Inanna Institute
We work at a threshold between worlds—between prison and freedom, grief and renewal. Inspired by the Sumerian goddess Inanna’s descent to the underworld, our programs accompany women as they navigate profound transformations of incarceration and re-entry.We believe that healing begins when we are witnessed, not fixed; when we can rest in the depth of our stories and allow something new to be born.We believe that we are interconnected by our grief, and that when one person holds grief we all hold it, and when we tend to grief we all benefit.
Inanna Institute was formally established as a Washington nonprofit to support incarcerated individuals through grief, loss, and life transitions by providing confidential, nonjudgmental listening, peer support, therapeutic arts exploration, and related education.Inanna also seeks to expand access to these supports for individuals impacted by systems of isolation, marginalization, or confinement in the community through a network of trained volunteer partners dedicated to presence, dignity, and compassionate engagement.
support our work
Inanna's first fundraising priority is to build a fund to sustain the longstanding Shanti Inmate Support Project in Washington Corrections Center for Women, where our founder began her work there in 2007.Your donation helps us train volunteer listeners, facilitate trauma-informed painting, writing, and grief workshops, and bring compassionate presence to those navigating isolation and transition in prison and post-prison communities. Each contribution strengthens the network of care, reminding every person of their inherent worth and belonging.Listening is how we see and remember one another again.
Mission
We hold space for people navigating descent, healing, and return. We offer places where people can be witnessed without judgment, reclaim their voice, and rediscover meaning.We believe that listening itself can be an act of liberation—a quiet sanctuary that restores dignity and the capacity to grieve, dream, and rejoin the world whole.Rooted in the mythic journey of Inanna, our programs honor each person’s lived experience as sacred, a passage through loss and renewal.Vision
We envision a culture that makes space for descent—where grief is shared, dreams are valued, and those returning from incarceration and isolation are met with respect and belonging.Our work reclaims the ancient logic of renewal: that out of dismemberment we can re-member; out of loss, we can re-weave community.By building sanctuaries, both real and symbolic, we help transform carceral spaces into sites of awakening and compassion.Join us.
Please join our mailing list
We would love to hear from you and update you as we build a community of support for this work. Please share your contact information below.
Image: Representation of Inanna/Ishtar at the exhibition 'Venerated and Feared' at Caixa Forum in Zargoza (Spain) December 2024 to March 2025. Plaque of baked straw-tempered clay. The goddess was originally painted red. Loaned for the exhibition by The Trustees of the British Museum.
Thank you
Thank you for visiting Inanna.
Representation of Inana/Ishtar at the exhibition 'Venerated and Feared' at CaixaForum in Zargoza (Spain) December 2024 to March 2025. Loaned for the exhibition by The Trustees of the British Museum.