Thursday, March 3, 2005
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9–10:20 am
Plenary Session
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| Opening Activities: Ted Wachtel & Terry O'Connell, Conference Chairpersons
Speakers:
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11 am–12:20 pm
80-minute Breakout Sessions
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Beyond the Ritual: How Explicit Focus on Affects and Shame Can Empower Individuals, Rebuild Relationships and Unite Families
Matt Casey, Anne Burton & William Curry
In 2000, Goulburn Family Support Service began a project that was to transform the lives of many clients, advance the agency beyond any expectation and alter the life experience of the workers. Acknowledging that it was simply not possible in many instances to bring people together, workers focused on the explicit application of Tomkins's theory of affects and Nathanson's work on shame. What developed was a restorative practice model that enables individuals to understand what is behind their own and others behaviours, better modulate their own response to shame, move from harmful to wholesome behaviour and thereby rebuild and strengthen their relationships with family and significant others. A conference or group process became an option rather than essential. The model has now been defined, shown to be effective and theoretically validated through a yearlong supervised action research project under the auspices of Deakin University.
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Building Relationships through Restorative Practices at Lonsdale Heights School
Denise Lane & Bill Hansberry
Our journey at Lonsdale Heights School served as a catalyst for culture change, in gaining insight, understanding and a clear sense of purpose regarding our directions for educational reform. We utilized a collaborative inquiry approach through reflection on action and shared decision-making processes. We learned that emotional intelligence adds value to students' classroom learning and teachers' professional learning. We focused on developing positive relationships and behaviour development approaches by providing programmes based on forming positive student-adult relationships and enhancing peer relationships through explicit social learning pedagogy, such as the implementation of the language of the virtues (character strengths) and the need for students to make amends or restore a relationship with a peer or adult (restorative practices), after a behavioural issue in the classroom or yard. Information will be shared from our involvement in the Boys Education Lighthouse Schools Programme in 2003.
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Conversation with Dennis Wong
This is an opportunity for participants to meet with Dennis Wong and have a follow-up conversation on his featured presentation.
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Conversation with Elizabeth O'Callaghan
This is an opportunity for participants to meet with Elizabeth O'Callaghan and have a follow-up conversation on her featured presentation.
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Introducing Restorative Justice Into Faith Communities
Terry O'Connell, Bruce Schenk & Ron Hunt
This workshop will examine the significance of restorative justice to faith communities. The 'spiritual roots' of restorative justice are to be found in the fundamental values and beliefs that underpin faith communities. These connections will be briefly explored, as well as some of the key restorative justice initiatives being promoted by Canadian faith communities. An excellent example of this is the 'hosting programme' where faith communities provide venues, refreshments and support for a variety of restorative justice conferences involving victims and offenders. Another initiative involves the reintegration of offenders into communities. Discussion will focus on how to encourage a much greater involvement of faith communities in promoting restorative justice practices generally. This workshop will certainly appeal to those interested in developing a more inclusive and responsive faith community.
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School and Workplace Bullying: How Discounting Hinders Problem Solving
Peta Blood & Jan Grant
Schools and workplaces have a poor track record of responding effectively to reported incidents of bullying. Developing an effective response to bullying and harassment first requires that teachers and others respond in a way that does not replicate further harm to those involved. This workshop will combine the theory and practice of restorative practices and transactional analysis in an experiential format. Participants will gain an understanding and experience of the four levels of discounting that hinder our response to problem solving. In this workshop, we will cover:
- What discounting is
- The four levels of discounting
- How discounting stops us from dealing with issues effectively
- Moving through the levels of discounting to empowerment
- Finding effective responses to bullying
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The Role of Advocacy for Children and Young People Involved in Family Group Conferences
Sheila Ozeer
Family group conferences provide a forum for families to come together to make decisions about the welfare of their children. Wherever possible and appropriate, the views, wishes and feelings of the child/young person should be sought, presented and heard at the family group conference. Especially with older children, the role of advocacy encourages participation and empowerment. It involves working in partnership with the young person in finding their own solutions and making decisions towards restoring their troubled lives/behaviour. The session will include a 10-minute video, providing some powerful insights into what family group conferences are like for young people; interactive exercises on the role of the advocate; alternative and creative ways in communicating with children; and with the presenter's own experiences as a family group conference advocate, actual examples of cases and their outcomes will be shared.
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Whole-School and Classroom Approaches to Restorative Justice
Susan Renn, Wayne Roberts & Anne Robertson
This session will involve a discussion about the re-culturing of approaches to student management through developing a common language of restorative practices, together with positive demonstrations of classroom conferencing and community conferencing.It will include a description of how restorative practices fit into the Victorian Student Support Framework and its suitability for the practices of prevention, early intervention, intervention and restoring well-being. We will also discuss programs that are consistent to this approach in solving behavioural problems, e.g., TRIBES.If there is time, we might demonstrate a mock community conference, with volunteers playing specific roles.
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1:40–2:20 pm top of page
40-minute Breakout Sessions
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Conversion: The Overlooked and Underrated Element in Restorative Practices
Louise Greentree
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
In an amoral, anti-authoritarian, multicultural society, where discussions of ethics and morality are discouraged by laws intended to prevent discrimination and racial vilification, an offender won't always feel shame for his or her offence. Restorative practitioners often concentrate on the conference, which is in reality the final stage of a long restorative process commencing with the conversion of the offender to the moral and ethical viewpoint of the community, society, school or institution. Conversion goes much further than simply an acknowledgement of wrongdoing in terms of the breach of laws or rules. It goes to the heart and mind of the offender and his or her worldview. We will discuss the process of conversion, who is equipped to undertake this process with the offender and how and why the absence of effective work done in the early stages can undermine 'healing the harm' at the process's final stage.
