Category Archives: peacemaker training

SC Presbytery Hosts Peacebuilding Conference Sept. 23-25 with Global Reach

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Racial reconciliation, tribal warfare in the Sudan, conflicted congregations, crime victims, shell shocked soldiers, and family feuds — what do all these have in common?

Peacebuilding Conference to feature the need for healing

Rembrandt's classic painting, "Return of the Prodigal"

Fairnessworks.com is dedicated to spreading the news about resources for peacemakers. As the many hyperlinks will show, this upcoming conference offers an impressive slate of speakers and session leaders.  If you like what you see, please share this news with your circle of friends.

The Peacemaking Committee for South Carolina’s Trinity Presbytery invites you to attend:

 RESTORING COMMUNITY IN A BROKEN WORLD

A Peacebuilding Conference September 23 – 25, 2011

Come learn some explicit approaches and techniques that will help professionals and lay people alike as they seek to build community and restore a sense of wholeness to individuals, families, and churches in need of reconciliation.

Friday evening, Saturday all day workshops, and Sunday morning worship includes two meals together (Attendees may register for Saturday only).

Professional Continuing Education Credit will be available for Attorneys, Licensed Professional Social Workers, and Clinical Psychologists, for a nominal fee.

Nonviolent Communication:

The Rev. Theresa Latini (Luther Seminary), a Presbyterian pastor and certified trainer in NVC, will introduce the basic concepts of this method of communicating that will improve every aspect of your interpersonal relationships.

Restorative Circles:

Mikhail Lyubansky, who has studied Restorative Circles with internationally known Dominic Barter, will introduce the theory and method of this community-owned restorative practice that was developed by Barter and his associates in the favelas of Brazil.

STAR Model of Trauma Healing:

Elaine Zook Barge, Director for Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience at the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding at Eastern Mennonite University, will introduce participants to the STAR method for trauma healing

Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission:

The Rev. Nelson Johnson and the Rev. Joyce Johnson will share their experience with the Greensboro Massacre and the resulting Truth and Reconciliation Commission they founded which has now won international recognition and awards.  The Johnsons co-founded The Beloved Community Center in Greensboro, NC.

The work of the Presbyterian Church in Sudan:

The Rev. Peter Tibi, a Visiting International Peacemaker of the Presbyterian Church, will share his work among tribal warriors in South Sudan, the world’s newest country.

SPONSORED BY THE PEACEMAKING COMMITTEE FOR TRINITY PRESBYTERY

Strength in numbers: a case for more I.T. to bolster Restorative Justice

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On Tuesday, June 7, advocates of a restorative approach to criminal justice will begin arriving in Raleigh, NC, for the 3rd National Conference on Restorative Justice (RJ).   Speakers from around the world will bring their perspectives.

Fairnessworks.com is honored to be working with United Community Builders, a loose consortium of restorative justice practitioners, trainers, journalists and a systems analyst to present a case for strengthening the RJ community through wider user of information technology (I.T.).   Deb Galerneau-Scanlon will tackle these issues in a proposal for a new RJ360 Initiative.

It’s often said that information is power.  The creator of this Power Point presentation – The Business of RJ- the RJ360 Initiative — adds that actionable information leads to knowledge, and intelligently analyzed information leads to wisdom.

The full program for the three-day conference is available at www.restorativejusticenow.org

 

Data circles for an I.T. approach to Restorative Justice

Deb Galerneau-Scanlon's concentric circle concept for the use of hard numbers in R.J.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Healing Power of Storytelling in Sudan: Another Gem from Odyssey Networks

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Milcah Lalam is a peace building development specialist who serves in war-torn countries, focusing on the devastating trauma of war. She specializes in helping victims of rape and abuse, women, children and the many people who are displaced by endless war in their homelands.

In her work with RECONCILE International (Resource Centre for Civil Leadership), she helps survivors of a wide range of war-related trauma work toward healing through the process of storytelling, whether through words, drama or visual arts. Listen as she describes an example of reconciliation and the reunification of a family, even after the attempted murder of a husband by his enraged wife.

http://www.kaltura.com/index.php/kwidget/wid/0_nkrnen0f/uiconf_id/48501

Click here to subscribe to Odyssey Networks, a multi-faith media coalition.

