restorative practices Resource Library
a compilation of curriculum, articles & studies, videos, & other resources related to restorative practices for schools and community work
What Are Restorative Practices?
About CRG's RP Program
CRG's Restorative Practices Program works to build community relationships, advance knowledge and skills for effective communication and collaborative problem-solving, and center youth voice, leadership, and power.
What we do...
You can learn more about our initial mapping report and how our program began here...
What we do...
- CRG’s work focuses on research & program evaluation, participatory learning communities for youth and adults, circle practice training & facilitation, and direct service and program support for local and regional schools and school partners.
- We convene Learning Communities (LC) that bring together school-based community members from area schools in a small group setting aimed at relationship and skill building, collective problem-solving and resource sharing, and cultivating a critical mass of youth and adult practitioners invested in shaping school communities through a restorative mindset.
- We also organize Youth Learning Communities (YLC) comprised of youth-led small groups that network youth from schools across the region to address local issues, support one another through peer training and skill-building activities, and develop leadership tools based in restorative practices that can be used to shape school culture and create positive change.
- We create customized program support and training for schools beginning with program evaluation aimed at identifying school/community needs and assets. CRG trainers and coaches work with a team from your school to co-create actionable steps. Whether your school has an established restorative practices program and is seeking additional training or mentorship, or your school is invested in developing a program from the ground up, CRG will connect you with the resources, support, and accountability needed to make it possible.
- We are engaged in partnerships with community mediation centers, the Mass Office of Public Collaboration, state legislators and representatives, as well as the Franklin Regional Council of Governments and our many school partners in Franklin, Hampshire, & Hampden counties who together form the network needed to make meaningful change. But central to our community is a building coalition of young people from across our region who inform, question, inspire, and advocate for what is most important to them. Addressing racial justice and inequity in schools on a systemic level will require all of us. Dismantling the policies and practices that perpetuate the school to prison pipeline will take our collective, collaborative, and ongoing involvement. Reimagining school communities outside of the current institutional narrative must include the voices of those most impacted and harmed by them.
You can learn more about our initial mapping report and how our program began here...
What Are Restorative Practices?
Simply defined, Restorative Practices are proactive approaches to developing relationships and building community, as well as repairing relationships when harm has been done.
More specifically, RP includes...
- Proactive – we take action, engage, bring our strengths and intention into the work we do
- Approaches – not just a checklist of things to do or not do, but a way of thinking or acting with the whole situation in mind
- Develop relationships – being connected to another person or people, seeing them as fellow humans, understanding core needs we share
- Building community – knowing we’re interconnected, can feel included and supported with those around us, and knowing that we impact those around us
- Repairing relationships – restoring trust, re-building the feeling of connection with other people and the world around us without the need for punishment or blame
- When harm has been done – we all are capable of doing things that can cause harm to others, and we all can take responsibility and make things right to restore good connections (harm repair is often addressed through a process known as Restorative Justice)
More specifically, RP includes...
- Language that invites people to feel connected to us and to build trust and a sense of safety
- Community circles (getting to know people, having difficult conversations, ways of being/working together, etc.)
- Restorative dialogue (focusing on personal, emotional growth, accountability, equity of voice, and decision making skills), other group discussions
- Conferences to address harm
- Conflict resolution, mediation
An Acknowledgement
As a strategy and communication framework, Restorative Practices have become more prevalent within educational institutions and justice systems in recent years. However, misuse or misunderstanding of these practices can perpetuate issues of cultural appropriation, racism, and intersectional oppression within the very organizations, institutions, and communities that have embraced these practices.
We do this work as a response to (and acknowledgement of) our own growth, learning, and recognition of continual change. In particular, we aim to thoughtfully and intentional recognize and understand our own power and privilege and how it impacts our work and way of being in the world. As a beginning, we recognize the broader need for innovative community engagement, standing behind the leadership of those most impacted by harmful systems, and shaping change as we pursue collective liberation through racial, environmental, and social justice.
Understanding these practices as a culmination of work rooted in Indigenous tradition, it is important to acknowledge the many teachers and communities that have and continue to inform our work. Our teachers include the youth and adult leaders of Pa'Lante Restorative Justice program at Holyoke High School, the youth and adult leaders at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts, Sayra Pinto, Harold and Phil Gatensby, Gwen Jones (restorecircles.love), the work and history of First Nations peoples of Canada & the United States, and the Maon of New Zealand, and many more.