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Embedding Restorative Practices across a School Community
Christine Pilgrim, Carolyn Waters & Louise Owens
As a school principal, how do you embed restorative justice? How do you ensure that the philosophy and the practices are authentically 'taken on' by the whole community? How is the organisation congruent? I have been successful in bringing a school staff on side. It all 'began with me', and continues with me, the school leader. I need to model restorative and relational ways of operating in every interaction I have. It's about 'walking the talk'. It means being empowered to carry out your belief, to have a vision of creating new possibilities for children, and to have other people share that vision. It is vital to use the restorative justice framework so that all policies, programs and initiatives are dropped into that. Constant reflection is important in terms of: What works? What doesn't work? What's promising? The possibilities are endless. It is possible to achieve optimum outcomes for all students and healthy, happy, connected human beings.
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Family Decision Making and Child Sexual Abuse: A Restorative Process
Michelle Meyer
This session will look at the preliminary findings of Michelle Meyer's research, looking at the application of family group conferences (FGC) to matters of child sexual abuse and the restorative nature of the model. The research is based on interviews with managers and convenors in Australia and New Zealand, and the presentation will focus on policy issues such as the different legislative considerations, the legal implications and the selection and training issues for convenors. The practice issues will focus on the referral process, the impact of the process on families and on their decision making and the issues of inclusion and exclusion of family members, particularly in regard to the role of the child/young person and the alleged offender. Case examples will be used to highlight how FGC is being used in matters of child sexual abuse in a restorative way.
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Justice as a Basic Human Need
Tony Taylor
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
The paradox is that justice, like many essential requirements for personal and community development, assumes importance only through deprivation. This much is well known to people at large, and to the law enforcement and legal professions. But it has yet to be recognized by academics, even though they beaver away in their separate groups on different aspects of moral development, criminal behaviour and rehabilitation, economic, political and social injustice. The case is presented for the proper recognition of the concept and with it, the integration and re-examination of justice in its many areas of current concern. Plenty of references will be given to illustrate the theme.
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Peace Building and Restorative Justice
John Braithwaite
There is evidence that top-down mediation can help in the cessation of armed conflict (e.g., President Carter at Camp David). But top-down mediation cannot heal the hearts of a divided nation. Restorative justice may be more effective in changing hearts than in changing minds about a conflict. The case study of peace building in Bougainville will be used to illustrate the possibilities for restorative justice in a peace process. Plans for an ambitious long-term study of peace building and restorative justice will be discussed.
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Restorative Practices and Family Empowerment in Youth Justice: Can These Concepts Co-exist?
Mike Doolan
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
This session focuses on the theme of the conference. The degree to which youth justice systems should be offender focused or victim focused is a live debate. Using the process of the New Zealand youth justice family group conference, the discussion centres on the whether restorative practices and family empowerment are compatible concepts.
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The Massey High Model: Integrating Restorative Practices in a High-School Setting
Jude Moxon & Samantha Smith
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
Over the past two years, Massey High School has adopted a number of restorative practices, which are becoming embedded in practice and philosophy and are having a huge impact on the culture of discipline within the school. All senior managers, deans and support personnel are trained in the approaches, and the school has established a co-ordinator position to model, monitor, support and evaluate the processes. The presentation will include a brief description of the four models by the co-ordinator and share results of a formal evaluation of the initiative. The models include the: Restorative Thinking Programme, Mini-restorative Conference, Classroom Conference and Community Conference.
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2:25–3:05 pm top of page
40-minute Breakout Sessions
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A Return to Restorative Practices in Northern Ireland's Post-Conflict Society
Marie Gribben & Cathy McCann
The session will present the case that Northern Ireland needs to return to the culture of restorative practices as a way of moving forward from centuries of conflict. Irish society was governed by Brehon Laws, which enshrined restorative practices for 1500 years, until the introduction of the Penal Code in 16th Century. The following 300 years saw Irish society marred by sometimes violent conflict between the English and the Irish. Since the 1990s, interest in the idea of family group conferencing and restorative practices has increased, enhanced by the 1994 IRA Ceasefire and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. A partnership between a voluntary agency and two statutory bodies in operation for five years, Barnardo's Family Group Conference Service plays an important role in developing and promoting restorative practices in Northern Ireland. The service evidences positive outcomes for children and young people, repairing relationships within families in school, residential care and youth justice applications.
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Business Regulation and Restorative Justice
John Braithwaite
Could restorative justice have prevented the collapse of Enron and Arthur Andersen? One possible strategy for how it might have will be discussed. Experience with restorative justice in nursing home regulation, occupational health and safety and competition and consumer protection enforcement will also be considered. Restorative justice will be conceived of as a business regulatory strategy positioned at the base of a responsive regulatory pyramid.
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Family and Community Group Conferencing in Thailand
Wanchai Roujanavong
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
Thailand's Ministry of Justice has made a lot of progress on family and community group conferencing (FCGC). Restorative justice is in the experimental period in the Thai juvenile justice system, supported by the prime minister. Though still experimental, FCGC is now being used in minor cases throughout the country with fruitful results. The ministry has been organising and conducting intensive training for selected staff from the department to be effective FCGC facilitators. As a result, there are roughly 2,000 cases with non-prosecution orders through successful FCGC meetings.
