Restorative Practice and Education

Tweet

                              

CRJI have spent the last week compiling a training programme for the introduction of Restorative practice in a school in Dublin City. It is some years since CRJI worked full time within the school setting culminating in a written account of the three-year project in a publication called Beyond the Three R’s. The title is a bit of a give away as we believe that not only should the school curriculum focus on the Three R’s of reading, writing and arithmetic but also on life skills such as conflict management and problem solving. We also believe that the best results in doing this can be achieved by the use of restorative approaches.

There are now countless publications, training organisations and aids when it comes to the subject of restorative justice in schools, not to mention the endless list of consultants who will leave you spellbound on the subject. However, we at CRJI like to take a much simpler view of it all and start with the greatest gift that restorative justice can give us, a value base.

Restorative practice is underpinned, informed and shaped by a value base of eight key components. These are participation, interconnectedness, honesty, humility, respect, accountability, hope and empowerment. Employing these values will quickly send out the message that the school that does this creates a single focus by saying that  “we are a school that values people”. This in turn will see an increase in academic activity for if pupils, parents and staff feel valued then they embrace the wider project of working together to educate our children.

Restorative Justice approaches will also help to develop schools as listening and feeling schools, thus building an environment where people matter, that it is important to put people first and when dealing with issues that have harmed people the restoration of relationships is a key element of the restorative process. This of itself is an education process as we promote new ways of dealing with harm by employing the restorative paradigm.

The restorative paradigm rather than focus on rule breaking looks to what has happened, who has been harmed and how we repair this harm. Again this puts people at the heart of a process while also empowering them to play a central role in the resolution. The empowerment of people should also be a focus of education.

What other benefits are there when we introduce these practices in the school setting? There are different models of school practice, well documented and articulated. In the case of the Dublin school we are looking at developing a Restorative Peer Mediation initiative which will also mean a certain amount of buy in from not only pupils but from staff who will need to be part of the project.

We would hope that this would become a first step for the school as they embrace the restorative values and concepts. CRJI would prefer that schools go for a whole school approach thus deepening and broadening the opportunities and potential positive outcomes. However RJ is people centric and the starting point of one will be different from another, what we really would like to see is the same destination being reached, a truly wholly inclusive way of problem solving which are underpinned by restorative values and processes. That would be something.

 

 

Piece written by Garrett Gorman - CRJI North Belfast

Tweet

“I thought if I killed myself then they would leave my

sons alone and my mum could raise them”

Thus ended a conversation between a local woman, her mother and the North Belfast CRJI coordinator. It’s a blunt calculation. But one that has a terrible logic to a lady driven to the brink of suicide by drug dealers. Seeing no way to pay off a drug debt or escape the clutches of a local team of dealers. Our client had tried to kill herself; clinging to the hope that the threats to her children would end when her life did.

It’s not a unique story. The North Belfast office has dealt with many such cases. Sometimes all family possessions are sold and the debt (including the interest charged) is paid. Other times the family flees their home and community. And occasionally the suicide attempt is successful and homes are devastated by the loss of a father, mother, son or daughter. Experience tells us that in the case of the latter the dealers simply transfer the debt to surviving family members and the intimidation continues unabated.

Cases such as these are encountered by CRJI staff across Belfast, Derry, Newry and Armagh. Also working for some sort of resolution to this issue are suicide prevention organisations such as PIPS and a range of other drug and community groups.

As we have discovered in North Belfast there is no easy answer to the problem of drug dealing, addiction, debts, threats and ruined lives that inevitably follows in its wake. For our part we ensure every shred of information the community gives us about these dealers and those driving people to the brink of suicide is passed to the police – along with a demand for robust action to be taken. We refer those attempting or contemplating suicide to PIPS and, when requested, work with housing providers and other relevant agencies to get those under threat to a place of safety. 

While this intervention may help our clients – it is by no means a panacea to the growing problem of suicide due to drug debts. Much more needs to be done. CRJI does not have all the answers and we believe that there needs to be a coming together of those with a duty to these families. Our community needs these dealers in jail and off the backs of our most vulnerable members. Families and individuals under threat need support to prevent them even considering suicide as an option. Even dealers who are addicts themselves need help, support and treatment.

This tragic scenario is played out in every community across Ireland, Britain, Europe and beyond where drug dealers have a foothold. If we want to effectively address it here in Belfast, or Derry, Newry and Armagh then maybe we need to gather our partners and devise a more coordinated response. It’s certainly a daunting task. But CRJI remains ready to work with any and all statutory, voluntary and community organisations to prevent more names joining the list of those we have already lost through suicide and drugs.

The Long Road

Tweet

CRJI attended the preview of a play on Tuesday 2^nd October at the Lyric Theatre. We had been invited through our work as CRJI practitioners given that the play would deal with some issues around the use of Restorative Practice. The event was well worth the effort, the play was first and for most an enjoyable piece of performance art but more importantly highlighted the issues for a family after the violent murder of their son.

The family issues were something I felt would immediately catch the focus, particularly for those who encounter people who have been badly affected by crime and it’s aftermath. The play drew out the relevant and sometimes poignant questions.

The offender was also well portrayed with a little more stereotypical context but nonetheless recognizable as people we would know.

The middle person was somewhat different from what we who work in the restorative field recognise but the centrality of trying to create a space for a victim offender encounter was underscored.

The plays big success for me was that it made you think. One of the lines ran something like “to understand is to change” change of course being a focus of restorative practice. If any thing the play should act as a platform in which to discuss the very important issues that are central to the play, they are issues that the Criminal Justice System grapples with day in day out and of course the introduction of the restorative paradigm creates a different viewpoint.

I would recommend that people go and see this play and enjoy the play for it’s own integrity, it’s script and the acting, you will get something out of the experience. For those interested in RJ and associated issues then the play will have a different resonance.

Speaking of resonance the play was called “The Long Road”, and as a colleague and myself attended we were accompanied by two serving police officers, yes folks, it has been a very long road.