We do this work as a response to (and acknowledgement of) our own growth, learning, and recognition of continual change. In particular, we aim to thoughtfully and intentional recognize and understand our own power and privilege and how it impacts our work and way of being in the world. As a beginning, we recognize the broader need for innovative community engagement, standing behind the leadership of those most impacted by harmful systems, and shaping change as we pursue collective liberation through racial, environmental, and social justice.
Understanding these practices as a culmination of work rooted in Indigenous tradition, it is important to acknowledge the many teachers and communities that have and continue to inform our work. Our teachers include the youth and adult leaders of Pa'Lante Restorative Justice program at Holyoke High School, the youth and adult leaders at Pioneer Valley Performing Arts, Sayra Pinto, Harold and Phil Gatensby, Gwen Jones (restorecircles.love), the work and history of First Nations peoples of Canada & the United States, and the Maon of New Zealand, and many more.
Pa'Lante Restorative Justice Shared Resources
Permission of Use: These are proprietary materials that have been generously made available for use. Please contact CRG so that we may contact the creators if you wish to use these materials outside of viewing or educational purposes.
Circle Prep Meeting Guidelines
| circle prep meeting guidelines |
Intervention Process Protocol
| intervention process protocol |
Conflict Circle Template
| conflict circle template |
Restorative Justice Agreement Form
| rj agreement form |
Pa'Lante RJ Resource List
| Pa'Lante RJ Resources |
Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Shared Resources
Videos, Documentaries, & Podcasts
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Podcast - NENC/America Amplified Special: Lessons Lost: The Struggle To Talk About Race In Some New England Classrooms What we don’t learn in school can matter as much as the lessons we do learn. This episode of NEXT, we talk to teachers and students about the harm of omitting stories and cultures from curricula — and how we can do better. It’s a rebroadcast of our final show in a series of specials on “Racism in New England,” produced by the New England News Collaborative and America Amplified. Listen here. |
Documentary - Hollow Water https://www.nfb.ca/film/hollow_water/ This documentary profiles the tiny Ojibway community of Hollow Water on the shores of Lake Winnipeg as they deal with an epidemic of sexual abuse in their midst. The offenders have left a legacy of denial and pain, addiction and suicide. The Manitoba justice system was unsuccessful in ending the cycle of abuse, so the community of Hollow Water took matters into their own hands. The offenders were brought home to face justice in a community healing and sentencing circle. Based on traditional practices, this unique model of justice reunites families and heals both victims and offenders. The film is a powerful tribute to one community's ability to heal and create change. |
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In Race Talk Revolution's series on Ending the School to Prison Pipeline they explore school-based restorative justice practices with Evalin Aquino, Jill Sternberg, Terrence Winston, and christopher sabo. |
Articles & Studies
Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspension?
ADDED: 8/26/19
CATEGORY: nonpartisan think tank study, school climate, restorative practices, school discipline, suspension
TITLE: Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspension? An Evaluation of the Impact of Restorative Practices on a Mid-Sized Urban School District.
ABSTRACT: Across the country, school districts, their stakeholders, and policymakers have become increasingly concerned about suspensions, particularly about suspending students from elementary school and disproportionately suspending ethnic/racial minority students. Suspended students are less likely to graduate, possibly because they miss the instructional time they need to advance academically. Restorative practices have gained buy-in in the education community as a strategy to reduce suspension rates. Proactively improving relationships among students and staff and building a sense of community in classrooms and schools may make students less inclined to misbehave. And addressing severe misbehavior through a restorative approach may help students realize the impacts of their actions and make them less likely to offend again.
This study of the implementation of restorative practices in the Pittsburgh Public Schools district (PPS) in school years 2015–16 and 2016–17 represents one of the first randomized controlled trials of the effects of restorative practices on classroom and school climates and suspension rates. The authors examined a specific restorative practices program — the International Institute for Restorative Practices' SaferSanerSchools™ Whole-School Change program — implemented in a selected group of PPS schools under a program called Pursuing Equitable and Restorative Communities, or PERC. The researchers found that PERC achieved several positive effects, including an improvement in overall school climates (as rated by teachers), a reduction in overall suspension rates, and a reduction in the disparities in suspension rates between African American and white students and between low- and higher-income students.