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In Mind and Heart: One School's Journey into Restorative Practices
Denise Beutel & Graeme George
Villanova College is a Catholic boys' college in suburban Brisbane that caters for students from year five to year 12. The philosophy of the school is based on the teachings of Saint Augustine. These teachings recognize that positive interpersonal relationships are crucial to the education of students. To further build on our Augustinian heritage and ethos, Villanova College has committed to renewing its approach to pastoral care and discipline along the model of restorative practices. Our key aims are to provide a safe, nurturing environment for students and staff and to further develop effective responses to, and proactive programs to minimize bullying and harassment among students. Our endeavour to become a 'restorative school' is part of a larger full-school renewal programme that has enabled us to ensure alignment of approaches in behaviour management, curriculum and pedagogy. In our presentation, we will discuss our own particular understanding of restorative practices.
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Managing the Challenging Behaviours of Students in Primary Schools through a Restorative Justice Programme
Frances Kelly
The session will offer the audience a profile of the H.E.L.P. programme, based on restorative justice philosophy, which is making a difference to primary-school students whose learning progress is being impaired by their extreme behaviour. The programme requires the ongoing collaboration of parents, school leaders and teachers in the management of students. Evidence to date indicates that when significant adults engage collaboratively in meeting the educational needs of a student with extreme behaviours, success can be experienced, principally by the student but also by the adults.
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Restoring Community
Laurie Besant
In this talk I will focus on three major points that highlight restorative practices in the centre I manage. The session will highlight the relationship between human care, community and each other. I will try and bring it all together by highlighting these points: (1) humanity, (2) respect, (3) listening. My aim will be to talk about why or how these points relate to restorative practices in a social or community context. I will conclude this talk by giving a practical demonstration of how we have put these points into practice and the importance of relationship in the environment we live or work in.
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Using the Family Group Conferencing Model with Organisations
Patricia Kiely
Partnership between welfare organisations can provide more efficient and seamless services to clients. It allows for better use of expertise and resources and the development of sustainable solutions to commonly-agreed complex problems. In 2002, there were three agencies providing residential and other services for homeless men in Parramatta, without an easy method for the clients to progress from one setting to the other in their journey of recovery from mental illness and substance abuse to independent living. This session discusses how the family group conferencing model brought together the agencies with their funding body and created a coalition that developed more effective and flexible strategies to meet the needs of homeless men within the constraints of the available funding. This process allowed for the growth of trust and understanding between the agencies and a rationalisation of service provision with positive outcomes for both the men and workers.
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3:40–5 pm top of page
80-minute Breakout Sessions
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A Paradigm Shift from the Professional Provider to the Service User of Youth Restorative Justice
Alice Chapman
Devolving the role of the professional in conferencing to the laity is a paradigm shift in the Northern Ireland Youth Justice system. The presentation will refer to our evaluation and describe obstacles, solutions and outcomes from the N.I. youth justice conferencing model to champion devolving participation and decision making to those affected by crime.
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Family Group Conferencing and Domestic Violence: A Collaborative in Action in Minneapolis
David Mathews
This session will review the current status of using family group conferencing in collaboration with the Domestic Abuse Project, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Three major collaborative efforts have begun to better equip the referring child-protection social workers and to add to the safety factors for family members where violence has occurred prior to going through a family group conference. While the long-term outcomes are yet to be determined, preliminary observations of the current work are promising. This project has involved dialogue with family group conferencing facilitators and domestic violence professionals. Work has been done to put together materials and processes that enhance the family group conferencing services and provide all family participants with increased measures of safety and preparedness throughout the process.
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Restorative Justice in Rotorua, New Zealand
Kevin Lee
Mana Social Services Trust is a well-established, community-based social services agency in Rotorua, New Zealand. The trust delivers a range of social services and programmes which includes the adult restorative justice programme and the student restorative justice programme for 9-14–year olds. Referrals to the adult programme come via the Rotorua District Court following the entering of a guilty plea by the offender. Pre-conference interviews are held by the facilitator, with offenders to consider a range of factors which determine whether or not the case is suitable to continue. Facilitators also engage and support the victims of crime to attend the victim-offender conference. The Rotorua programme deals with up to 300 cases per year for adults, covering a wide range of offences including a high level of domestic violence cases. The student RJ programme receives referrals direct from primary and intermediate schools and is in its second year of operation. It has serviced 80 cases to date. Maori figure predominantly in referrals for both programmes.
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Restorative Justice in a Middle School
Carol Taylor & Paul Murphy
Kedgley is a two-year middle school with 700 students situated in a low socioeconomic area of South Auckland, New Zealand. The student body is 47 per cent Pacifica, 28 per cent Maori, the rest Pakeha and Asian. Historically, there was a high level of stand-downs and exclusions for various reasons, many related to poverty and frustration. Management decided to explore other ways to change behaviours and make the school safer. There was a consensus that if academic performance was to be improved, pastoral care must be addressed. Restorative justice has strong links to Maori and Polynesian indigenous structures, so the model seemed to fit. The school placed the restorative justice meeting at the heart of the disciplinary procedure and rethought behavioural policy. Anecdotally, there has been a drop in disruptive behaviour incidents, specifically with offences against teachers and student-to-student violence, and re-offending has declined. The local primary and high schools, with over 4,000 students total, have a nucleus of trained facilitators, which has enabled the practice to spread.
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Restorative Justice in the School Setting: A Whole-School Approach
Lyn Harrison
For the last four years, Marist Youth Care, in Sydney, Australia, has developed a restorative justice programme in primary and secondary schools with a whole-school approach involving the training of all teachers, middle managers, executive, student leaders and parents. The programme is a one-year commitment with ongoing school-based evaluation. To date, 49 schools have participated. This workshop will provide an overview of the whole-school approach with evidence from evaluations of its effectiveness. The second part of the workshop will focus on middle mangers in schools and how to skill them in problem solving and resolving conflict with student and staff issues. The workshop will be highly interactive and skill based.
