Community and Family

As the COVID-19 crisis deepens across the country and around the world, most of us are settling into a life characterized by physical distancing and sheltering in place. The IIRP has been receiving numerous inquiries and requests about how restorative practices can be applied to help. Overall, we know that people are the experts in their own communities; in fact, we look forward to people sharing their experiences so we can all learn. (Our social media platforms are already available as a place to share, and we are currently developing other meaningful options.) However, we would like to share some principles derived from restorative practices that might help us frame appropriate responses in our families and work, and with our friends and community.

While the coronavirus is a medical issue, a large part of what we are experiencing is a social crisis. Therefore, the relevance of consciously being relational becomes even more important. As many restorative practitioners

IIRP partner Lutheran Community Care Services (LCCS), of Singapore, is determined to spread restorative practices across the entire island republic. “Our goal is the universal application of restorative practices everywhere,” declares Justin Mui, Director.

They're making great progress, introducing the practices to more than 45 organizations, including the Housing & Development Board (HDB), the State Courts, the prison system and religious organizations.

The HDB provides public housing to 80 percent of Singapore's population, with a mixture of Chinese, Indian, Malay and Filipino residents. Restorative practices helps bridge cross-cultural differences and tensions and resolves neighborhood disputes that would have gone to the State Courts.

The 2019 Shawn Suzch Scholarship has been awarded to Kecia McMillian. Kecia has spent many years working with young people, including those who are homeless, underrepresented, and who have mental health and/or intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The scholarship is awarded annual in memory of Shawn Suzch, a young man who overcame adversity with courage and determination.

Currently an in-home tutor for youth who are struggling with learning, Kecia believes in meeting students where they are to help them reach their goals.

I felt Johan’s absence in the empty spaces between Kristin Verellen’s words.

Verellen was a keynote speaker during the opening session of the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) Europe Conference. The audience of leaders, practitioners, changemakers, scholars, and community advocates gathered at Buda Island in Kortrijk, Belgium to learn more about using restorative practices to enhance community well-being and resilience

A Belgian certified psychotherapist and coach, Verellen spoke in a lilting Dutch accent as she talked about the events of March 22, 2016.

Verellen remembered lingering in bed awhile longer savoring birthday wishes while her life partner, Johan Van Steen, went to work. An hour later, two explosions occurred at Brussels Airport in Zaventem. Shaken by the news, Verellen called Johan to discuss it. Then, the phone line went dead.

This short documentary film was made during the height of the protests in Oakland surrounding potential budget cuts, including cuts to restorative pratices in schools. Students took the bull by the horns, and insisted on being heard by school board reps. To do this, they invited the reps to come down from their elevated seats and join them in a restorative circle. A talking piece was used and students expressed to all present how valuable restorative practices was to them and how it helped them deal with their problems.

Freshman boys at a high school outside Detroit shocked their community by performing a hate-filled anti-Semitic rap song in the lunchroom. But bringing people together to repair the hurt they caused turned an ugly episode into an opportunity to build empathy and respect.

Harm spread throughout the school as a video of the incident circulated. “The most difficult part,” lamented a member of Bloomfield Township's Jewish community, “was that it was not a single individual, but a whole group of 10 or so who were laughing and cajoling, filming and encouraging him.”

More than half of the staff at Bloomfield Hills High School had received professional development in restorative practices. Margaret Schultz, the district’s Administrator for Social Emotional Learning & Educational Equity, also a licensed trainer for the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP), got to work immediately, building understanding and accountability among those involved in the

A one-time gang member in Los Angeles is taking his understanding of his community, his idealism and his knowledge of restorative practices back into neighborhoods to help gang members learn to change and be more positive community members.Carlos Alvarez, center, with two boys

“Lots of kids embedded in gangs, their emotional intelligence is very minimal,” he says. “We have to build capacity around affect regulation.”

Carlos Alvarez, an IIRP licensed trainer, says restorative practices builds emotional connections and allows children to develop healthy social skills. This involves allowing students to process their

"The conference is an opportunity to bump shoulders with the restorative elite, who live and practice restorative practices on a day-to-day basis." - Robert Thornton, Senior Program Officer, Skillman FoundationThis is last in a series of interviews of sponsors of Strengthening the Spirit of Community, the IIRP World Conference in Detroit, MI, October 24-26, 2018. Sponsors are providing scholarships for Detroit community members, bringing a new level of connection and engagement to the conference. Robert Thornton, Senior Program Officer of the Skillman Foundation, explains why Skillman is a

"Relationships and strengthening the fabric of communities have always been key to our work." - Alice G. Thompson, CEO Black Family Development, Inc. (BFDI)Detroit community groups are gearing up to share the extraordinary work they are doing to help make Detroit a restorative city at Strengthening the Spirit of Community, the IIRP World Conference in Detroit, MI, October 24-26, 2018. Sponsors are providing scholarships for Detroit community members, bringing a new level of connection and engagement to the conference.