CATEGORY: nonpartisan think tank study, school climate, restorative practices, school discipline, suspension
TITLE: Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspension? An Evaluation of the Impact of Restorative Practices on a Mid-Sized Urban School District.
ABSTRACT: Across the country, school districts, their stakeholders, and policymakers have become increasingly concerned about suspensions, particularly about suspending students from elementary school and disproportionately suspending ethnic/racial minority students. Suspended students are less likely to graduate, possibly because they miss the instructional time they need to advance academically. Restorative practices have gained buy-in in the education community as a strategy to reduce suspension rates. Proactively improving relationships among students and staff and building a sense of community in classrooms and schools may make students less inclined to misbehave. And addressing severe misbehavior through a restorative approach may help students realize the impacts of their actions and make them less likely to offend again.
This study of the implementation of restorative practices in the Pittsburgh Public Schools district (PPS) in school years 2015–16 and 2016–17 represents one of the first randomized controlled trials of the effects of restorative practices on classroom and school climates and suspension rates. The authors examined a specific restorative practices program — the International Institute for Restorative Practices' SaferSanerSchools™ Whole-School Change program — implemented in a selected group of PPS schools under a program called Pursuing Equitable and Restorative Communities, or PERC. The researchers found that PERC achieved several positive effects, including an improvement in overall school climates (as rated by teachers), a reduction in overall suspension rates, and a reduction in the disparities in suspension rates between African American and white students and between low- and higher-income students.
Tools & Reflection on Structural Harm in RJ Practices
ADDED: 10/19/19
CATEGORY: structural harm in RJ, strategies for integration, program design, tools
AUTHOR: Associate Professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), Sonya Shah has 20 years experience in social justice education. She has been an associate professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies for ten years, and a facilitator of restorative justice processes in her family, community, schools and prison settings for nine years. She has trained hundreds of facilitators in trauma healing and a restorative modality, and helped communities design their own group healing processes nationally. She's currently facilitating circles for survivors of sexual harm and people who have committed sexual harm in an inaugural cohort of grantees and fellows with Justice Beginnings Collaborative called Project Ahimsa.
CATEGORY: structural harm in RJ, strategies for integration, program design, tools
AUTHOR: Associate Professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), Sonya Shah has 20 years experience in social justice education. She has been an associate professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies for ten years, and a facilitator of restorative justice processes in her family, community, schools and prison settings for nine years. She has trained hundreds of facilitators in trauma healing and a restorative modality, and helped communities design their own group healing processes nationally. She's currently facilitating circles for survivors of sexual harm and people who have committed sexual harm in an inaugural cohort of grantees and fellows with Justice Beginnings Collaborative called Project Ahimsa.
RJ Mural Art in Philly
YOUTH AND DEMOCRACY: Participation for Personal, Relational, and Collective Well-Being
DATE ADDED: 12/18/19
CATEGORY: article, personal and collective well-being, framework for youth-leadership and democracy
EXCERPT: In this article, we introduce a framework for understanding well-being in general and the well-being of youth in particular. In addition, we offer a model for analyzing interventions designed to promote personal and collective well-being. Finally, we discuss the contributions of the authors of this special issue to our analytical and intervention frameworks.
CATEGORY: article, personal and collective well-being, framework for youth-leadership and democracy
EXCERPT: In this article, we introduce a framework for understanding well-being in general and the well-being of youth in particular. In addition, we offer a model for analyzing interventions designed to promote personal and collective well-being. Finally, we discuss the contributions of the authors of this special issue to our analytical and intervention frameworks.
RP in Denver Public Schools - A Pilot Study
ADDED: 1/6/2020
CATEGORY: public school pilot RP project, case study, program evaluation and monitoring
ABOUT: The Denver School-Based Restorative Practices Partnership is a coalition of racial justice, education, labor and community groups working to ensure widespread and high-quality implementation of restorative practices in Denver Public Schools and beyond. Restorative practices are alternatives to punitive school disciplinary policies that have proven ineffective and
racially discriminatory. Using approaches such as dialogues, peace circles, conferencing, and peer-led mediation, restorative practices get to the root cause of student behavior. Educators also say restorative practices identify issues too minor to be addressed with harsh school disciplinary responses—suspensions, police tickets, removal from class and isolation from other students—and create plans for students to both learn from and make amends for mistakes. When fully implemented, restorative practices improve school climate, increase academic achievement and reduce racial disparities in school discipline.
