Claire de Mézerville López is joined by co-host Bálint Juhász, for the “Powerful Intersection Between Restorative Justice and Art” podcast series, a special initiative by the IIRP together with the European Forum for Restorative Justice (EFRJ).
Art has the unique ability to connect and facilitate dialogue, making it a powerful tool in restorative justice practices. Throughout the series, we will examine how artists from different disciplines and cultural backgrounds use their creative expression to foster communication, build empathy, and potentially repair harm. Each episode will highlight a different aspect of this intersection, featuring conversations with artists who have contributed to restorative justice processes through various art forms — be it visual arts, music, theatre, film, and dance.
Olga Ziori joins us to discuss the crucial role of restorative justice in child protection. Olga, a seasoned lawyer and restorative justice mediator, shares her profound journey from working with unaccompanied minors in refugee settings to advocating for compassionate, community-based solutions. Through poignant storytelling and innovative approaches, Olga reveals how she integrates restorative practices into challenging environments, fostering empathy and cultural understanding among vulnerable populations. From using narrative therapy to empowering minors as peer mediators, Olga's work highlights the resilience and healing potential within restorative justice.
Olga Ziori is a Child Protection Expert and a Lawyer of Kavala Bar Association in Greece. Olga holds an LLM in Human Rights and a master’s in social policy. Since 2011, she has been working with unaccompanied minors and children in conflict with the law, in various refugee camps in Greece. As a restorative justice facilitator, she has applied restorative practices and community mediation as part of her work in the refugee camps. She is an Accredited Mediator (Greek Ministry of Justice) specializing in Child Inclusive Family Mediation and School Mediation. She uses folk tales as a restorative justice tool in her work with vulnerable communities. After attending her first folk tale storytelling festival, she fell in love with the art of storytelling. Her love of folk tales led to a diploma in “Folk Tale in Education: Creative Reading, Critical Literacy and Use” and the beginning of a lifelong journey in the world of storytelling.
Bálint, a Hungary native, has been working extensively with education and training programs, cultural project management and theatre internationally. Previously, he was the educational program manager of the performing arts company, Krétakör. He led Krétakör Free School, a democracy awareness program for students. He has experience working with marginalized groups of society. In Brussels, he led community theatre workshops for vulnerable families. He holds a degree in Literature and Linguistics from ELTE University Budapest and completed a master’s in education with a focus on drama at Trinity College Dublin. He joined the EFRJ in 2019 to contribute to the organization’s training development and communication.
Tune in to uncover the impact of storytelling in conflict resolution, its therapeutic value, and practical applications in educational settings and beyond.
