This page contains resources designed to support those with practical experience of Restorative Circles and the systemic contexts in which they occur. Some of the references may be less than fully clear if you do not have this experience. The practices and opinions shared here should also be understood as fragments of a more complete response, and viewed with this in mind. 

All the practices  - and all references here to the development, language, procedures, naming scheme and questions of such practices - should also be understood as part of a didactic teaching model designed to be used exclusively in such learning environments. It's intention is to clearly demonstrate, it's intention is not to instruct. Real-world restorative systems, and the practices they develop and apply, will reflect local decisions with their own development, language, procedures and questions.

If you've any further questions, we encourage you to get in touch.

Restorative systems

 

 

 

 

This is the first of three videos in which Dominic offers a comprehensive overview of the whole arc of a Restorative Circle process, from the support systems that allow us to begin, to identifying the communities of which we are part, and on through setting up a restorative system and facilitation.

Please note: At the top of this clip, Dominic leaves out one of the most common ways in which people experience community, from a restorative justice perspective: when they are impacted by crime and/or painful conflict. Tragically, such experiences remind us of community by distancing us from it or activating it, as well as by revealing the collective nature of much of our lives. 

 

In the second of three videos, Dominic continues this overview of the Restorative Circle process by tracing the journey of the community member who offers facilitation, including the importance of self-care and its connection to the care of other participants.

 

In the last of this series of three videos, Dominic runs through the Restorative Circle process (Pre-Circle, Circle and Post-Circle), highlighting some of the key moments, from the point of view of those offering facilitation.

 

 

After a day's RC practice in the Berlin Facilitator Practice module in early 2010, Dominic sat down with Verena Preiss, Ronald Preiss and Hanno Koehncke to hear about their work in German high schools and respond to some questions.

The conversation covered a variety of topics, including how RC can spread and grow in institutions, without becoming centralised; the importance of documenting Circles; responding restoratively to sabotage; and, how some young people see learning RC.

 

 

 

Facilitation

 

In this clip from the Oakland, California Facilitator Practice module in October 2009, Dominic introduces the importance of sharing support with colleagues, for those who offer facilitation, in what is known as the Facilitator Pre-Circle.

 

In the Berlin Facilitator Practice module, in early 2010, participants investigated the way in which the Facilitator Pre-Circle is similar to, and distinct from, the Pre-Circles done with other participants. (With German translation)

 

After describing the process, Duke Duchscherer and Dominic do a Facilitator Pre-Circle, and then debrief with the group.