Through the Denver School-Based Restorative Practices Partnership, the youth and parent group, Padres & Jóvenes Unidos; the national racial justice organization, Advancement Project; the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA), Denver Public Schools (DPS), the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver (DU); and the National Education Association (NEA) are documenting successful restorative practices programs in Denver schools and then sharing the model for success with other districts across the country that are seeking to replicate, scale and sustain these practices.
CATEGORY: public school pilot RP project, case study, program evaluation and monitoring
ABOUT: The Denver School-Based Restorative Practices Partnership is a coalition of racial justice, education, labor and community groups working to ensure widespread and high-quality implementation of restorative practices in Denver Public Schools and beyond. Restorative practices are alternatives to punitive school disciplinary policies that have proven ineffective and
racially discriminatory. Using approaches such as dialogues, peace circles, conferencing, and peer-led mediation, restorative practices get to the root cause of student behavior. Educators also say restorative practices identify issues too minor to be addressed with harsh school disciplinary responses—suspensions, police tickets, removal from class and isolation from other students—and create plans for students to both learn from and make amends for mistakes. When fully implemented, restorative practices improve school climate, increase academic achievement and reduce racial disparities in school discipline.
Through the Denver School-Based Restorative Practices Partnership, the youth and parent group, Padres & Jóvenes Unidos; the national racial justice organization, Advancement Project; the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA), Denver Public Schools (DPS), the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver (DU); and the National Education Association (NEA) are documenting successful restorative practices programs in Denver schools and then sharing the model for success with other districts across the country that are seeking to replicate, scale and sustain these practices.
Prioritizing Self Care While Working from Home - article
ADDED: 5/6/20
CATEGORY: working from home, self-care, teacher wellness, remote learning, responses to COVID19
TITLE: Prioritizing Self-Care While Working From Home
EXCERPT: Tending to our personal health seems important but also really difficult in situations like the current pandemic, when our time feels consumed with urgent work issues. We may feel that if we don’t get a task done, our students will suffer or programs will fail. However, if we become mentally exhausted, overtired, or drained of energy, we risk a complete shutdown mentally or physically—and at that point, no tasks will get done.
Fortunately, there are many ways that we can take care of ourselves so that we can meet the needs of others from home. The following are my suggestions for personal care and sharing with others. They are just suggestions: The most important thing is to think about the three areas—physical, mental, and social care—and do what works best for you and what you know you’ll be able to do regularly.
CATEGORY: working from home, self-care, teacher wellness, remote learning, responses to COVID19
TITLE: Prioritizing Self-Care While Working From Home
EXCERPT: Tending to our personal health seems important but also really difficult in situations like the current pandemic, when our time feels consumed with urgent work issues. We may feel that if we don’t get a task done, our students will suffer or programs will fail. However, if we become mentally exhausted, overtired, or drained of energy, we risk a complete shutdown mentally or physically—and at that point, no tasks will get done.
Fortunately, there are many ways that we can take care of ourselves so that we can meet the needs of others from home. The following are my suggestions for personal care and sharing with others. They are just suggestions: The most important thing is to think about the three areas—physical, mental, and social care—and do what works best for you and what you know you’ll be able to do regularly.
Nurturing a Classroom Community During Distance Learning
ADDED: 9/11/20
CATEGORY: classroom management, remote learning, responses to COVID19
TITLE: Nurturing a Classroom Community During Distance Learning
EXCERPT: Requiring students to keep their video feeds on during online classes can raise concerns about technology equity and bullying, especially among teachers of middle and high school students. Nevertheless, I believe it’s important to have a video-on policy for student teachers, since I want them to wrestle with these questions and consider the power of being seen. I expected them to have their cameras on at all times, and we discussed how obligating adolescents to do so even at the start and end of class could help them engage with us (their teachers) and each other. We also bid farewell to each person at the end of each class, and individuals turn off their cameras as we say goodbye.
CATEGORY: classroom management, remote learning, responses to COVID19
TITLE: Nurturing a Classroom Community During Distance Learning
EXCERPT: Requiring students to keep their video feeds on during online classes can raise concerns about technology equity and bullying, especially among teachers of middle and high school students. Nevertheless, I believe it’s important to have a video-on policy for student teachers, since I want them to wrestle with these questions and consider the power of being seen. I expected them to have their cameras on at all times, and we discussed how obligating adolescents to do so even at the start and end of class could help them engage with us (their teachers) and each other. We also bid farewell to each person at the end of each class, and individuals turn off their cameras as we say goodbye.
