You Cannot Pet a Cat Like a Dog: Relational Presence in Carceral Settings | Danielle Porter
Educators working with incarcerated youth often interpret behaviors as disruptive or resistant. This workshop proposes a reframing: such behaviors can be understood as expressions of lived emotional worlds shaped by instability, surveillance, and transactional relationships.
Drawing on phenomenology and trauma-informed practice, the session explores how emotional literacy can be cultivated through consistent, non-transactional presence rather than explicit instruction. Many youth in carceral settings are accustomed to relational dynamics in which attention and compliance are exchanged for gain. When they encounter an adult who maintains warmth and firm boundaries without bargaining, confusion and boundary testing often follow. These moments are not failures of rapport, but openings for relational learning.
Using the metaphor of relating to youth “like cats rather than dogs,” participants will examine how calm presence, predictability, and respect for distance can foster safety and trust. Through case examples and guided reflection, the workshop highlights non-transactional presence as a pedagogical and protective practice for both youth and educators.
Danielle Porter
Danielle is an Americorps Member with LVI in support of the Jump Start program.
Her academic background consists of exploring the lived experience of individuals and how one perceives their own experience.
In her observation of the Jump Start program, she focuses on how incarcerated and system-impacted youth experience authority, safety, and presence. Her approach integrates trauma-informed practice with philosophical inquiry, emphasizing non-transactional engagement and embodied relational modeling.