Restorative Circles

A Structure for Conflict Transformation

Facilitator Training I

Friday January 31, 9am-4pm

February 1, 9am-4pm

This training will give detailed information on each phase of a Restorative Circle and give opportunity to practice all three rounds of dialogue used in a Circle. You will also have the opportunity to practice key facilitation skills such as:  determining clear acts free from evaluation; translating to ensure shared meaning; developing precise action plans with concrete steps; exploring the emotional triggers in yourself and others within the Circle; facilitating and participating in semi-simulated Circles.

Register online or call the Hope Church office at (616) 392-7947.Suggested donation for two-day training: $100. Please consider the value of the events and your ability to pay; you are welcome whether you can pay less or more.

Communities of people—schools, justice systems, churches—can set up a restorative system, a sustainable strategy that utilizes Restorative Circles. Such communities proactively transform conflict and even prevent future conflict. They address the immediate as well as long-term underlying causes of division and pain.

Restorative practices in general focus not on punishment but on the possibility of repairing the harm done to people and relationships. A Restorative Circle provides a structure for people involved in an event to speak with each other, and for conflicts surrounding that event to unfold. Participants can speak and be heard, better see each other as fellow human beings, understand the meanings behind actions and reactions. Finally, they can collaborate about what they would like to see happen next.

Holland Restorative Circles, a group born out of thirst for something better, practices the Restorative Circle process. As experience with the process grows, the group is eager to make training widely available in the Holland community, and to be a catalyst for establishing restorative systems.