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Restorative Policing: Developing a Restorative Organisation through the Use of Restorative Practices
Les Davey, Matt Casey & Terry O'Connell
This session will seek to demonstrate how restorative practices, when applied effectively across a whole range of policing, can lead to greater public confidence and trust in the police, safer communities and positive cultural change within the service. Three policing veterans will discuss the use of restorative practices in dealing with policing applications as diverse as public complaints about policing, internal staff grievances, community problem solving, neighbourhood disputes and domestic violence. They will give examples of the use of restorative practices where there is a no clear-cut offender/wrongdoer and victim/person harmed and demonstrate how conferencing is equally effective in addressing more complex situations involving varying degrees of responsibility among the parties in conflict.
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Restorative Practices and the Help Increase the Peace Project (HIPP): Working Together in Schools
Olwyn Maddock & Peta Blood
This workshop will explore how restorative practices and the Help Increase the Peace Project (HIPP) work together to build community and communication in a whole-school environment. Both systems will be discussed, as well as some working examples of the partnership explored. Workshop participants can expect at least some experiential activities, as well as information.
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Shameful Admission or Sincere Apology?
Jane Pennington
Apology is an important aspect for both sides participating in a conference. We cannot force apology from the one who has done harm, yet a key to moving through the conferencing process or any relationship difficulty often comes in the form of some kind of apology, demonstration of regret and remorse, seeking forgiveness or open acknowledgement of harm done. This workshop will look at the nature of apology and its relationship to unresolved shame. Then, particular social-emotive forces will be identified that can lead us to the pathway of reconnection, reconciliation and healing. In order to examine the nature of apology we will first examine, in detail, the compass of unresolved shame, then examine apology in light of this compass. Shame is usually very uncomfortable, so we devise ways to avoid it and camp out in the compass of unresolved shame. This workshop will suggest that if we apologize while we are camped out in the compass of shame, our apologies may not serve us in the manner we hope.
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The Ownership and Use of Power in Areas of Restorative Practice
Paul Ban
Family group conferences and pre-court dispute resolution in family law and child protection matters have processes in common to assist individuals and decide the outcome of matters concerning them and their families. The common processes are: They each require an independent facilitator; They are a response to a crisis that has affected a number of people who are connected usually by kinship; They require a preparation stage to ensure the parties know what to expect; There are power imbalances between the participants; The parties need new information to help move towards a solution; The parties need to be solution/future focused; The parties need time alone to make their decisions. The role of the legal profession and extended family will be examined regarding the issues of power imbalance and parties being left alone to make their own decisions. The unifying theme of the three models is the presumption that, if possible, people prefer to resolve their problems themselves.
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Friday, March 4, 2005
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9–10:20 am top of page
Plenary Session
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Speakers:
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11 am–12:20 pm top of page
80-minute Breakout Sessions
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Conversation with Brenda Morrison
This is an opportunity for participants to meet with Brenda Morrison and have a follow-up conversation on her featured presentation.
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Conversation with Les Davey
This is an opportunity for participants to meet with Les Davey and have a follow-up conversation on his featured presentation.
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Learning Restorative Justice
Tim Chapman
This workshop explores the difficulties professionals, who have been working in youth justice, probation, police and childcare, experience in changing their practice paradigm and learning the skills required in restorative justice. Research into restorative justice practice has highlighted the critical importance of skilful practice to effective outcomes for victims and the people who cause them harm. The approach outlined in the workshop demonstrates how individuals can accommodate a radically different paradigm and develop skilful restorative practice. The workshop is based upon the training programme designed and delivered by the University of Ulster for the Youth Conference Service in Northern Ireland. The distinctive practice model and skill base will be shared with participants.
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One Small Piece in the Jigsaw of Reconciliation
David Gallagher
This session will provide some background to the legislative changes in South Australia that have thrust South Australia into the global vanguard of family group conferencing. It will then provide a detailed look at the pitfalls and progress encountered when coordinating and convening family care meetings in a cross-cultural context in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands in the far northwest of South Australia.
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Restorative Justice Problem Solving for Student Leaders
Maurizio Vespa & Anthony Leon
For the last two years Marist Youth Care, in Sydney, Australia, has been working with schools across Australia in developing a whole school approach to restorative practices. This involves the skilling of:
- Teachers in restorative behaviour management
- Middle managers in restorative mediation
- Executive staff in restorative meetings with all key stakeholders
- Parents in managing their children's challenging behaviour
- Student leaders in restorative problem solving
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Restorative Practices and Domestic Violence: Doing It in a Different Context
David Mathews
This session will examine a process for integrating restorative practices with domestic violence services. It takes into account the significant history of grassroots movements to maintain a high priority given to the victims of intimate-partner violence, hold abusers accountable and involve community stakeholders. In addition, strategies and methods for using restorative practices in other contexts outside of the criminal justice system will be discussed. At the Domestic Abuse Project in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, we are integrating restorative practices and our domestic violence services carefully and without excuse. There are four threads being woven together that currently guide our work: cultural accessibility and relevancy, family focus, strengths base and restorative practice integration. This presentation will describe how these threads are being woven into the overall services of this domestic violence programme to enhance the services and better accomplish the mission of the organisation.
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The Challenge of Culture Change: Embedding Restorative Practice in Schools
Margaret Thorsborne & Peta Blood
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
While notions of restorative approaches to behaviour management are very appealing, schools that are serious about reform have found the greatest challenges lie in moving beyond 'programme' thinking to large-scale culture change. With a combined experience of over 18 years in working with schools and organisations in this field, Peta and Marg have some useful insights into the business of culture change and have developed a paper and workshop to support this important reform. These will include examples of creative ways that schools nationally and internationally have adapted the restorative philosophy and practice to meet their own needs.
