This particular type of restorative justice is now being brought to North America. In March 2009, several people from Maine went to Montreal to attend RC trainings with Dominic Barter. In the summer of 2009 the Peace & Reconciliation Studies Department of University of Maine offered an RC course. There is now a group of 14 people who are meeting monthly to practice the skills of RC facilitation.

Community Partners, Inc. (CPI), a non-profit based in Biddeford, ME, has incorporated NVC and Dominic’s Restorative Circles into their business model for management, employees, and clients. With more than 400 employees, CPI is institutionalizing RC to help staff and clients reframe conflict from an experience that leads to pain and separation to an experience where each person’s humanity is seen more deeply by others, leading to deeper connection.

Personally, I found participating in even an RC practice circle about an issue that arose 15 years ago created such a shift in me. I now have a more open, connected feeling both toward myself and toward the other people involved in the original incident. I picked a situation where I have long told myself that I was "at fault" for "hurting someone’s feelings" thereby creating a lot of disharmony. For a long time I had stuffed down feelings of shame and embarrassment about what had happened. Sometimes these feelings expressed themselves as aloofness and created even more disconnecting interactions between myself and the others involved.

During a Restorative Circle practice session, I offered to work on the scenario. Part of the time I "played" myself (the author of the event), and part of the time I "played" the other person (the receiver of the event). Others got to experience facilitating the three components of the process (see box at left). As a member of the circle I had the opportunity to receive empathy for my part in the situation, which resulted in feeling greater connection for all the others involved in the original incident. Dominic calls this sharing meaning.

Currently, in Quebec, Gina Cenciose and others are starting a Restorative Circles Family Network. People will come together to learn the process and then be available to facilitate circles for families in the network when conflicts arise.

The joining of NVC with restorative justice work is innovative. To support the growing interest in RC in Maine, we will be offering a 2-day Restorative Circles training April 20 & 21, 2010. FMI

Joy For No Reason

Danna Faulds

I am filled with quiet
joy for no reason save
the fact that I’m alive.
The message I receive
is clear – there’s no time
to lose from loving, no
place but here to offer
kindness, no day but this
to be my true, unfettered
self and pass the flame
from heart to heart. This
is the only moment that
exists – so simple, so
exquisite, and so real.

from One Soul: More Poems From the Heart of Yoga

Community Partners Inc.,
NVC and Restorative Circles:
One Non-profit’s Story

Brenda Mitchell, Director of Operations

Community Partners Inc. (CPI) is a private non-profit organization providing support to approximately 200 people with developmental disabilities and employing about 400 people. In May of 2005 we embarked on the journey of integrating Non-Violent Communication into the fabric of the organization. It has been a wonderful connection with our philosophy and has been interwoven within our mission, vision and values – the foundation of our work.

We are slowly moving from a “power over” model, including the elimination of the CEO position and the transformation into a shared leadership model. We have moved away from traditional “disciplinary action” and embraced a model of mutual agreement, employee observations and performance expectations. Restorative support has become a natural component within this framework. We define restorative support as empathy sessions, NVC mediation and restorative circles. We communicate with all employees that the support is available to them and give people a variety of mechanisms to access what is needed. Restorative support facilitates our ability to deepen our connections with the people we support and employ; honors the life experiences that individuals bring to CPI and creates an environment that is focused on healing and interdependence.

We have discovered that our clarity in expressing the needs of the organization and deeply listening to those of the people we support and employ has enriched the services that we provide and the employment atmosphere. I am continuously amazed by the transition that restorative support creates. Traditionally, an employee has been “called in” and told what they have done wrong and that the expectation is that they somehow find a way to perform differently in the future. While some employees will change their behavior out of fear of losing their job, many others will continue to present similar behavior until they are eventually terminated. The organization is left with another position to fill, the people supported with another stranger in their home and the terminated employee with bitterness toward the employer or their situation.

Restorative support allows an opportunity to create greater clarity and deeper connections. The same employee is offered an opportunity to receive empathy for a situation that has created concern within the organization. The employee, the supervisor, the related community and a facilitator join together to discuss the needs of the organization (including those of the people receiving support) and the needs that were being met for the employee when the situation occurred. I have witnessed that greater understanding by all individuals leads to an opportunity to come to a mutual agreement in how to proceed. The difference in approaches can be life changing and, generally, will lead to a greater connection for all individuals involved. A person may still chose to discontinue his or her employment with us as our work does not meet their needs, but the departure created under these circumstances is much more desirable than what occurred in the previous model.

The journey over the past five years has been incredible and it continues to provide opportunities that we could not have foreseen when we began. We have had to abandon or revise some of our attempts and stay very focused on our mission – to strengthen our connections, to support personal growth and to live valued lives. Gina Cenciose and Peggy Smith, Certified NVC trainers have been invaluable as partners in our journey. We are grateful for their encouragement, as well as insight, counsel and guidance.

FMI: Community Partners, Inc., Biddeford, ME
If you are interested in an employment opportunity working with a needs based organization, please contact Steve Caya, our recruitment specialist.

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