LOS ANGELES — For recovering gang members in South Los Angeles, learning a healthy way to cope with their emotions is a key component to integrate back into society.

One healing circle hosted by an organization called WARFOA is bringing members from numerous gangs together to kick-start a new and healthier lifestyle.

Seven years ago, Tim Kornegay got his fresh start at the Cease Fire meetings held at a local church every week. 

"This is a place where I refuel," he said. 

It's where he can be around his community, the people he grew up with as a gang member from the in South Central LA. 

His parents got divorced when he was 16 years old, and Tim found acceptance and validation in the streets. 

“We want something to give us a sense of self-worth and a feeling of love and we do that despite the fact that it’s extremely destructive,” he said.

It’s what lead Tim to spend most of his young adult life behind bars. But halfway through his last 22-year sentence, Tim said he had a sudden epiphany, hearing from God that it was time to use his leadership skills for good. 

He realized he had to unlearn toxic behaviors and surround himself with people like Ben Owens, also known as Taco, one of the pioneer leaders who helped launch the Southern California Cease Fire committee. It’s a grassroots organization made up of former and active gang members committed to eliminating gun violence in their community. 

As a former gang member himself, Taco says he’s seen firsthand the lasting impacts of trauma. 

"[When you are] stabbed or shot or victimized or something of that nature, there’s really no apparatus that says, 'hey this needs to be fixed, you’ve experienced trauma,'" he explained.

Which is why Taco invited LaTanya Ward to teach the group healthy coping mechanisms. She leads GUTT Healing Circles — which stands for Gaining Unity Through Transformation — with her organization, WARFOA, focused on the healing, violence prevention, education and workforce development of gang members in South LA.  

“In 2015, I started having, instead of gang meetings with my younger homegirls,” Ward explained. “I would have what we would call ‘conversation parties’ so we can learn how to communicate with each other verbally and not physically.”

When her friend Nipsey Hussle was killed back in 2019, LaTanya organized the Nipsey Peace March, bringing several rival gangs together to walk in unity in his honor. 

She says this is the continuation of that conversation, inviting other gangs into healing circles to teach them how to identify and navigate their emotions in a healthy way. 

Each person was first asked to describe themselves and their stress level. They then did breathing exercises before breaking into groups to determine their core values. 

“My big goal overall is to legit, just spare Black life,” Ward explained.

From that, she says, will come the quality of life and purpose that Tim shows he’s now walking in as a community organizer, helping newly empowered voices impacted by the justice system.

“I’m leading through my transformation," he said. 

Together, they're passing that healing forward to break and create new cycles within this community. 

For more information about the healing circles, click here.