On-Site Training

We come to you!

We train groups of up to 20 people at a time. The Basic Tools training takes place in 4 sessions, 2½ hours each, often spaced out a week apart. All sessions include presentations and activities. Sessions 2-4 spotlight participants’ use of the skills at work, home and play. Participants understand the full power of Restorative Justice Practices only when they’ve invested their hands and hearts in meaningful real-life situations.

If possible, we recommend that you include some people who don’t know one another – from different departments in a non-profit or business, or different schools in one district, perhaps multiple community partners. We’ve found that work “families” slip into distractingly cozy social habits with one another. But it’s your call.

Requirements

Your site needs to have AV equipment and a space that comfortably accommodates a circle of up to 22 chairs
Trainings require a minimum of 10 people, but no more than 20.
PLEASE NOTE: Participation in the initial Overview is mandatory since every subsequent session relies on its information.

Certification

Completion of the OVERVIEW and 3 sessions culminates in a Certificate of Basic Tools.
Add 2 more sessions to a series for a Certificate of Initial Mastery.
Anyone with a Basic Tools certification can take two extra sessions within a calendar year, where available, for a Certificate of Initial Mastery.

All trainings take place in circle, restoration’s signature technique.

Overview – Mandatory

In this first session, training participants learn enough of the basics that they can go home and practice the restorative tools that night. Restorative practices cannot be understood by the intellect alone. They must be practiced, like an instrument, using them with hands and hearts in daily life, to fully grasp the power of restoration.

With increasing experience under their belts, participants will find that each subsequent session takes them deeper into the mindset, giving them confidence that they can build richer relationships, maintain their personal communities and resolve common and high-tension conflicts.

The Art of Questioning

Games help participants practice shifting declarative statements into curious, restorative questions designed to give the other person room to give an account of their experience – true accountability – and enriches the quality of the answers.

Community Building

This session focuses on techniques that help groups, any group, to establish useful, observable protocols for working, learning or playing together. Only when all parties are personally invested in sustaining a high-functioning group will their goals be met.

Trauma / Basic Brain Science

Everyone has lived through some sort of trauma, but some recover more easily than others. This session teaches simple, proactive techniques designed to avoid triggering or escalating a trauma-driven response that shuts down communication.

Teams That Work

This session gives participants confidence and a sense of their own agency when tackling a problem or project that needs a high-functioning team. We guide participants through ways of identifying and assembling a team that accomplishes its goals.

The Art of “I” Statements

“You” statements invite defensiveness and head-butting. We practice turning “you” into “I” statements – how it is for me, from my own point of view, without assigning blame. We model how to encourage others to use “I” statements, improving the chances of exchanging high-quality dialogue.

Identifying Triggers

All of us can be triggered by other people’s behavior. We’re more effective when we understand our own triggers and what triggers others. Learn to handle situations that ignite difficult emotions, cloud clear thinking, and invite unwanted behavior.

Restorative Justice

RJ is the back-to-the-future revival of traditional cultures’ response to crime and violations of community norms. Our modern professionally-driven justice system, which focuses on guilt and punishment, contrasts with restoration’s goals of personal accountability and healing.

Self-Circling and Restoring Self Conflict

Even minor personal battles with ourselves get in the way of being present to others, efficacious, or fully enjoying life. Building from each participant’s self and social support, this session demonstrates how to use restorative techniques to circle up with ourselves.