Compassion In Action Compassion Prison Project

Another road map to transformation with the unstoppable visionary Richard Mireles. This conversation will also be included in our Trauma Talks series and will be delivered to prison tablets across the nation!



Richard Mireles is a dynamic public speaker and expert communicator with advanced leadership and communication certifications with the world-recognized Toastmasters International. He is Certified Career Coach having graduated under the tutelage of Master Coaches Christina Lee and Dr. Yvette Hall of Paradigm 360 LLC. An inspiring leader and powerful orator who delivered over 65 transformational coaching seminars and workshops. Richard possesses the uncanny ability to capture a room’s attention while conveying impactful messages to any audience. Having spent over 20 years inside the CDCR, Richard made abundant contributions as a co-founder of the Inside Solutions think tank and lead intern for CROP Organization’s programs offered within correctional institutions. Richard graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Healthcare Management from California Coast University.



He has an advanced certification as an Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) (CADC II) counselor who received a certificate of recognition from the California State Senate for his contributions to the recovery community. He is a graduate of Initiate Justice's "Institute of Impacted Leaders" and has spoken as a criminal justice reform advocate at the California State Capitol on 5 separate occasions and has conducted 90 legislative visits. Richard is also the only known incarcerated person to earn the status of Associate Trainer from John Maxwell’s EQUIP Leadership.



Richard was found suitable for parole at his initial Board of Parole Hearing and was released in March of 2019. Today he is the Director of Outreach and Engagement at CROP Organization and Host of The Prison Post Podcast. He trains transformational/personal empowerment seminars in carceral settings, community colleges, and leaders of nonprofit organizations.

Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., is the President of the Trauma Research Foundation, Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Medical School and author of NYTimes Bestseller “The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma.

Join CPP Founder Fritzi Horstman and guests as they discuss the objectives and approaches involved in bringing trauma awareness and compassionate healing to the forefront of public conversation.















After a twenty-year career in family practice, Dr. Gabor Maté began working in Vancouver’s Eastside area with patients who were challenged by addiction and mental illness. Dr. Maté is the best-selling author of four books published in over twenty-five languages, including In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress, Scattered Minds: The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder and, along with Dr. Gordon Neufeld, Hold On To Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers.Dr. Maté is an internationally renowned speaker, highly sought after for his expertise on addiction, trauma, childhood development and the relationship between stress and illness. He is currently writing his next book entitled The Myth of Normal: Illness and Health in an Insane Culture, due out in late 2021.Dr. Maté developed a new therapeutic approach called Compassionate Inquiry which is now being studied by hundreds of therapists, physicians and counselors in their practices.2:32 – The system is working the way it was designed to. When They See Us – TV series discussed.3:50 – Quote from Gabor Maté’s book and Fritzi’s 8 ACEs.4:54 – Promiscuity, workaholics – the need to be lovable and valuable. Addiction patterns serve a purpose.6:30 – Society belittles people for their trauma coping behaviors.7:27 – Manifestations of trauma (violence, obesity examples) – society’s attitude and self judgement.8:17 – What if instead, everyone from schools to courts took trauma into account?8:50 – People in leadership roles are in fight or flight when making decisions about our lives.9:08 – Leaders (like Presidents) and their traumatized behaviors.10:42 – Lawmakers have no problem supporting wars, causes of poverty.11:10 – Traumatized people in positions of power.12:15 – Comparing President Carter with Presidents JFK and Clinton.14:52 – The system is running as it was designed to.15:29 – Traumatized people who volunteer for the military – PTSD and addiction.17:30 – Former Veteran in prison.18:02 – Society creates trauma in the first place then turns traumatized into enemies.18:40 – Protecting society from violent criminals doesn’t mean we need to put them in prison in its current format.19:50 – False equivalence between current prison system and protecting society.20:11 – How the system has failed.20:52 – We are only tough on lower class crime.21:44 – Accountability and the hypocrisy of the prison system.22:10 – Prisoners charged money to call families or buy enough food.24:24 – Correctional Officers are also highly traumatized.25:30 – Many professions have tremendous stress, but no one helps the employees.26:23 – Systemic ignorance of trauma and stress.27:16 – Self-care while under stress – Gabor describes his ordeal as an expert witness for the courts system. Courts don’t care about the truth, only who wins.32:19 – How can the average person deal with assaults and hostility within the courtroom?33:37 – Court appointment physicians thought the accused had a happy childhood. Gabor Mate’ discovered he in fact did not.35:55 – Addicts are not making a conscious choice – there is a good reason behind the behavior.37:11 – Addiction behaviors make people feel like a human being, alive and vital.38:55 – Protective shutting down of emotion by the brain during childhood trauma.39:20 – Medical professionals including a famous Psychiatrist who don’t understand trauma (ACEs).41:00 – Things are starting to slowly change for the better.41:36 – Trauma education is needed so that we can stop hurting

Over the last thirty years, Dr. Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children’s mental health and the neurosciences holding a variety of academic positions. His work on the impact of abuse, neglect and trauma on the developing brain has impacted clinical practice, programs and policy across the world.

Dr. Joe holds a Bachelor of Science degree and is a Doctor of Chiropractic. His postgraduate training includes the fields of neuroscience and neuroplasticity, quantitive electroencephalogram EEG measurements, epigenetics, mind-body medicine and brain heart coherence as a researcher, lecturer, author and corporate consultant. His interests lie in demystifying the mystical so that people have all the tools within their reach to make measurable changes in their lives.

Stephen W. Porges, Ph.D. is Distinguished University Scientist at Indiana University where he is the founding director of the Traumatic Stress Research Consortium. He is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of North Carolina, and Professor Emeritus at both the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Maryland.