By Greg Archer
Author, professor, and trailblazing activist Bell Hooks once said: “To build community requires vigilant awareness… rarely, if ever, are any of us healed in isolation. Healing is an act of community.”
That wisdom serves as a springboard for the Coalition for Innovative Restorative Justice Practices initial gathering. The event will be at 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, June 14 at La Quinta Resort. A pre-event gathering will also take place at noon, Thursday, June 13.
“We want to build community,” said Dr. April Clay, whose San Bernardino-based Clay Counseling Solutions offers numerous services. “We want restorative practitioners to meet one another at this event. There are schools doing or beginning to do restorative work. We want them to meet those who have been doing this work for some time.”
“We really want to get into the space of having intersecting conversations, which allows folks not normally in conversation with each other to start dialoguing and having discourse around what restorative practices should look like,” she said.
Tawon Green, executive director of the Clay Counseling Foundation, with young adults at a restorative justice event organized by the group. (Courtesy of Clay Counseling Services)
This work runs from the classroom to the boardroom to the playground, the ripple effects can be significant, Clay said, affecting safety officers and policy makers, who can learn from various practitioners in a safe space.
“We really want this to be a systemic change, including the judicial system,” Clay said. The idea for the event came several years ago when Clay Counseling Solutions began using restorative practices with families, teaching them how to use restorative questioning with children.
“It was designed to help kids be more reflective of their own behavior,” she said, “and see the need for change, and the consequences are a natural part of their own decision making. We also started working with schools.”
One thing they’ve eyed: the classroom to prison pipeline.
“We do see the number of kids being exited from our K-12 system parallel with the number of kids entering into the juvenile justice system,” Clay said. “We want to reduce that number. So, if you get into a fight or an altercation with your teacher, you flip over a desk, you get a consequent behavior, but we keep you in the school.”
Basically, a student would not automatically be pushed out.
“Obviously you want to uphold the rules, but we need to be able to allow kids to participate in the consequences and that’s a big area of restorative work,” she said. “Oftentimes, we hear a lot of our schools saying they have restorative practices, but at the end of the day, we’re still pushing kids out of the schools. We want to give kids a chance to redeem themselves. We want to give them opportunity to repair the harm that they’ve created, and see them make changes.”
The Coalition for Innovative Restorative Justice Practices initial convening features a variety of gatherings/workshops to further illuminate right action, from building community and restorative justice practices and the law to other themes that touch on equity and inclusion and harm reduction.
A “learn by doing” component of the event goes further, featuring the value of tai chi, yoga, listening circles, guided meditation, and nature walks.
An introduction to restorative practices certification is also offered.
Recently, Inland Empire Community Foundation became one of the event sponsors.
“Sponsorship’s been a huge benefit because they are allowing us to reduce the cost of the event,” Clay said. “If you were to look at this as an investment in our youth, it allows us to help encourage folks to come to the table with fewer barriers because cost does become a barrier.”
“Because we’re doing it in the Coachella Valley,” she said, “these valuable sponsors have connected us to other organizations” we may not have known about, “that has been an added blessing.”
To register, visit the registration link: https://form.jotform.com/240264823642151. General registration is $169 and $199 at the door.
Learn more at claycounselingsolutions.com.
Inland Empire Community Foundation works to strengthen Inland Southern California through philanthropy.
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Courtesy : https://www.pressenterprise.com/2024/05/08/san-bernardino-based-counseling-group-planning-conference-on-restorative-justice/