Building Community with Student Driven Conversation
Building Community With Student-Driven Conversations
Conversation groups allow students to explore vulnerability about their experiences and build trust in one another.
By Molly Josephs
August 26, 2020
https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-community-student-driven-conversations
Engaging in Difference Using Restorative Practices
Engaging in Difference Using Restorative Practices
Author: Linda Kligman
Link:
https://unionpenumbra.org/article/engaging-in-difference-using-restorative-practices/
Date added: 1/14/21
Excerpt:
Restorative Practices have been used to address issues caused by individual and structural racism. For example, in 1979, a Truth and Reconciliation committee was established after five people were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Greensboro, North Carolina (Beck 395). To tackle systemic racism, in 1995, the government of South Africa used restorative justice to convene a Truth and Reconciliation Committee that offered amnesty to perpetrators of crimes during the era of apartheid in exchange for taking accountability for the harms they caused (Tutu 45). The government selected restorative justice, as opposed to traditional public trials, with the intent of creating a shared understanding of the impact of racist policies. Participants hoped that by creating a shared understanding and reminding the public of the humanity of the perpetrators as well as the victims, they could restore a divided country and build a new national identity.
Author: Linda Kligman
Link:
https://unionpenumbra.org/article/engaging-in-difference-using-restorative-practices/
Date added: 1/14/21
Excerpt:
Restorative Practices have been used to address issues caused by individual and structural racism. For example, in 1979, a Truth and Reconciliation committee was established after five people were murdered by the Ku Klux Klan in Greensboro, North Carolina (Beck 395). To tackle systemic racism, in 1995, the government of South Africa used restorative justice to convene a Truth and Reconciliation Committee that offered amnesty to perpetrators of crimes during the era of apartheid in exchange for taking accountability for the harms they caused (Tutu 45). The government selected restorative justice, as opposed to traditional public trials, with the intent of creating a shared understanding of the impact of racist policies. Participants hoped that by creating a shared understanding and reminding the public of the humanity of the perpetrators as well as the victims, they could restore a divided country and build a new national identity.
Re-Engaging Students and CLOSING the School-to-Prison Pipeline
This report was written by Richard Mendel, Senior Research Fellow at The Sentencing Project in 2021.
The Sentencing Project promotes effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice.
This research was funded by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Inc., and we thank them for their support; however, the findings and conclusions presented in this report are those of the author(s) alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation.
REPORT LINK: assets.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/sentencingproject-backtoschool-2021.pdf#page=13
In this report, The Sentencing Project details a wide variety of promising and proven strategies through which schools and community partners can:
The Sentencing Project promotes effective and humane responses to crime that minimize imprisonment and criminalization of youth and adults by promoting racial, ethnic, economic, and gender justice.
This research was funded by The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Inc., and we thank them for their support; however, the findings and conclusions presented in this report are those of the author(s) alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation.
REPORT LINK: assets.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/sentencingproject-backtoschool-2021.pdf#page=13
In this report, The Sentencing Project details a wide variety of promising and proven strategies through which schools and community partners can:
- Reduce unnecessary arrests at school,
- Replace the counterproductive overuse of exclusionary discipline (e.g., suspensions and expulsions),
- Improve social and educational climate within schools, and
- Provide vulnerable students with the services and supports they need to maintain good attendance, avoid disciplinary problems, thrive academically, and remain on track toward graduation and higher education.
RP and Students with Disabilities
In 2018, Pathways to Restorative Communities (P2RC) received a grant from Communities for Restorative Justice (C4RJ) to implement Restorative Practices (RP) into Dearborn Academy, a school that specializes in working with students with disabilities. This paper includes who we are, what we learned along the way, and provides some resources for using RP with students with disabilities. Authors who contributed to this document include: Rebecca Altepeter, Janice Durham, Candace Julyan, Maria Landaverde, Julie Manning, Alison Mehan, and Hannah Sycks.
LINK TO STUDY HERE
LINK TO STUDY HERE
Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline (from Mass Advocates for Children)
Students of Color (SOC) with disabilities are often faced with classroom exclusion. Schools should end zero tolerance policies because they lead to disciplinary measures that push SOC with disabilities out of school. In order to keep SOC with disabilities in school, schools should use restorative justice practices, such as mediation and conflict resolution when relationships are harmed. Through restorative justice practices, students are not severely punished and removed from school, so SOC with disabilities will continue to be included and embraced in school settings, rather than being excluded, suspended, and expelled.
