Our communications manager Rachel Saudek has a really cool day job. She has been working for a sailing non-profit in the San Francisco Bay that brings students from all over the Bay Area out to experience life on the water and learn about their local ecology from a new perspective. During one of our Zoom meetings, we three mused over the many connections between experiential learning and the Restorative approach, and this blog was born.

Restorative Justice/ Practices provide tools to address one another when we don’t agree, as well as providing opportunities to create a sense of community among circle participants.  The growing interest in these practices gives me hope. 

In Restorative Practices we apply mindfulness every time we sit down to participate in a  Circle or a Restorative Conversation. . In fact, mindfulness is essential for the success of a restorative process in a number of ways–through active listening, speaking from the heart, and remaining open to others' truths.

Restorative Practices help to build, maintain, and repair relationships between individuals living, working and functioning as a community. They foster communication and increase mutual understanding and empathy, leading to an overall sense of connection and increasing the capacity to handle conflict in a way that promotes growth and repairs relationships. 

In some cases, our focus becomes to teach Restorative Practices skills to a small group of individuals within the community, so that they are empowered to use these tools as needed going forward. This is capacity building: the process of developing a community’s ability to address issues in a way that will help them fulfill their mission.

Restorative classrooms ask questions rather than punish, include rather than exclude, and build cooperation and student buy-in in the process. 

What does it mean to be a Circle Keeper? What do they do and why are they important? In Restorative Practices, both talking circles and circles to address harm are facilitated by a Circle Keeper who is responsible for guiding the group through a process that helps all feel comfortable participating and directs the conversation toward its intended purpose.

A highly supportive work culture provides the safety to learn and grow, raise concerns, and try new things. Restorative Practices provide a process for establishing group norms, managing expectations, and developing the interpersonal skills essential for collaboration.