Parents of Troubled Teens — Start Your Search Here

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Parents of troubled teens, and their teachers and counselors, live with the likelihood that their rapidly maturing children might soon face the court system.  Suddenly the child who seemed so full of promise might face the very real prospect of facing a juvenile court referral.  From that point, the probability of having a child in the justice system is a nagging threat.  The fear is always lurking that their “golden child”, their beloved son or daughter,  might soon face expulsion for bullying, or become a defendant in a bullying case.  Some, who fear that the taunts of their children’s classmates may be true, and that their child might really be gay, lesbian, or transgendered, worry that their kids might be bullied and suffer lifelong scars, or even death.

[amazon_enhanced asin="0979841127" /]In 21st Century America, the threat of violence is always a possibility.  Even middle-class, peaceful families know that they are not immune.  Not only in America, but in Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand…in any so-called developed nation around the world, parents walk a thin line between responding to classroom discipline and facing an escalation in the system’s treatment of their child.

At fairnessworks.p1r8.net, we are looking for ways of bringing concerned parents into constructive contact — early in the process, before “juvie” or jail  — with methods of intervention and conflict resolution which can save the future of their troubled teens.  The goal of this blog is to link parents like these with well-established methods of responding to youth crises, such as Restorative Justice and peacemaking circles.  Creating a Culture of Care in the schools is a possible solution, with practitioners who know how to implement these programs.  Hope for restoration is not a false hope, and the possibility of linking to alternatives to punitive and retributive justice is a viable option.

We include a wealth of links to alternative methods at fairnessworks.  Look at the categories and tags in the column at right, click on them, read and follow up on them, if you are the parent (or concerned adult) in the life of a troubled teenager.  Post your comments here and reach out for help.  If you have read this far, you are a “seat-of-the-pants peacemaker,” and you are NOT alone.  You are the person we want to reach at fairnessworks.p1r8.net.

As the editor and publisher of this blog, I am not the counselor you might need.  But I will do my best to link you to the help you are seeking.  Remember, you are not alone.
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“Bully” Helps Middle Schoolers Confront School Violence

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Matthew Kuehlhorn

You might not think of a middle school counselor as a “seat-of-the-pants peacemaker.”  If your child is facing daily bullying, you might see him in a different light.  If your child is withdrawing from life, suddenly uncommunicative, maybe you think about talking to the school administration.  If you are lucky, you will find someone like Matthew Kuehlhorn.

Matthew Kuehlhorn is a Colorado middle school counselor who is passionate about helping create a community of care in schools.  He is exploring ways of implementing Restorative Justice methods in his workplace — your child’s school.  At my invitation, he submitted the following.  Recent postings in fairnessworks.p1r8.net have featured examples of programs which implement restorative, peacemaking methods.  Matthew’s efforts are a timely example of what an individual can do to help create peace.

Matthew is passionate about a graphic novel entitled, Bully.  I hope you will check this out and find ways to implement his peacemaking passions into your own local school.

Bully is an educational illustrated novel.

An illustrated novel

The book is designed to “Ignite the Voice Within” classroom, as he terms it.  Bully is an illustrated novel that teaches relationship building skills and introduces restorative justice practices and theory.

Bully is an amazing story where characters talk directly to middle school readers. The story is emotionally charged and very real for students in today’s classrooms.

After speaking with an educator who used this book in individual sessions, Matthew says, she remarked:

“I have had readers tell me that they have not finished a book in five years. They love this book and have a high interest in finishing it. The book offers great conversation topics which can affect student behavior in our school–for the better!”

Students report this book being like “real life” and the feedback has been amazing.

Bully is 130 pages, which are broken into five sections with “Ignite Now” lessons offered.  Lessons teach:  how to listen, how to tell our story so it gets heard, how to feel empathy, and the book concludes with introducing talking circles and restorative justice.

The book is authored by Teresa Milbrodt, a published short story author and Creative Writing Professor at Western State College of Colorado.  Compelling illustrations were created by Nathan Kubes, a freelance artist, also in Gunnison, CO.

What other people say about Bully:

“I had students, who had not finished a book in years, unable to put this book down.”
Middle School English Teacher

“This is like Real Life”
7th Grade Student

“I recommend this book for students, parents, teachers, counselors, administrators and those people interested in education.”
Dr. Tom Cavanagh

Dr. Tom Cavanagh

 

Dr. Cavanagh, whose current focus is on creating a “Culture of Care” in schools,  has published a review of Bully which can be viewed at:

http://restorativepracticesinschools.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-book-addresses-bullying.html

If you are a school teacher or counselor, and have ideas about reaching the potential peacemakers in your local community, please share your comments below.  I’d suggest this mental exercise:  what Google searches would your students’ parents enter to find help for their concerns troubled teens?