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Why the Real Justice Script?
Terry O'Connell
The Real Justice script is well known to those involved in the restorative justice movement. It appears, however, that many view this script as generally useful but at times inflexible and not suited to all situations. The workshop will not only clarify the script's rationale, but will show how the script's key restorative questions provide the foundation for a broad set of explicit restorative practices. It will explore the linkages between theory and practice, as this will provide a sound insight into how to shift your practice focus from a narrow programmatic approach around conferences to a much broader set of relational practices.
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1:40–2:20 pm top of page
40-minute Breakout Sessions
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A Bare-Bones Causal Theory of Restorative Justice
Paul McCold
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
Kurt Lewin said there is nothing so useful as a good theory. A good theory of restorative justice would explain how a restorative response is expected to affect the causal chain of events in the aftermath of a crime. It would tell us what constitutes the outcomes we hope to achieve and why we should expect those outcomes. It would provide unambiguous ways to evaluate whether an intervention is successful. Beyond providing for these practical needs, a good theory is also a testable theory. Evaluations of well-implemented restorative justice programs should also provide a test of the theory itself. They would provide a plain set of expectations about the effects of restorative justice interventions so that hypotheses derived from the theory might be tested in the real world of practice. This workshop presents a bare-bones causal theory of restorative justice and invites participant feedback and discussion.
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Building Communities through Restorative Practices
Debbie Laycock & Leigh Garrett
This session will cover: building the community strength from a central core, the core being educational establishments; combating fear of crime through community involvement; building the links with community organisations; positive integration with police services; inter-agency collaboration; empowering communities in readiness for self-reliance and continued growth; instilling the knowledge that an outside locus of control is not always necessary; resolving situations prior to the need for reactive intervention; returning ownership of conflict, and its resultant effects to the community in which it occurs; and providing a framework for all agencies to work together to assist communities to build and enhance positive relationships.
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Family Conferencing
Rebecca Sigrist
This session will focus on the unique elements of family conferencing, which involves conferencing, facilitated by trained restorative justice practitioners, between members of a family with problems involving the youth in the family. The session will show how family conferencing is particularly effective resolving youth issues such as running away, truancy, failing grades, acting out, etc., because it involves all family members in the discussion of problems and search for solutions. Further, the session will outline the process, which empowers each family member to take ownership in the success of the dispute resolution. It will show how traditional mediation techniques can be utilized in this special conferencing format. The session will include lecture, as well as actual implementation of these techniques in a group/role play setting. Though the focus is on family conferencing, the session will show how the skills imparted can be applied to other conferencing settings.
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Just Real: Real Justice in a Real School
Paul Britton
This session will the story of how Real Justice strategies came to enhance the welfare strategies of a large multicultural primary school in regional New South Wales. Once a school known for the violence of its indigenous students, Queanbeyan South Public School developed numerous welfare programs to engage and empower its students from 49 different nationalities. Whilst the percentage of suspensions involving Aboriginal students was dropping dramatically, there was still the concurrent need to focus on the whole student population. After employing the principles of Real Justice in 2003, the school saw the suspension rate drop to a third of what it was in 2002, and then to less than one twelfth in 2004. In 2004 no Aboriginal student was suspended, even though the population of Aboriginal students had increased threefold over the previous ten years. The school credits the Real Justice programme with providing a new paradigm for dealing with aberrant behaviour, one that strengthened relationships and taught students the consequences of their behaviour.
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Restorative Conferencing as a Complaint-Resolution Process in the Veterinary Profession
Greg Hopwood & Terry O'Connell
The overall session objective is to address the differences between traditional and restorative approaches to complaint resolution in the veterinary profession. The subject matter is therefore very much about promoting the benefits of using restorative practices in veterinary complaint matters to facilitate a much more effective outcome for both complainants and respondents. Central to the promotion of restorative practices in the veterinary profession is an acceptance of concepts such as 'ownership of the offence(s)' by respondents and opportunity for personal confrontation and emotional closure for complainants. Above all for both parties, the restorative veterinary model provides an opportunity to travel a pathway towards a real experience of reconciliation. Nothing in the veterinary restorative model denies the need and opportunity for due legal process or restitution when indicated or implies a diminishing of professional standards.
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Restorative Justice in Thailand
Kittipong Kittayarak
This session will discuss the application and 'revival' of the concept of restorative justice in Thailand's criminal justice system. After exploring traces of restorative justice still visible in some rural Thai communities, the session will outline the current problems facing the Thai criminal justice system, leading to the re-emergence of restorative justice. It will also show the strategies employed by its proponents in successfully bringing the concept of restorative justice back into the mainstream and making it a major part of the agenda for reform. Among the issues discussed will be: diversion programs for drug addicts, which have paved the way for many new restorative programs; restorative justice programs initiated in June 2004 in 11 probation offices; proposed restorative programs for domestic violence; and proposed legislation for diversion at the prosecution stage. Models adopted for restorative conferences, as well as some selected case outcomes, will also be introduced.
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Restorative Practices in Mainstream Educational Settings
Brian Steele
The session will outline the approaches taken by North Lanarkshire Council Education Department to introduce restorative practices to its mainstream schools. Information will be presented about the development and delivery of different training courses to primary and secondary school staffs. A variety of uses of restorative approaches will be described, which range from the formal to the informal. North Lanarkshire is one of three local authorities leading a pilot on behalf of the Scottish Executive (national government) and the experience of the other pilot authorities will be referred to. Details will be given of the outcomes of some preliminary research carried out within North Lanarkshire and of a research programme being carried out on behalf of the Scottish Executive. Opportunity will be given to discuss the implications of the introduction of restorative practices within such mainstream settings.
