While the direction “to love one’s inner child” has little meaning for those inexperienced in love, the dare to write about a past self so fully that another can inhabit your skin provides those who haven’t developed compassion for themselves a back-door entry into accepting the selves they have been. That dare– “to help another person to truly care” – becomes doubly powerful when extended to those caught in the carceral ecosystem. Herstory’s curriculum was designed to allow newcomers to writing workshops implement them in carceral settings.