1. Introduction

2003

This Guide is intended to complement the Correctional Service of Canada publication, "Circles of Support and Accountability: A Guide to Training Potential Volunteers," (referred hereafter as the Guide to Training Potential Volunteers 2002. It is a tool intended to assist with the training of volunteers. This Guide is designed for the Local Project Co-ordinators, (LPCs^{Footnote 1}), and their Advisory Panels or Boards of Directors in their work of building and managing a Circle of Support and Accountability (COSA) project. Both volumes should be used together.

A. Purpose

For the past several years, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) Chaplaincy has invested in Circles of Support and Accountability to help communities respond to the needs of high-risk sex offenders who are released at the end of their sentence. It became evident as the project grew that training resources were needed to support the establishment of COSAs across Canada. The Guide to Training Potential Volunteers 2002, this Guide and several videos are among the resources developed thus far.

Contained in this Guide are suggested guidelines that have evolved from the work of COSA projects across Canada. In particular, the pioneering work of the Community Reintegration Project of the Mennonite Central Committee of Ontario, as well as COSA Projects in Moncton, Peterborough, Kingston, Kitchener, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Victoria have contributed to the development of this Guide.

As with the Guide to Training Potential Volunteers 2002, the need for this Guide speaks to the success of COSAs nationally and internationally. Indeed, the rapid growth of COSA is evidence that these projects are becoming a grass roots "movement" with strong links to community-based organizations throughout the country and around the world. It is important to acknowledge that no manual can fully capture the spirit of such a movement or the learning that occurs when community is created in the ways described in this Guide.