Training summary

Restorative Circles

if …

• we could transition through change in a way that gets everyone heard and understood?
• we could bridge any gap through understanding each other’s positive intent?
• this could enable us to find new and not previously imagined ways and solutions to the difficult situations we face?
• all this takes is aligning us with a few simple principles that allow everyone to freely speak and voice their hopes, needs and desires?

Restorative Circles offer ways for individuals, families, groups and communities to establish connection, discover meaning and recover power on profound levels. They create a forum for connecting empathically across differences and reaching agreements that support safety and well-being, both personally and within society. This systemic approach guides communities in choosing how they would like to respond to future conflict – proactively preventing or diminishing harm – while also giving participants a real-life experience of the practical power of nonviolence to seed understanding and change in challenging contexts.

Developed in the shanty towns, schools, courts and prisons of urban Brazil, Restorative Circles are being used in a wide variety of contexts and countries, where creating the conditions for social justice, group cohesion, resilient relationships and personal healing are recognized as interconnected and vital. The Circles support dialogue rooted in open-hearted clarity and tangible power-sharing – calling us to rethink our view of and response to living with others, while engaging with the challenge of consciously strengthening community well-being. The results open up revolutionary possibilities for furthering a culture of peace.

Through hands-on exploration of key concepts in this 4 day training, grounded in a step-by-step process and illustrated by real world examples, we’ll apply the learning to participants’ issues and increase our ability to see and act from our shared humanity. Finally, we’ll rehearse the development of this new resource in a community of which we are part.

Dominic Barter began developing restorative practices and systems in the mid 1990s, inspired by the social complexity of Rio de Janeiro, his adopted home, and his study with Marshall Rosenberg in Nonviolent Communication. Since 2004 he has been the training program director and consultant to the Brazilian Justice Department’s Restorative Justice pilot projects, in collaboration with UNDP, UNESCO, the Special Secretariat for Human Rights, local communities and State Secretaries for Education. In 2008 Dominic was a keynote speaker at the International Conference on Restorative Practices. He coordinates the Restorative Justice Project for the international Center for Nonviolent Communication.

Restorative Circles offer a way to:

• restore the connections and relationships necessary for healthy and safe communities;
• create opportunities for everyone affected by the conflict to speak and be heard;
• engage individuals and their communities to take responsibility for particular conflicts and ownership of the process;
• tap into the resourcefulness of the community for creating next steps.

Who is it for?

Anyone interested in how to nurture and sustain power-with, compassionate communities:  those working or living in any community or social system system such as health care, schools, the justice system, neighborhoods, families, businesses, non-profit organizations.

If you’d like to learn about a process of sharing with other people that is conducive to restoring and keeping peace in your community please send us an email.

We are faced with differences between people on a daily basis. How we deal with these differences may determine our experience of life. A Restorative Circle offers a rich and vibrant response to conflict. A process in which everyone is heard, everyone participates and every voice is valued.

For more information also surf to http://www.restorativecircles.org/ They drew a circle that shut me out,Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout! But love and I had the wit to win We drew a circle that took them in. (Edwin Markham 1852-1940)

Cost

Training / Workshop dates

* All dates are subject to change and will be confirmed on registration. Unless indicated otherwise training times are daily from 10am – 5pm.

• 18 Oct

  Restorative Circles

  Edmonton

  4 days: Oct. 18, 19, 20 and 21st 10am – 5pm MDT

  Register