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restorative justice
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services:
community:
Community and community-building are at the heart of restorative justice. Being in circle means being in community. The circle is not just about the shape or positioning of individuals sitting in around in a circle, taking turns speaking and listening. The circle is about who you are committed to being in community, inside and outside of circle. Restorative justice invites you to share your stories, of who you are and how you became yourself..
Being in community, being in circle, also means sharing and living your values in relationship—how you value yourself, how you commit to relate to others, and a commitment to nurturing and practicing shared and collectively gestated values—how you value others and the connections and bonds you have to them.
Working with an intergenerational team, Arnoldo provides RJ community-building training and coaching to school staff, educators and community activists to learn how to hold and design circle and create the foundations to uplift restorative community. Being in circle is the first of many steps to create and strengthen the bonds of community where everyone is welcome and contributes to the wellbeing of the community and her members.
Arnoldo García is an independent restorative justice consultant and provides professional development, training and coaching in English and Spanish.
healing:
Healing means transformation, change and a re-weaving of community when harm takes place. Restorative justice proper focuses on addressing harm, wrong-doing and conflict when it occurs. Healing begins when individuals take responsibility for their actions and, in community, decide to do the work of repairing the harm to their relationships. Healing means making relational changes through a commitment to renewing and creating the values and actions to make the changes that can prevent harm from reoccurring. Restorative justice can help reinforce the bonds that lead to healing and changing.
Healing in restorative justice is an invitation to self- and collective transformation in community. Creating healing relationships means finding ways to always bring in closer and hold accountable the person or persons that have caused the harm.
The most powerful way to achieve restorative justice is when the community is able to ask: What did I do that allowed this to happen? Harm is both individual and relational, an expression of the health and core relationships that make up the community. Healing and change takes place at the intersection of the individual and the community. One cannot heal one without the other.
In order to more successfully implement restorative circles with accountability, to repair and heal harm and conflict against relationships, the school community or organization needs to have a practice of community circle where everyone is included. So that when harm does occur and restorative circles are convened, the members of the community and those who take accountability for their actions that caused harm or conflict have the values and the connections to make taking responsibility. Professional development, training and coaching is available in English and Spanish.
Arnoldo García is an independent restorative justice consultant and provides professional development, training and coaching in English and Spanish.
belonging:
Belonging is the soul of communities.
Whether a young or older person is returning from incarceration, from suspension, or even a long illness that has kept that out of the community, a key restorative practice is creating a plan of support and accountability so that the returning person is welcomed back and supported for a successful re-integration.
In school communities and community-based organizations, the practice of welcoming and reintegrating returning and new members to the community is indispensable to strengthening the individual and collective bonds: belonging. When an individual is welcomed and they are invited to also take ownership and responsibility for the community. Belonging becomes the shared power of responsibility and mutuality in community, caring for one another and always looking for ways to strengthen the bonds and connections.
Our communities are our circle.
And the circle is the space where we can create and strengthen the ways we relate to one another and connect to identify efforts and commitments to sustaining and building a restorative and healthy community.
Arnoldo García is an independent restorative justice consultant and provides professional development, training and coaching in English and Spanish.
Restorative Justice Services:
Arnoldo García, as a partner in Creative Change Collaborative, works with an intergenerational team of restorative justice practitioners and trainers to provide professional development, training and individual and team coaching. Our partnership is available for RJ trainings to learn and practice the skills of holding community circles, building restorative relationships and preparing and bringing people together in restorative justice repair & healing circles and welcoming circles that strengthen community.
In addition, I encourage that all professional development initiatives and RJ trainings are followed-up with individualized coaching and other supports, including creating a community of practice, to meet regularly where emerging and skilled restorative practitioners share insights and lessons and discuss critical challenges and dilemmas facing their restorative work to continue growing.
Restorative justice is a philosophy and requires continuous practice, ongoing training and community building. RJ is not a training or coaching. The decision to go restorative means addressing the challenges facing your communities where everyone is welcomed and included.
Restorative justice means building and strengthening an inclusive and welcoming community where everyone has a place and voice in the dreams and driven by belonging, to ensure that there is continuous individual and team growth.