I am honored to have been accepted to join the International Community of Restorative Researchers, joining so many people who work in this arena. As a long time practitioner of Restorative Justice for Juveniles, I bring a "hand-on" straight from the "field" perspective which can enhance and be enhanced by those engaged in the research that is so needed to make Restorative Justice visible as a viable option in our legal system. I am happy to say that the District Attorney's Office and the Public Defender's Office often recommend Restorative Justice as part of their Conditions of Release, after trials. Restorative Justice is an effective approach that offers an opportunity for transformation in juvenile offenders, has the potential for bring resolution and "healing" to identified victims of acts delinquency and has proven to significantly increase victim satisfaction while reducing recidivism among the youth who engage in Restorative Justice processes. Over the past 10 years in Taos County, New Mexico, USA, we've seen less than 5% of the engaged youth commit another delinquent act, and have used Restorative Justice for vehicular manslaughter, theft, breaking and entering, fights in schools and in the community, vandalism, bullying and even with the father of a boy who was killed, and the young man who shot and killed him. Restorative Justice can strengthen community, be a first step in rebuilding a life, strengthen family relationships and return youth to a sense of "belonging" to community so they can grow into contributing members of our towns and cities. Its not a "soft" approach but an approach that calls for Accountability on the part of the youth offender, accountability...not just punishment.

RJ: What would you do? short video on Restorative Justice and basics of how it serves victims...

https://www.facebook.com/whatwouldyoudo.rj/videos/947771195317829/

What’s Restorative Justice, how does it work and who can benefit?

Join this informational & experiential day exploring RJ philosophy, principles, process and practices.

       Thursday, May 19, 2016  9am – 4pm

                Location: The WIA building

340 Reymond Street, Las Cruces,N.M.

 Contact: redroses@taosnet.com 

or call 505-310-2765

Limited to 24 people.  RSVP by May 12, 2016

           

   

       

Our Trainer, Rose Gordon, has 20 yrs. experience facilitating training in U.S. & international settings & 10 years facilitating Restorative Justice Circles for juveniles in the Taos County Restorative Justice Youth Initiative.  She uses her training in Restorative Justice, Council Process, Grief Counseling & Motivational Interviewing, combining core components of resiliency with accountability to address a variety of informal and court ordered referrals. Less than 5% of  over 200 Taos youth re-offended after their RJ experience.

Delighted to talk about Restorative Justice with Zena Zumeta on Texas Conflict Coach, Blog Radio, on the April 5, 2016 show. You can access the podcast on this webpage!

http://www.texasconflictcoach.com/2016/restorative-justice-

is-good-medicine-for-youth-violence/

I welcome any questions you might have! 

That's how the light gets in: These people, unaware, are saving the world

That's how the light gets in: These people, unaware, are saving the world. A beautiful post...that restores our awareness of the ways in which we can serve the world, simply, by following our hearts and taking simple but significant actions...thank you Asha, from Bangalore.

Breathing into Yesterday's Circle

      When I am working as a facilitator of Restorative Justice with juveniles, it seems most natural to use what I have learned in Council practice and listen with my whole being.  It can be hard for people to hear a totally different version about the "facts" of what happened, but we can hold the diversity of opinions and perspectives in the Circle. If we hear something we disagree with, we can take a deep breath and relax. No one will be asked to give up anything; the Circle can hold it all.

     

     Being interested in what everyone has to say, and interested in how the Circle will unfold, involves Listening. Listening in an "innocent" way, without any internal chatter responding to whats being heard. Listening this way is a soft, attentive listening that has a light touch, like the touch of a butterfly's wings.

     Most of our RJ Circles deal with youth who were arrested for fighting. There is almost always a sense of injustice in the workings of the system. There is always the history; personal history and shared history, leading up to the fight.  And parents tend to have opinions about who the Real Offender is - so parental resistance to the process is often high. But I have found, again and again, that all the parents seem to share a desire for their child to have a good life and to be safe from harm.