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2:25-3:05 pm top of page
40-minute Breakout Sessions
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Effective Communication: Asking the Right Questions in Restorative Practices Conferencing
Ron Hunt
Effective communication is essential in developing the best opportunities for resolution and healing in restorative practices conferences. This session will seek to explore the framework of Roman Jacobson, a theorist in communication, and the implications of this communication theory for the dynamics underlying the script questions and dialogue that are generated in a restorative practices conference, in pre-conference interviews, during the conference exchanges among participants, and in post-conference follow-up work. The session will explore the linkages between theory and practice through a lively and interactive dialogue with session participants in a circle format. The goal is to assist participants to shift the focus of their practice from a narrow programmatic approach around work of conferences to a broader set of relational and explicit practices.
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Family Group Conferences in Child Welfare and Issues of Mandate
Mike Doolan
Childcare and child-protection social workers will not mainstream family group conference practice unless there is an explicit mandate for them to do so. Where there is no legislative provision for a decision-making mechanism, the methodology vacuum is filled by structures designed by bureaucrats. Attempts have been made to include families in these processes, but the levels of participation are not encouraging. The discussion centres on what constitute effective mandates for this way of working.
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How Does It Grow: The Origin plus Expansion at a Restorative Court Alternative Project
Elizabeth Vastine & Suzanne (Terry) McGinnis
This workshop will feature two architects of a restorative vision introduced in a juvenile courtroom approximately five years ago, which has grown and evolved into a variety of youth diversion programs in Cook County, Illinois, USA. Assistant State's Attorney Terry McGinnis will share her experiences, insights and recommendations on creating, implementing and supporting court alternative programs that effectively address the needs, obligations and abilities of youth offenders, victims and community. Elizabeth Vastine will discuss how the Neighborhood Restorative Justice Victim Offender Conferencing Project has expanded through collaboration and partnerships with schools, community organisations, police, academic institutions, group home facilities and the juvenile justice system, in pursuit of educating and supporting communities in the application of restorative philosophy and practices to meet the respective community's needs, challenges and resources. The speakers will emphasize the necessity of community building and relationships to implement effective and meaningful programs for youths, families and communities.
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Restorative Justice and Civil War
Peter Reddy
Restorative practices are an integral part of Melanesian culture and social environment of the people of the Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville. The decade-long civil war on Bougainville has been followed by seven years of a peace process based on reconciliation. The peace process has been supported for six of those years by a multinational peacekeeping force whose activities and operational strategy have been to complement and assist with reconciliation throughout the province. Over half the villages on Bougainville have participated in reconciliation activities since 1997, and each of these ceremonies has been made up of essential restorative justice procedures. Almost every agreement is permanent. This has been crucial to both the 'negative' peace of the ceasefire and the 'positive' peace of reconstruction that has seen former enemies take responsibility publicly for wounding and deaths, forgive each other and work together to rebuild their communities and relationships.
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Restoring Justice in the Northern Territory: The Moulden Park School and Neighbourhood Centre Experience
Bronwyn Clee
The Moulden Park School and Neighbourhood Centre Experience is continually progressing and adapting to the positive strength-based challenge of observing fair process in all interactions between individuals and groups. This involves a paradigm shift to fair process in dealing with students, parents and teachers. The journey to date has included staff in-services, informal and formal conferencing with students and parents, and a variety of pastoral care programs, including F.A.S.T. Providing parents, students and staff opportunities to look at repairing harm in relationships through fair process has helped make sense and meaning of otherwise challenging situations. This workshop aims to share our story.
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To Go the Extra Mile: Victim-Offender Conferencing as a Post-Sentence Option
Scott Kelly
This session will look at the New South Wales Department of Corrective Services' restorative justice initiatives and attempt to answer a few simple questions: After both court and sentencing, why go the extra mile? What can a post-sentence programme hope to achieve? What have we learnt in the past five years? Where do we go from here? To assist in answering these questions, Scott will explain the unit's programs and share some stories.
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3:40-5 pm top of page
80-minute Breakout Sessions
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Circle Time
Sue Roffey
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
This workshop is about emotional literacy in schools and how Circle Time is a vehicle to develop this. The session will be a mixture of presentation and activities. We outline what Circle Time is and how it provides a safe framework for developing a sense of value for individuals, promoting democracy and positive social interactions within groups and facilitating problem solving. The experiences of one school in establishing Circle Time will be explored, along with an initial evaluation of outcomes. Participants will have the opportunity to take part in Circle Time and learn the basics of running a group themselves. It is also good fun! This session would be valuable for anyone working in education—teachers, counsellors and psychologists. Others who regularly run groups, whether these are for children or adults, would also benefit from exploring this framework, as it is has wide applications.
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Community Transition Framework: A Restorative Process for Communities in the Aftermath of Violence
David Mathews
This presentation will focus on the Community Transition Framework that the presenter has created and developed over the last ten years. It is based on debriefing processes and models for individuals dealing with the aftermath of exposure to a traumatic event. The unique aspects of this framework are its sensitivity and practical application to community groups who have experienced a common violent or traumatic event. In addition, there are restorative practices that have been included to facilitate the work with communities and their members. The outcome of using this process has demonstrated an increase of participant healing and reduced violent response. Many participants in the process report feeling good about not isolating themselves as they may have in situations where the Community Transition Framework would not have been available. This process can be used in a variety of settings and for a variety of work or community groups.
