Introduction to School

Peacemaking Circles

Lee Copenhagen, LCSWBARJ Project Trainer with the support of the Minnesota Department of Corrections and National Institute of Corrections

Overview of Circles (Pranis, 2005)

A Peacemaking circle is a way of bring people together in which: Everyone is respected Everyone gets a chance to talk w/o interruption Everyone is equal Spiritual and emotional aspects of individual

experience are welcomed

Overview (cont.)

Peacemaking Circles are useful when two or more people: need to make decisions together have a disagreement need to address an experience that resulted in

harm to someone want to work together as a team wish to celebrate wish to share difficulties want to learn from each other

What Are School Peacemaking Circles?

A Process for bringing students/teachers/staff together as equals to talk about the offense

Provides an atmosphere of respect & concern for everyone

Face-to-face encounter to repair harm Led by trained Circle Keepers Participants decide Circle outcome

What are Circles? (cont.)

Voluntary for victim Admission of responsibility by offender Incident-based, behavior-based Looks at underlying causes Focuses on empowering participants Comes to consensus agreement

Circles in Practice (Pranis , 2005)

Ceremony Guidelines Talking Piece Facilitator or Keeper Consensus Decision-Making

Old School Approach to Offenses:

Questions asked:

What laws/rules were broken?

Who did it?

What punishment do they deserve?

New guiding questions

1. Who has been hurt?

2. What are their needs?

3. Whose obligations are they?

4. What are the causes?

5. Who has a ‘stake’ in this?

6. What is the appropriate process to involve the stakeholders to put things right?

(Zehr, 2002).

Restorative discipline:

Recognizes the purpose of the misbehavior Addresses the needs of those harmed Works to put things right Aims to improve the future Seeks to heal Uses the collaborative process

Stutzman & Mullet, 2005).

Typical Stages of the Peacemaking Circle Process

Acceptance – community & affected parties determine if circle is

appropriate Preparation -

separate circles for various interests are held Gathering –

All parties brought together Follow-up –

Regular communication and check-ins

KEEPER

HUMANSERVICES

PROBATIONOFFICER

SUPPORTER

OFFENDER

KEEPER

FAMILYMEMBER

COMMUNITYMEMBER

SUPPORTER

VOM Peacemaking Circles

VICTIM

POLICE OFFICER

FAMILYMEMBER

COMMUNITYMEMBER

Where Circles Fit in Schools

Circle Opportunity

ISS OR IMMEDIATEL

Y

PRE- RETURN TO CLASS,

PROGRAM

CLASSROOM ROLEPLAYS,

TEACH RJ SKILLS

SUSPENSION

EXPULSION

RE-ENTRY TO DISTRICT

Applications for Schools

Managing classroom behavior Handling school discipline Repair teacher / student relationship

after theft of Ipad Repairing harms inflicted between students Providing space to begin talking about long

standing conflicts from middle school Face to face talking in time of social

networking & texting

New Applications for CA Schools

AB 1729 Chaptered September 12, 2012 Amends Ed Code 48900 about bullying Amends Ed Code 48900.5 adding specific

alternatives to suspension, including: Conferences Referrals to counselor, psychologist, social

worker CWA, and school support staff Participation in a restorative justice program Program for prosocial behavior or anger mgmt A positive behavior approach with interventions

Crime is a wound.

Justice should be healing.

Understanding the Participants

Victim / Offender

Mediation Circle

Umbreit (2000)

Restorative Circles Addresses Shared Interests

OffenderInterests

VictimInterests

SchoolCommunit

yInterests

Victim/Offender/School

Restorative Approach Questions (Zehr, 1990)

What is the harm?What needs to be done to repair the

harm?Who is responsible for this repair?

Stakeholder Identification Questions

Who was harmed? Who caused the harm? Who else may have a stake in the

process?

Understanding Victims: Four Major Impact Areas

PhysicalEmotionalPsychologicalFinancial

Victims’ Physical Responses

Physical shock, disorientation, numbness Physiological reaction to “fight or flight or

freeze” instinct: Adrenaline begins to pump Body relieves itself of excess materials Heart rate increases Hyperventilation, sweating, etc Heightened sensory perception Exhaustion

Needs of the Victim

SAFETY & SECURITY

VENT & VALIDATE

REMAIN NON-JUDGMENTAL

FOLLOW-UP

KEEPPROMISES

RETURNPHONE CALLS

PREDICT & PREPARE

PROBLEMS & PLANS

EMPOWER

TREAT WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT

Helpful Responses

The problem is the problem

Support the victim

Reject stereotypes and myths

Appreciate natural and formal support systems

Actively collaborate

Examine your own attitudes, understanding and knowledge

Tolerate ambivalence, anger and roller coaster feelings

Allow victim to work through his or her own problems

Do offer support and information so victim can gain a sense of his or her own power

Be willing to deal with complicated and difficult cases

Be realistic in all aspects

Understanding Offenders:

What are your attitudes about adolescents & offenders?

Bazemore and Terry (1998) model suggests that the juvenile justice system has been dominated by two primary methods: Rehabilitative

treatment models and approaches Punitive

punish, control and contain

Restorative Goals

To help the offender change: What they think (content)

How they think (process)

How they behave (behavior)

Applying Restorative Theoryin Peacemaking Circles

Who are the offenders?

What might be the excuses they would use?

What should you be attentive to when preparing for the circle?

How might those who are related to the offender be affected?