      It’s my role as facilitator to maintain an environment where everyone can articulate their viewpoints, their differences. An environment where everyone is heard. In that environment people open up to one another. 

    And when i am not sure what the "next step" is in our process, I just get quiet and breath...and then I know what to do. I offer something, I take an action. There is no formula. It's one moment at a time, breathing in, breathing out and responding to the moment, again and again. 

      These moments might have felt risky at one time, but not now, because there is something else at work that I have come to trust. Something happens after people have shared responses to a few questions. There is a lake of information created and there's a point when I can surrender the formula, the list of how to facilitate the RJ Circle. At that point all that I've heard is becoming integrated and i can relax and just stay with my breath. 

     Its a great relief to stay with the breath. A great relief in letting the thinking mind, the busy, how i can "fix this mind" dissolve and let a larger mind, perhaps we can call it the heart/mind, open to possibilities and respond to whats in the room - respond to the tensions, the people and the feelings - and take a risk, what is sometimes called a "bold action". Its a commitment to allow actions to emerge, and with that commitment comes the boldness.  
     For a moment I might feel that I'm poised on a thin line, maintaining my balance, knowing i cannot stay perched on that thin line, but not yet sure where to set my foot down, where my next step is...and then...

      I breath and in the rhythm of my breath and the stillness of staying with my breath, present to where I am and who I am with, I find the next step in service of the youth and families in the room. 

     It has become a bit cliche, but truly, it's those I am with in the Circle that are guiding the process. In becoming still I feel our interconnected presence acutely and that's what I am responding to.

      These moments of  "not knowing" happen in each and every Restorative Circle and those moment are pivotal for the Circle, they are the turning point. That turning point launches us into the deeper and most authentic effectiveness of Restorative Justice approaches; that go far beyond the "map" of how to facilitate a an RJ Circle. 

       Staying with my breath in an atmosphere that is filled with tension allows me to make contact evenly with each individual in the room and our shared humanity seems to become more visible to everyone. 

     Even the physical space we are in, which may have been crowded with tension as well as bodies, seems to get larger - allowing more room for the emergence of something new, some spirit of "being in it together", some shift of understanding that creates a larger space in which to explore the impact our actions and words have on one another. 
      How wonderful to experience, and come to trust, a wisdom beyond my "thinking" and "trying to do the right thing" mind. A wisdom that the simple and natural act of inhaling and exhaling can lead us to. A breath that invites our interconnected presence to take the lead. 

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     I learned this all again just yesterday, facilitating an RJ Circle for two young men. Yes, I had an agenda, to identify and repair harm and reduce the chances that these young men would fight again.

    But beyond that was a vast field of unknowns. Usually I do the pre-conference, but now I am letting someone step into that position. So I had not met these people before. What might serve them best? What might I offer that could facilitate a way for them to end their conflict? 

      Again and again i returned to my breath and a response emerged. Breathe and respond, breathe and respond.

     The young men did a remarkable job of reconciliation. They were genuine and openhearted. Vulnerable and willing. What an honor to witness how they made peace with one another; how they expressed themselves and how they apologized to each other and to assured each other's families that the fight was over. Ended. Not to be repeated.

     They were willing to listen. They acknowledged each other's need for respect and each other's vulnerability. And they spoke of the positive changes they had seen each other make in the time they knew each other. The Circle was filled with a grace and humor; unique to them and their families and the time we spent together. 

          It's Circles like this one that have kept me in this work for over a decade and will keep me a decade more I hope. Every adult in the room seem touched by what we saw unfold. I know I was. 

    

One tapestry

It is time to step into the truth ..to realize and celebrate that our personal lives our inter-woven with the life of the world.   “We are one tapestry, one fabric and when that fabric in harmed we all suffer. Maybe not immediately, maybe not in ways we consciously realize. But we suffer, and our children suffer and it doesn't stop there. The beautiful truth is that if suffering is shared among all the elements of this tapestry, well then, healing is shared too."