Link to article here.
Link to article here.
Circle Resources
First, a few important words from Sayra Pinto..."Circles is a practice that harkens to a different way of understanding the world. Different, that is, from mainstream Western culture. Given this, practitioners, scholars, and organizations need learning communities that can support them in their efforts to maintain fidelity. Fidelity requires the adaptation of profoundly different ethical practices that then shape and inform organizational management practices and individual philosophies of being. Circles are not artifacts or activities, they are practices of being through which we change institutional and community culture, structures, and ways of relating."
Visit Sayra's page for more insight from her experience (& those she's learned from) here.
Visit Sayra's page for more insight from her experience (& those she's learned from) here.
Building Community with Restorative Circles
Edutopia.com Article
https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-community-restorative-circles
Building Community with Restorative Circles
By Marieke van Woerkom
March 2018
7 steps for proactively building the skills and relationships students will need when challenges arise.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-community-restorative-circles
Building Community with Restorative Circles
By Marieke van Woerkom
March 2018
7 steps for proactively building the skills and relationships students will need when challenges arise.
Circles for COVID-19 & Youth Empowerment: A Youth RP Guide
Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter Public School
Spring 2020
By PVPA 11th grade students, Analua Alencar Moreira, Jacob Rosenblum, & Isabelle Buchanan
To students: our generation is going to live with the long-term ramifications of this virus. We have an opportunity to take agency over our lives and our future. We are all student leaders. We hope you join us in this movement.
To our adult allies: thank you for seeing the value and successes of youth activism. Thank you for supporting young people from a place of mutual respect. We have learned a lot from you, and we hope we can return the favor. We hope this resource offers you inspiration and guidance, but we know that—to poorly paraphrase Leonardo DaVinci—art is never finished; it is merely abandoned. For that reason, we hope that you take the time to give us feedback through the following survey: https://forms.gle/e3P6UVHvPjGtzsoy5! Your responses will help us continue improving our skills moving forward, and for that, we thank you.
Spring 2020
By PVPA 11th grade students, Analua Alencar Moreira, Jacob Rosenblum, & Isabelle Buchanan
To students: our generation is going to live with the long-term ramifications of this virus. We have an opportunity to take agency over our lives and our future. We are all student leaders. We hope you join us in this movement.
To our adult allies: thank you for seeing the value and successes of youth activism. Thank you for supporting young people from a place of mutual respect. We have learned a lot from you, and we hope we can return the favor. We hope this resource offers you inspiration and guidance, but we know that—to poorly paraphrase Leonardo DaVinci—art is never finished; it is merely abandoned. For that reason, we hope that you take the time to give us feedback through the following survey: https://forms.gle/e3P6UVHvPjGtzsoy5! Your responses will help us continue improving our skills moving forward, and for that, we thank you.
| circles for covid-19 & youth empowerment |
Circle Structure from Sayra Pinto
Source: https://www.restorecircles.love/the-mechanics-of-circle-process
People call a circle when they need care or when a group of people need to problem solve. Others hold a circle when they have issues (an invitation for people to share time together, learn, share stories, listen to each other, and celebrate). As a poet, I think of these circles as haikus. The haiku is a type of poem that has a set and very simple structure that never changes. Traditionally it has been used to capture the essence of an experience a traveler has had during a journey.
This simple structure aids the poet in the effort to use each syllable purposefully in order to convey a story in images. Haikus are all different and powerful when they are well written. That is what circles are like. The structure is very simple because they are intended to structure experience through which stories are told, heard and built. The elements of circle gatherings are as follows:
The reason for being in circle. The purpose of your circle will determine how you go about preparing for it.
The preparation necessary to convene a circle. Here, people think about what the space should be like, whether to use a centerpiece, what should be shared, whether there will be food, how many people to invite and how to go about doing so. Then, they set about the tasks of issuing the invitations, arranging space, designing the centerpiece if there will be one, preparing the food if there will be any, and connecting with people who are invited to the circle.
Opening. This can be a ceremony, a prayer, a reading, a song, a video, or any other shared experience that will support everyone to transitioning into the circle.