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Driving Home the Message: Changing Driver Behaviour by Helping Offenders Become Aware of How Their Conduct Impacts on Those They Love
Matt Casey & William Curry
As part of a broader driving offender programme co-ordinated through the sheriff's office at Goulburn Court, a group process is facilitated by Bill Curry and Matt Casey where participants are engaged to tell their story through the use of the Restorative Script and to reflect on the impact of their behaviour on others. Participants are then introduced to Silvan Tomkins's Theory of Affects and Donald Nathanson's Compass of Shame, then invited to review the circumstances around their offence. What emerges is an often profound insight into how their behaviour has impacted on family and friends, particularly how it has damaged important relationships in terms of loss of trust. So far, results are encouraging; all participants have responded positively and some have described a greater impact on other parts of their life. Significantly at this early stage, no participants have re-offended.
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Restorative Practices in a Closed-Custody Youth Facility: Brookside Youth Centre
Cobourg, Ontario, Bruce Schenk
In 1999, Brookside Youth Centre piloted the use of family group conferencing in Ontario's secure-custody facilities for youth. This workshop will trace the development of restorative practices at Brookside since then, resulting in the incorporation of conferencing and other restorative approaches as the primary approach in addressing all peer-on-peer conflict since August 2003. As part of institutional policies and procedures, supporting a zero-tolerance policy on violence, all incidents of peer conflict must be considered for conferencing, including as a pre-emptive measure. Over 25 Brookside staff, a diverse multidisciplinary group, have been trained in the Real Justice conferencing model as facilitators and are utilising a continuum of restorative practices, resulting in closure and reintegration of youth back into institutional life after peer-on-peer incidents. It also has been very successful as a process for returning students to the institution's high-school programme after suspension. This workshop will provide a practical overview of the philosophy, policies, procedures, as well as suggestions for utilising restorative practices in a correctional facility for youth.
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Restorative Practices: Tools for Schools
Philippa Lovell, Helen Thomas & John Roberts
Seven Catholic and government schools in Melbourne are jointly engaged in a restorative practices project. Facilitators are working with core leadership teams in each school to develop a whole-school approach, and staff receive training in restorative practice classroom activities. The programme is based around preventative education and changing the culture in schools from a punitive to a restorative approach. Audit tools have been developed to assist schools to implement an action plan that looks at their present practices and at how, with a restorative approach, changes can take place. Other tools have been designed to gather data around current practices of behavioural management. The session will describe the current project and how it is supporting schools to sustain their work in restorative practices.
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The Difference between Changes and Change: The Challenge of Introducing Restorative Practices to Schools
Vic O'Callaghan & Terry O'Connell
This session will focus on the implementation of restorative practices in schools where participants are led to identifying good practice and then determining how they can deliberately foster these practices to facilitate the growth of healthy relationships. Participants will also be led to see difficulties as opportunities for growth; to determine how everyone can move from TO/FOR relationships to ones characterized by working WITH people; to ask questions of themselves and others, such as What do teachers do to motivate parents to attend parent meetings on restorative practice? and How do we lead students to stand firm in the face of the school bully? We may make many changes but still be left with the question: What is the difference between changes and change?
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The Razor's Edge: Fostering Change in Stakeholders (Their Adaptive Challenge)
Jill McRae
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
Here in Australia, we hold conferences for young offenders and their victims to make good any harm that has been done. Often these youngsters avoid taking responsibility because they are shamed by their actions. As a conference convenor, my job is to make sure this avoidance does not undermine due process or leave everyone with the baggage they brought in. It means keeping everyone's attention on the adaptive challenge—on taking responsibility, on letting go, and on forgiving—because these strengthen relationships and build connections. Directing disciplined attention is a difficult call to judgement; we have to know when to turn up the heat. If the level of distress is too high, then one must bring it into a productive range, or dis-equilibrium will fragment the will to change. Restorative justice implicates all stakeholders whose needs—sometimes competing, always varied—we must juggle, a skill commanding our closest attention.
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Transforming Workplace Conflict: It's Not Just a Case of Facilitating a Great Conference!
Margaret Thorsborne
This session will explore the multiple issues that sometime make resolution of workplace conflict very much more complex than one might expect. Causes and contributing factors will be unpacked so that realistic outcomes from restorative interventions can be reached. Participants will be analysing their own case studies and thinking through the implications for realistic options for action.
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Saturday, March 5, 2005
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9–10:20 am top of page
Plenary Session
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Speakers:
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11 am–12:20 pm top of page
80-minute Breakout Sessions
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Affect and Script: Building Blocks of Community
Susan Leigh Deppe
This 80-minute presentation will give participants a brief overview of the affect and script paradigm of Silvan S. Tomkins. This comprehensive understanding of human emotion helps to explain how restorative practices work and gives us a blueprint for healthy communities. Tomkins postulated nine innate affects, biological programs triggered by the intensity and shape of neural stimulation, displayed on the face and felt in the body. Two of the affects are inherently rewarding, one is neutral, and six are negative or inherently punishing. Particularly relevant are the ways in which people try to manage shame: attack self, attack other, avoidance and withdrawal (Nathanson, 1992). The affect sequences involved in conferencing and other restorative practices will be demonstrated. Skill in identifying affect will be useful for participants in any work setting and in their personal lives. Videotape of a family group conference will be reviewed and discussed. A handout and reference list will be provided to all participants.