In this series of

IIRP Latin America is providing processes to help people cope with stress and fear during times of great turmoil in Central America.

Violence boiled over in Nicaragua in April 2018. Citizens protested government social reforms and police responded with extreme brutality. The newspaper La Prensa reports 351 dead, 2,100 injured, 329 imprisoned and 68 tortured.

The country has since become polarized. There have been waves of anarchy: looting, arson and violent conflict, even among families.

AMOS, an NGO that delivers health interventions in Nicaragua (http://www.amoshealth.org), is helping its staff and clients deal with this nightmare.

IIRP Latin America first provided circles training for AMOS in 2009. They took to the process immediately, and it has

The nonprofit organization, Foresee Research Group, received the 2018 European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) award for outstanding contributions Dr. Borbála Fellegi, Foresee Founder and Executive Director; Dr. Gábor Héra, Foresee sociologist researcher; Dr. Edit Törzs, EFRJ Executive Director; Dr. Tim Chapman, EFRJ Chair; Dóra Szegô, Foresee sociologist researcher  (left to right)to the development of restorative justice in Europe. Borbála Fellegi, Ph.D., IIRP Assistant Professor, is the group's Founder and Executive

The city of Detroit has been plagued by some of the worst crime and violence in the U.S., along with rampant student expulsion, dropping out and truancy. Children at a peace walkBut thanks to an IIRP project, restorative practices are taking hold in Detroit's neighborhoods, schools and systems. Individuals are becoming active stewards of their community, as elders and young people are learning processes that repair harm and rebuild relationships.

Detroit community members are eager to share their successes and learn from practitioners from around the globe at ...

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Tasha Jenkins is dedicated to improving foster care for children. She was an angry young woman after a lifetime in numerous foster homes. Then she arrived at the IIRP model programs, Community Service Foundation and Buxmont Academy (CSF Buxmont), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and a new world opened up for her.

In this piece, IIRP Graduate Keisha Martinez ('17), a licensed music therapist and founder of Music Inspiring Change, explores how music therapy combined with restorative practices can help prison inmates and heal trauma.

Special thanks to the European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ) for allowing us to republish this article, which first appeared in their June 2017 Newsletter Volume 18(2). This article will be part of a forthcoming EFRJ publication on the theme of "Arts and RJ." EFRJ welcomes other

At Maranatha House Aged Care Facility, staff take a restorative approach to help residents “live life my way made easy," to paraphrase the organization’s motto.

Nursing homes, even very nice ones, tend to regiment life for their residents based on the rhythms established by the institution. But General Manager Debra Wells says the idea is to “deinstitutionalize” the system and “put residents in charge.” Rather than having to live each day by staff routines, residents at Maranatha, in Wellington, New South Wales, a town and rural region of about 10,000 people located 225 miles from Sydney, Australia, are greeted with choices and conversations that allow them to express their needs.

The IIRP presents a special Summer Symposium, which is open to everyone and also provides the in-person experience for a hybrid graduate course, RP 540. This summer, Frida Rundell, Ph.D., is organizing A Restorative Journey: Creative CommonsTransforming Relational Harm, July 17-19, 2017 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA. The Symposium will explore perspectives and tools of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC).

As tensions across Europe heighten around the association of Muslims with terrorism, the RecoRa Institute works directly with youth at risk of becoming extremists to reduce violence and transform lives.

The people at the Belgian nonprofit, Ligand, are enhancing communication and relationships among young people and families, as well as the surrounding community. With innovation as their driving force, Ligand's staff continually reexamine and transform their practices to meet the evolving needs of the people they serve. As Ligand leader Stijn Deprez declares, "Working restoratively asks for innovation every day."

Restorative circles are building relationships and mutual understanding at a refugee camp in Belgium. The camp, like many others across Europe, is crowded with asylum seekers fleeing conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. In this environment of tension, hope and clashing cultures, circles are enabling people to be heard and resolve their conflicts. This work has the potential to improve conditions for refugees everywhere.

Rick Kelly, a professor in the Child and Youth Care (CYC) program at George Brown College (Toronto) and an IIRP alumnus, with students Sewsen Ikbu (left) and Amy Taylor at the 19th IIRP World Conference.

Rick Kelly, a professor in the Child and Youth Care (CYC) program at George Brown College (Toronto), has created a hub for restorative practices to support practical learning and social innovation by students at his college. Both students and the local community are benefitting from the hub, which is introducing restorative concepts and solutions to schools and