Greetings. The people hosting the circle introduce themselves, explain its purpose, the use of the talking piece and ask permission to begin the circle.
Introductions. The people hosting invite those people in the circle to share how they are and why they decided to be there. There are many questions that can be asked in this first round and I recommend that they be questions that enable everyone to share how they are in that moment so that they can be present with the circle as well.
Conversation. This part of the circle is when you do a very specific activity, ask specific questions, and/or open a conversation so that people can deepen or build on their shared experience.
Reflection. The people hosting the circle invite everyone to share what has happened for them throughout the experience of the circle. This is the beginning of the closing process for the circle.
Closing. A closing can be a ceremony, a prayer, a reading, a song, a video, or any other shared experience that will support everyone’s transition out of the circle and into their regular lives.
Follow up. It is critical that appropriate follow up is conducted with everyone who partakes of the shared experience of individual circles as well as the long term process of building relationships. One is never in the position to really know what is happening for everyone in the circle during the actual experience of specific circles, one can only invite sharing. Depending on the level of trauma a person has experienced, opening up can take time. It is important to, as my friend Gwen Chandler Jones says “be in circle even when you’re not in circle.” In this manner the implementation of circle process is an invitation to integrate an ethical framework that puts survivors and our relationships with them at the very center of all the work we do in communities. Follow up can mean setting up and keeping individual appointments after the circle(s), making follow up phone calls, creating action plans when someone needs added support and following through, etc. Each situation each different with everyone in the circle and what is important to be comfortable and aware of the need to keep tending to those relationships before, throughout, and after shared circle experience.
People call a circle when they need care or when a group of people need to problem solve. Others hold a circle when they have issues (an invitation for people to share time together, learn, share stories, listen to each other, and celebrate). As a poet, I think of these circles as haikus. The haiku is a type of poem that has a set and very simple structure that never changes. Traditionally it has been used to capture the essence of an experience a traveler has had during a journey.
This simple structure aids the poet in the effort to use each syllable purposefully in order to convey a story in images. Haikus are all different and powerful when they are well written. That is what circles are like. The structure is very simple because they are intended to structure experience through which stories are told, heard and built. The elements of circle gatherings are as follows:
The reason for being in circle. The purpose of your circle will determine how you go about preparing for it.
The preparation necessary to convene a circle. Here, people think about what the space should be like, whether to use a centerpiece, what should be shared, whether there will be food, how many people to invite and how to go about doing so. Then, they set about the tasks of issuing the invitations, arranging space, designing the centerpiece if there will be one, preparing the food if there will be any, and connecting with people who are invited to the circle.
Opening. This can be a ceremony, a prayer, a reading, a song, a video, or any other shared experience that will support everyone to transitioning into the circle.
Greetings. The people hosting the circle introduce themselves, explain its purpose, the use of the talking piece and ask permission to begin the circle.
Introductions. The people hosting invite those people in the circle to share how they are and why they decided to be there. There are many questions that can be asked in this first round and I recommend that they be questions that enable everyone to share how they are in that moment so that they can be present with the circle as well.
Conversation. This part of the circle is when you do a very specific activity, ask specific questions, and/or open a conversation so that people can deepen or build on their shared experience.
Reflection. The people hosting the circle invite everyone to share what has happened for them throughout the experience of the circle. This is the beginning of the closing process for the circle.
Closing. A closing can be a ceremony, a prayer, a reading, a song, a video, or any other shared experience that will support everyone’s transition out of the circle and into their regular lives.
Follow up. It is critical that appropriate follow up is conducted with everyone who partakes of the shared experience of individual circles as well as the long term process of building relationships. One is never in the position to really know what is happening for everyone in the circle during the actual experience of specific circles, one can only invite sharing. Depending on the level of trauma a person has experienced, opening up can take time. It is important to, as my friend Gwen Chandler Jones says “be in circle even when you’re not in circle.” In this manner the implementation of circle process is an invitation to integrate an ethical framework that puts survivors and our relationships with them at the very center of all the work we do in communities. Follow up can mean setting up and keeping individual appointments after the circle(s), making follow up phone calls, creating action plans when someone needs added support and following through, etc. Each situation each different with everyone in the circle and what is important to be comfortable and aware of the need to keep tending to those relationships before, throughout, and after shared circle experience.
the Complete Book of Questions
| the complete book of questions |
RP Booklets
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