School Community’s Role in Circles

Speak to how the community is affected

Hold the offender accountable

Support completion of agreements

Identify resources to contribute to agreements

School Community’s Role With Victims

Support themValidate their experienceHold offenders directly

accountable

School Community’s Role With Offenders

Support them by looking at the behavior, not the individual

Help them understand how their behavior affects their community

Establish community norms

Provide a means for reintegration

School Community’s Role With Itself

Circle process builds community competency and problem solving - brings community together

School community members share the responsibility for dealing with school climate issues

Role of the Circle Keepers

Minnesota Department of Corrections

and National Institute of Corrections

Dynamics of Difference

White middle class (mainstream) culture has been imposed upon minorities

Used to judge intelligence, mental health, beauty, appropriate communication

Mainstream values applied to others draw mainstream conclusions

Cultural Competence . . .

Is the ability to work effectively with people whose culture is different from your own

Requires understanding your own biases

Requires understanding the differences of the people with whom you interact

Taking Care of Yourself As a Keeper:

Being Centered enables you to focus through others’ pain, frustration, extreme feelings, and ability or inability to reach agreement

Roles of the Keepers Create an atmosphere of respect and safety

for all

Create a tone of hope and optimism for constructive solutions

Guide the process to remain true to underlying values

Articulate the progress and accomplishments of the circle as it proceeds

Clarify unresolved issues to focus the circle’s energy

Participate as a community member

Basic KeeperCommunication Skills

Eliminate distractions

Demonstrate active listening

Suspend judgement

Be empathetic

Try not to assume

Be aware and tolerant of differences in communication styles

Allow speakers to vent

Model and teach use of "I" statements

Be aware of your emotions and biases

Acknowledge the speaker's emotions as existing and legitimate

Body Language

Eye contact to all

Physically centered, sitting with body balanced, able to see everyone easily

Alert, but relaxed muscles

Use body and eye contact to direct speaker to talk to all

How to Give Feedback: Communication Checklist

The problem is the problem

Separate behavior from the person

Give suggestions of alternatives

Acknowledge skills well displayed

Be honest, but talk with the intention of helping to improve

Look to learn for yourself

Allowing Emotional Expression

Keep facial expressions neutral or supportive Pass tissues to teary participants Check in on all participants Use silence: count 10 after a strong emotional

expression If participant expresses anger inappropriately,

remind them of ground rules

Problematic Facilitation Techniques

Talking for participants Interrupting Low skilled communicators Dominating participants’ discussion Allowing participants to look at keeper

and talk only to keeper

Co-Keeping

More difficult to coordinate scheduling Increases safety Allows hearing or seeing things one

person would have missed Helps facilitate difficult or complex

sessions Enables shared feedback, viewpoints

More thoughts of the Roles of the Keepers

Be compassionate, sincere, respectful Listen! Let people vent their emotions Stay neutral (“equally partial”), while

disapproving of harm done Be a facilitator, not judge or negotiator Do not be directive

Don’t counsel participants Be aware of community resources Model and teach communication skills Be able to work independently Be willing to keep records Be able to do a very basic readiness check

Be willing to evaluate yourself and

co-keeper

Stages of the

Circle Process

Circle Processes (Pranis, 2005)

Stage 1: Determining Suitability

Are key parties willing to participate? Are trained facilitators available? Will the situation allow the time required to

use the Circle Process? Can physical and emotional safety be

maintained?

Stage 2 Preparation

Identify who needs to participate. Who has been impacted? Who has resources, skills, or knowledge that might be needed?

Familiarize parties with the process Begin exploring the context of the issue

Stage 3: Convening all parties

Indentify shared values and develop guidelines Engage storytelling to build relationships and

connections Share concerns and hopes Express feelings Probe underlying causes of conflict or harm Generate ideas for addressing harm or resolving

conflict Determine areas of consensus for action Develop agreement and clarify responsibilities

Stage 4: Follow-up

Assess progress on agreements. Are all parties fullfilling their obligations?

Probe for causes of any failure to fullfill n obligation, clarify responsibilites, and identify next steps if the failure continues

Adjust agreements as needed based on new information or developments

Celebrate successes

Guidelines for a restorative conversation

Safe and Peaceful Schools

( Winslade & Williams, 2012)

Establishing the Conversation

Who is effected by what happened?

Who has a stake in seeing things put right?

Identifying the problem

What happened? What part did you play? What can we call it?

(the problem is the problem) What drew you into the trouble

Mapping the effects

How did it get you to feel? What did it get you to do? What did it get you thinking? How did it affect the way you are

with each other? How have other people been

affected?

Addressing the harm

What do you think of the way that this incident has affected people? Are you happy with that? Was it fair?

To the victim: If this situation were to be put right, what would

you need? To the aggressor:

How could we make sure this doesn’t happen again?

Forming the plan

Who will do what? When and where? How will we know it is done?

Role Play

Next steps

References

Pranis, K. (2005) Circle processes: A new/old approach to peacemaking. Intercourse, PA: Good Books.

Pranis, K., Stuart, B.,& Wedge, M. (2003). Peacemaking circles: From crime to community. St Paul, MN: Living Justice Press.

Winslade, J & Williams, M. (2012) Safe and Peaceful schools: Addressing conflict and eliminating violence. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Zehr, H (1990). Changing lenses: A new focus for crime and justice. Scottsdale, PA: Herald Press.

Lee Copenhagen, MSW, LCSW, is a nationally certified

restorative justice trainer and practitioner who has conducted

trainings in victim offender dialog, circle keeping, mediation,

delinquency prevention, and restorative justice. Lee has been

working on high school campuses for over twenty-five years in

many different roles including juvenile investigator, youth

probation officer, social worker, youth gang researcher,

teacher, counselor, family therapist, and parent.

www.cojustice.org