The Cultivating Justice CoLaboratory
The CoLab is a community-engaged research initiative housed in the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Our mission is to disrupt destructive cycles of harm and trauma for those involved in the criminal legal system by transforming disconnection, dehumanization, and othering to connection, rehumanization, and belonging.
Through community-academic partnerships that integrate academic and lived expertise, we develop and implement interventions rooted in restorative and contemplative practices, and conduct rigorous research on the effects of these interventions for individuals and communities impacted by incarceration, as well as those who work in the criminal legal system.
CoLab in the news!
Center for Healthy Minds
Community Wisdom is Transforming Wellbeing Initiatives and Research
Collaborations between Wisconsin community members and researchers at the Center for Healthy Minds highlight the power of initiatives and research grounded in trust, listening, and lived experience.
Wisconsin Public Radio
Promoting Healing During and After Incarceration
CoLab members Dan Grupe and Deb Mejchar were interviewed about the powerful combination of lived and academic expertise on the Wisconsin Public Radio show “University of the Air.”
Center for healthy minds
Can Mindfulness and Community Break the Cycle?
With funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, CHM researchers are investigating the potential of mindfulness practices for supporting transitions from prison back into the community