. It begins with a choice to face something we have not wanted to face with someone we trust.

     For some people, those realities involve trauma. For others, they involve family influences, destructive relationships, addiction, poor choices, or beliefs formed long before the consequences appeared.

     Root-Cause Rehabilitation does not excuse harmful behavior. It asks a harder question: What brought you here?

For us, that question led to another: How can these difficult conversations occur more often and more effectively within prisons?

     The Kronos Project grew from that question. The Kronos Project is our primary prison-based delivery system for Root-Cause Rehabilitation. Over time, trust is built. Relationships are formed. Difficult questions are asked. Honest conversations begin. Difficult answers are found.

     Kronos Choices, Kronos Prison Reads, Kronos Workshop, and other initiatives help prepare the ground. The Kronos Project is where those conversations can take root.

     We continue exploring these ideas because we believe lasting change often begins when people are willing to face the realities they have spent years avoiding.

     If these questions interest you, we invite you to continue exploring them with us.