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Restorative Justice Lesson: What a take on “an eye for an eye”!

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If you click no other link today, please click on this one: on “Paintball Justice.”  You can download a pdf of the paper, if you feel especially geeky.  (Hint: feel geeky.)

Dr. Tom Cavanagh’s new blog merits a few moments of your time!  You may be familiar with “The Paintball Case,” but if you aren’t, you’re in store for an amazing example of how Restorative Justice can give an entirely new, 21st Century, application to the ancient Hebrew law of proportionality in retribution, “An eye for an eye.”

To many of us “post-moderns,” the retributive practice of lex talionis may seem simultaneously common sensical, fair, yet still barbaric.  When you consider the preceding historical practice went something like this —  an entire tribe must give it’ s life for an offense of any kind against one’s own tribe — lex talionis sounds awfully reasonable.

Dr. Tom’s blog  case of Paintball Justice shows the amazing outcomes that can emerge from an offender who, in a community of accountability and restorative justice, offers an amend that is far greater than any court might impose.  It’s a worthwhile lesson for the criminal justice system.

Please share your responses here by commenting on this posting.  If you find it helpful, tell Dr.  Cavanagh.  (Self-promotional note:  tell him you saw it on www. fairnessworks.p1r8.net.)  He may be reached at cavanagh.tom@gmail.com.

Spoiler alert.  Read the pdf before reading the following:

District Court Judge Fred McElrea, of Auckland, New Zealand, a pioneer in the application of restorative justice processes in the courts, made these comments about “The Paintball Case”:  “I think this a great case study – informative, educative and insightful.  What was most impressive was the boy’s offer to donate part of his eye if that would bring back her sight.  The second reaction I have is to marvel at the way in which restorative justice helps build community bonds that were not there before – for example, the common interest and empathy of the two families.  Lastly, it brings home how simple it really is to get these things going!  That is because this sort of process is second nature to most people, whereas the court process is an artificial, ritualized procedure that obscures people’s real feelings and desire for reconciliation.”

RJ Peacemakers: Time to Show Your Stuff

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Kris Miner, exhibit coordinator of the conference, has released exhibit booth information for the upcoming 3rd National Conference on Restorative Justice, June 8-10 in Raleigh, NC. Deadline for receiving your signed contract and full payment is coming up soon:  May 14, 2011.

Conference information will be continuously updated on the event’s website.  Prospective exhibitors may call Kris directly at 715-425-1100, or email her at the St. Croix Valley Restorative Justice Program,  scvrjp@gmail.com.

“The …Conference…offers outreach and access to key decision makers and restorative justice leaders.  Hours have been reserved exclusively for the viewing of exhibits, giving your organization to networking opportunities.  The exhibit area will be a ‘display of goods’ relevant to Restorative Justice.

Attendees will be exploring the ways in which RJ practices and principles can may used to meet local needs, including those outside the justice system.

 

Four Tips from the Olweus Bullying Program

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A teacher in the public schools of metropolitan Atlanta, GA, shares these four tips, drawn from the Olweus Bullying Program:

1.  I will not bully others;

2. I will help others who are being bullied;

3. If I am being bullied, I will tell an adult at school and an adult at home; and

4. I will not exclude others (many children do not realize that this is actually bullying).

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“Bullying is a real problem in schools. I feel like I am in a perpetual state of conflict resolution,” the classroom teacher says.  ”I have noticed that by setting an expectation that our class is kind and considerate and modeling that behavior for them — that the students seem to want to be more kind. My students develop a protectiveness for each other — kind of like brothers and sisters take up for each other,” she adds.

“We also allow students to discuss situations regarding bullying without telling any names during the meetings. The program has shed light on the bullying at our school and has limited the stigma of “tattling” on other students. An Anonymous perception survey was given to students to determine how effective the program has been. The results indicated that students are feeling safer and that bullying incidents are declining at our school.

I have noticed that students are not as passive about the mistreatment of others as much as in the past. Hopefully, our students will carry these values with them throughout their school and adult life.

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