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An International Perspective of Restorative Practices in Schools
Marg Armstrong
During 2004, a Churchill Fellowship was awarded and an itinerary organized to visit schools and organisations across the UK, Canada, USA and New Zealand that had implemented restorative practices. The research concentrated on training and implementation of restorative practices—its challenges, triumphs and hurdles. This presentation will give participants an overview of the findings of this research and what has been learned and how schools can forward this agenda in their settings.
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Conversation with Jenny Bargen
This is an opportunity for participants to meet with Jenny Bargen and have a follow-up conversation on her featured presentation.
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Conversation with Shannon Pakura
This is an opportunity for participants to meet with Shannon Pakura and have a follow-up conversation on her featured presentation.
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Creating a Restorative Agency: Not Everyone Is for This Journey
Matt Casey & Anne Burton
This workshop will explore the transformation of a small family support service in Goulburn as it developed an explicit restorative practice model: the profound impact on the lives of the workers and their families from recognition that to assist clients a restorative framework was about how each of us lives, not just how we work, and that a restorative framework encompassed how an agency does business at every level. Internally, rigorous questioning of custom, practice and assumptions was difficult; unlearning and becoming explicit was threatening and not for all. Some staff left. Externally, the new practice was challenged by a number of agencies and individuals. Funding was threatened and some agencies refused to refer. Through all this, the agency has survived; the practice has matured and been theoretically validated. More important, its application has been demonstrated to produce interesting and, at times, even exciting possibilities for clients.
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Restorative Parenting: Parent-Child Relationship Building in the Shadow of Domestic Abuse
David Mathews
When family violence happens, a contract at the heart of the relationship between child and parent is broken. In this session, a structured process for assisting parents to restore their relationship with their child in the aftermath of family violence will be presented. The restorative parenting framework combines the understanding necessary for addressing the needs of trauma victims while maintaining the support for survivors of domestic violence with the strategies for holding perpetrators of domestic abuse accountable for their behaviours using restorative principles, theory and practice. Participants will be able to take this framework and begin to use parts of it within their own parenting or batterer intervention programs.
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When Punitive Measures Fail: Breaking New Ground, Restoratively, in a Girls' Boarding School
Linda Evans & Shirley Stepanoff
Our session focuses on the use of restorative justice in response to incidents of inappropriate behaviour. Specifically, we will discuss the outcomes of this model of behaviour management and the statistics that demonstrate the low incidence of re-offending that has occurred since restorative practices have been introduced. We will use case examples based on actual restorative justice conferences that have been run successfully within our school, from small conferences of six to full-class conferences involving 30. Those involved in the session will be invited to participate in a mini conference situation. A short video will be shown that includes the thoughts of teachers, parents and students who have been involved in a conference situation. The video will be introduced by our school principal, who will express his early scepticism of the restorative justice approach but who is now an avid devotee.
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1:40–2:20 pm top of page
40-minute Breakout Sessions
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The Kormilda College Journey: A Firm and Fair Process
Bjorn Christie-Johnston
Kormilda College is an independent, co-educational, multicultural day and residential secondary school, serving the people of Northern Australia by providing an excellent, affordable, Christian education. There are 930 students, including some 250 Indigenous Australians from remote communities throughout the Northern Territory. This conference session will focus on the application of the restorative process, particularly within the residential programme. It will demonstrate, in a 'picture story' format, various ways in which the needs of students are being met in a firm and fair process. The ways in which organisational structures are planned and administered significantly influence outcomes. Evidence will be shared to explain how staff stability can be achieved and why this factor is an important basis for providing a caring and nurturing environment for students.
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Power and Empowerment: Difficult Concepts for Social-Control Agencies
Mike Doolan
Statutory child welfare and child protection services in many Western countries have developed strongly investigative, forensic characteristics, often rooted in pervasive belief systems within helping agencies about the functionality of 'problem' families. Working to the provisions of statutes, social workers exercise considerable power in their interactions with families brought to notice. The discussion centres on how a corresponding but different set of beliefs can focus professional effort towards helping families achieve self-agency.
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Victim's Circle at a Prison in Wisconsin
Jason Garlynd
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
How does one create a sanctuary inside of a prison setting? This video presents the story of the creation of the Victims Memorial Circle built by inmates inside of the Oakhill Correctional Institution in Oregon, Wisconsin, USA. The Circle is an outdoor sanctuary garden for inmates to use in preparation for returning to the community. Using stone boulders deposited at the site by glaciers and unearthed during construction of a perimeter fence, inmates in the Horticulture Program at Oakhill Prison designed and constructed a circle garden to memorialize all victims of crime. Located in the prison compound, the circle utilizes plants, colour and chiselled stone to create a transformative space that reflects the cycles of plant life, seasons of the year and, ultimately, decisions and actions that lead to positive change in people's lives.
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Towards Building the Global Alliance—by Networking in One's Own Backyard
Annabelle Twilley Richardson
Related document (Adobe PDF file)
Those working at the grassroots are entrenched in the desperate tasks of establishing an organisation, training and supporting volunteers and finding the resources to support their efforts. A vibrant network of people, agencies and programs provides many kinds of support: models for programme design and management, news of political happenings, funding sources and effective public education projects. We provide a forum for government consultation on policy development and for the service provider who is seeking advice as to how to deal with a particular difficulty. In all, we are guided by our founding document, which defines our understanding of best practices. We are still 'newbies' confronting many challenges. Our existence and future effectiveness is dependent on our thinking 'outside the box' to find creative solutions to very real problems. But then, involvement in restorative practices provides both the example and the encouragement as to how to accomplish the innovative.
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2:30–3:15 pm top of page
Closing Plenary Session
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A final opportunity for exchange, evaluation, ideas for the future, closure and good-byes.
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