Mir Centre hosts a weekend of Restorative Circles
By Nelson Daily Staff
Selkirk College’s Mir Centre for Peace is hosting a weekend exploration on an exciting new and old response to conflict — one that leads to more compassion, accountability, collaboration, creativity, safety and connection.
A Restorative Circles workshop is being offered to help communities of all kinds (families, neighbours, students, co-workers, etc.) work with conflict in a way that restores connection and supports accountability.
Originally developed by Dominic Barter and the people he has worked with in Brazilian favelas, schools, court systems and prisons, a Restorative Circle is part of a systemic approach to working with conflict restoratively instead of punitively.
“A Restorative Circle [RC] is not for deciding who is wrong and how much to punish the wrongdoer,” said workshop co-facilitator Eric Bowers.
“Instead, an RC supports all who are impacted by an act that breaks connection in the community. It allows them to be heard and understand how the act affected them.”
The RC process also supports each person to take responsibility for why the act was done or for how it was responded to.
Once mutual understanding and self-responsibility have taken place, circle participants co-create an action plan that addresses the consequences of the act, including the connection lost as a result of the act.
Bowers, along with co-facilitator Katherine Betts, has trained alongside Barter and has been inspired by the results of implementing Restorative Circles in communities.
“One of my favourite parts of his [Barter’s] workshops is the stories he tells about some of the Restorative Circles he has supported.
“One action plan involved an owner of a store hiring the man who robbed him. Another action plan had a boy who had stomped on flowers while walking through a community garden give a presentation to his class that included some history of the woman who tended the garden, why the garden was so important to her and why he was helping her with restoring her garden.”
Everyone is invited to take part in this weekend exploration into Restorative Circles, at the Mir Centre for Peace at the Castlegar campus on Friday, April 15, from 7-9 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, April 16-17, from 9:30-4:30 p.m.
The costs are $20 for Friday and $200 for Saturday and Sunday. For more information and to register, call 365-1208.
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