Resolving Conflict: Restorative Circles Learning Event March 13-15

RantWoman thinks the following event is so important it is geeting publicized on BOTH her mostly non-geek blogs.


Dear friends of Seattle’s Community Restorative Justice Pilot Project,

I write to invite you to participate in an upcoming Restorative Circles Learning Opportunity on 3/15/2014.  As leaders in the community and in this work, it is my hope that if you haven’t already taken a Restorative Circles workshop that you will participate in this or another full day session to get a felt sense of the practice.  This workshop will inform the ongoing conversations and decisions about how we build our community-based restorative justice systems, serves as the first step toward being a facilitator of Restorative Circles (with connected practice opportunities following), and is the type of workshop that we can offer to community partners as we build awareness and capacity for Restorative Justice in our communities. 

This learning opportunity is hosted by a community partner, the Center for Spiritual Living, but is free as “Service Learning” for those who are committed to service in support of the Community Restorative Justice Pilot Program.  

Here is the description:

Are you interested in greater harmony and deeper connection in your communities, family and organizations? Can you imagine engaging conflict in a way that builds relationships, deepens connection and learning?  Restorative Circles support people to step into important and bold conversations with safety and provide a mechanism for vibrant, ongoing, community-based restorative justice systems.  

The "Restorative Circle" we are sharing is a restorative justice practice developed by Dominic Barter in Brazil that is used in a wide range of communities, schools, court systems, and organizations in Seattle and around the world.  www.restorativecircles.org. It is one of the core Restorative Practices in the Community Restorative Justice Pilot Project being developed by the City of Seattle's Restorative Justice Initiative.  A recent University of Rochester video helps bring this practice to life.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bazgiTyieKo.

This facilitated, face-to-face dialogue process empowers those involved in and impacted by conflict to understand and take responsibility for the consequences of their actions, meet the needs of  those who caused harm, those who were harmed, and the community, and engage in collective action to repair harm, restore relationships, prevent future incidents, and promote healing.  Restorative Circles provide a proven, evidence-based alternative to punitive justice and disciplinary systems and a way to interrupt the disproportionate and negative effects those systems have in our communities. 

This Restorative Circles workshop  will allow you to explore the Restorative Circle practice for yourself and, if you like it, consider participating as a leader in establishing restorative systems in your own organizations and communities. We provide hands-on experience and tools that you can use right away to advance a culture of peace. 

In the immediate aftermath of a Seattle police officer's fatal shooting of John T. Williams, a First Nations wood carver, a Restorative Circle was held between
Police Chief John Diaz, top department officials, and the grieving family. See Andrea's article at:  www.tikkun.org/nextgen/a-restorative-circle-in-the-wake-of-a-police-shooting.

Registration on line: www.spiritualliving.org/classes or in person at Center for Spiritual Living Seattle. Contribution: $95.  DISCOUNTS to $55 per person for registration
of groups of two or more to encourage the creation of restorative systems.  Free Service Learning opportunities are available for those supporting Seattle's Community Restorative Justice Pilot Project or Restorative
Practices at the Center for Spiritual Living. To register for service learning, please notify Susan Latta at AdultEd@spiritualliving.org or (206)
527-8801.
 
About the Facilitators:
Andrea Brenneke is a passionate advocate for justice and facilitator of individual and community healing and empowerment.  Andrea now serves as the Director of Restorative Justice for the City of Seattle's newly established Restorative Justice Initiative after twenty years of practicing civil rights and employment law and mediation.  She also serves as a licensed practitioner with the United Centers for Spiritual Living, Seattle. Andrea offers facilitation in Restorative Circles and Peacemaking Circles and works with communities to build restorative justice systems.  She is an apprentice to Dominic Barter.  

Susan Partnow is a community builder, mediator, organizational development and training consultant.  She serves as a catalyst for positive changes through workshops, retreats, and coaching. Co-founder of Conversation Cafes and Let's Talk America, Sr. Trainer and co-creator of the Advanced Training and Certification track with The Compassionate Listening Project, founder and Executive Director of Global Citizen Journey, Susan wrote Everyday Speaking for All Occasions and currently works as Sr. Organizational Development consultant for Swedish Medical Services. www.susanpartnow.com.  She also is an apprentice to Dominic Barter.

Future Restorative Circles workshops sponsored by Center for Spiritual Living:  June 5, 2014 and October 25, 2014. 

On-site workshops can be arranged for communities of 10 or more.
Questions? Please contact Andrea Brenneke at abrenneke@gmail.com or 206.696.1843.
 Andrea Brenneke | Director of Restorative Justice| City of Seattle
Andrea.Brenneke@seattle.gov | 206-233-3750 | PO Box 94749, Seattle, WA 98124

Restorative Circles, mediations, facilitated conversations and negotiations for the purpose of reaching a voluntary resolution to conflict through Restorative Justice are conducted under the Uniform Mediation Act RCW 7.07.  All communication made for the purpose of considering, conducting, participating in, initiating, continuing or reconvening efforts to resolve conflict are privileged and confidential.  

(RantWoman infogeek note: RantWoman is trying to figure out how the "privileged and confidential" part of the above boilerplate squares with wanting to publicize this event and the logic and process of restorative circles widely through social media.)

(Further, not ONLY sarcastic aside: awhile ago at RantWoman's Meeting, the Adult Religious Education had a whirlwind tour of various topics related to conflicts. If it were up to RantWoman though RantWoman would send her whole Meeting through a specific set of focussed exercises...



The Youtube video listed above: