You can’t do Restorative Justice without community members. I believe they bring in collective wisdom. I train our volunteers on aspects of Restorative Justice, and request they show up with their best selves.
I focus on Restorative Justice Accountability as being:
acknowledging you caused harm
understanding that harm from anothers point of view
recognizing where you had choices
take steps [...]
I had the good fortune of speaking on a panel. The focus was social justice, we were given the task to define this, and explain it relevant to our Pledge of Allegiance ” . . . with liberty and justice for all . . . “. I was in the middle of the line up so [...]
Consider for a moment your most conflicted relationship. Who are you at conflict with right now? Today, at this moment. The person maybe part of your inner circle of connections, your child, spouse, friend or coworker. Maybe you have a more distant relationship that is in conflict, a boss, an ex-wife, an old boyfriend.
Conflict is [...]
In Bikram Yoga, (my blog links, one with a video) the poses are held for 30 or 60 seconds. As you feel your body tense and you are struggling to hold the pose (in the 104 degree room). The teacher will say “change”. As smoothly as possible, you move to the next position or the pause [...]
This might be a bit of an ‘arm chair’ quarterback perspective. Here’s my belief and my blog post today:
You remain motivated by fear, when you continue to walk in the dark.
I just started reading Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, by David Hawkins. It was one of those odd occurances where something [...]
Often times, the process of participating in a Circle or Community Conference means a lot to community members and victims attending. I am often times impressed with how having the discussion, removes a great deal of weight in the room. Weight off the shoulders of the offender, for the harm caused. Weight off of the [...]
I got to the hotel banquet room early. I wish I would have snapped a photo. The SCVRJP logo was on the program at each place setting. Coffee mugs with the SCVRJP logo created a circle shaped center pieces. There were 15 roundtables, each seating eight set up the length of the banquet room. As [...]
One of the most popular posts on my blog, has a picture of stairs. The point of the blog, is learning stairs. Playing off the term ‘learning curve’. I do think the popularity of the post, is not in it’s content, but in the photo. People search stairs, and that photo catches them and gives [...]
“I was at a training, about leadership and meetings. They said something that struck me, and reminded me of Circle. They said the meeting doesn’t start until every voice is heard.” – spoken in a talking circle.
My immediate thought was about how many meetings I was in that had really never started! It also validated [...]
