About Us
JUST Listening fosters personal, organizational, and social change and transformation through the practice of conscious, intentional, compassionate, non-egoic and non-judgmental communication skills.
JUST Listening is premised upon the beliefs that:
- Being heard empowers the speaker
- People hold the solutions to their own problems within
- Skilled listening is creative, opening up new possibilities for all involved, and
can be - a powerful tool for personal and social change.
- Although rarely consulted or listened to, people on the social margins are the best
- source of information and ideas about the issues facing them.
- Skilled listening is possible only when one is actively cultivating self-awareness
and - regular habits of reflection.
I have been and still am a seeker, but I have ceased to question stars and books; I have begun to listen to teaching my blood whispers to me.-Herman Hesse
Our Team
Sharon Browning
Sharon believes that listening justly is foundational to all personal and social change and transformation, and that Love is the fiery core of it all.
She has worked with JUST Listening since 2007, helping to build and promote its offerings and managing its many volunteer programs. She is the former Executive Director of Philadelphia VIP, the hub of pro bono legal services in Philadelphia. and served as Adjunct Faculty at the University of Pennsylvania Law School teaching both Professional Responsibility in Public Interest Practice and in the Clinical Program. She was a consultant for the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Pro Bono and Public Service and also taught for 15 years in the Sociology Department at Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, PA concentrating on global and income inequality issues. Sharon facilitates workshops, staff retreats, and ‘difficult’ conversations for community groups, social services workers, teachers, healthcare professionals, lawyers, judges, law students, and mediators, focusing primarily on those working with marginalized individuals and groups. She served on the team of Radical Justice, a project facilitating anti-racism work in faith-based organization, and is also a trained spiritual guide and retreat director.
Brenna McGinnis
Brenna believes that we can use our creativity and collective wisdom to build communities & organizations that support the humans who are a part of them. She is a proven team leader and service designer with experience in the hospitality, non profit and healthcare industries. As Director of Social Services & Evaluation at Broad Street Ministry she managed the design and delivery of trauma-informed programs providing support to Philadelphians experiencing homelessness and poverty.
As Design Strategist at the Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation she worked with clinical and administrative partners to design and implement programs to support patients and healthcare workers, including the the Elevating Well-being Initiative designed to prevent healthcare worker burnout. She holds a degree in behavioral economics, certification in creating trauma-informed communities, and has extensive training in design thinking, data analysis and visualization.
Fred Magondu
Fred Magondu has been a member of the JUST Listening (JL) Core Team since 2017, shaping the direction of the work, creating workshops and facilitating numerous others. During his incarceration, Fred was also involved with other social justice organizations, (including Let’s Circle Up, Alternatives to Violence, Community Forgiveness & Restoration and Practical Discipleship) which sought to empower prisoners and community members to identify and surface responses and solutions to the issues facing. He is a father of four teenage children and now lives in Kenya where he established JUST Listening Africa (JULIA), which aims to introduce listening justly in Kenyan prisons, and in the community. Fred also works with the marginalized indigenous Taturu community of Chagana in Tabora Province. Tanzania.
Donna Duffey
Donna Duffey has been an activist and advocate for the rights of individuals with disabilities for 28 years, since her daughter was born with Down Syndrome and autism. Donna cared for Madison at home until she was placed in residential care and continues to oversee her care. In 2013, Donna became a Listener in the Just Listening Program, listening at the Catholic Worker Clinic, St. Francis Inn, Thea’s Women Center, and Prevention Point, all located in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. Donna also is a member of the Core Team Listening project at SCI Graterford/now Phoenix. She delights in caring for and participating in the activities of her twelve grandchildren. Donna is an avid student of contemplative practice and is a graduate of the Living School at the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque. Donna loves the work of listening justly and looks forward to future endeavors to expand the work to other venues.
John A. Moore
John A. Moore designs and facilitates workshops for several organizations within SCI-Phoenix: Alternative to Violence; JUST Listening; and Let’s Circle Up, a restorative justice education program. Mr. Moore has worked in the Law Library at SCI-Graterford and -Phoenix for 18 years, researching and litigating his own wrongful conviction and helping countless other incarcerated people fight their own cases. While incarcerated, he as engaged in trainings ranging from culinary arts/restaurant trades, business administration, personal training, among many others. He also completed a yoga instructor training with Yoga Transformation Yoga Project in 2020. He is committed to a life of service and considers just listening to be fundamental to all of humanity.
Patricia A. Way
Patricia A. Way is an Assistant Professor of Justice Studies and Coordinator of the Restorative Justice Program at Chestnut Hill College. Tricia earned her PhD at Temple University, where she also completed the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Training Institute in 2010. She has taught several Inside-Out courses in local men’s state prisons and the federal detention center in Philadelphia, each with a focus on the intersections of gender and the criminal law creation, enforcement, adjudication, and sanctioning systems in the US (with a focus on Pennsylvania). Tricia places restorative justice philosophies and practices at the center of her teaching and completed the Certification in Restorative Justice Leadership and Facilitation from the University of San Diego in 2022. Her current research, service, and community collaborations currently focus on overturning wrongful convictions in Philadelphia (and beyond).