Restorative practices may have one of the strongest value adds to our society, our communities, and to individuals...both those that have experienced harm and those that have caused it. Join us as we discuss the power of restorative practices with Keith Hickman, the Director of Collective Impact with the International Institute of Restorative Practice as he helps us unpack today. 

Show references and full transcription here

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Keith: An approach that focuses on repairing relationships and the harm caused by crime, while holding offenders accountable, restorative practices provides an opportunity for the parties directly affected by crime--victims and survivors, offenders and their communities, to really identify and address their needs in the aftermath of the crime. So, families tend to be those who are most harmed in these cases. So victims have an improved perception of fairness and greater satisfaction, improve attitudes towards juvenile offenders and adult offenders, and they're more willing to forgive the offender and are more likely to feel that the outcome was just [for more than] just the victim that caused the harm.

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Keith: Restorative practice strengthens relationships between these individuals as well as social connectedness within the community. And then, restorative practice can also help to increase people's personal and collective efficacy doing the work. These positive outcomes influence a sense of community. People with greater sense of community are more likely to act in healthy ways and work with others to promote the well being for all. And so the proactive aspects of restorative practice focus on building the community before a problem arises, rather than responding after problems occur. So this is important prevention work. And that's important to the field of public health and community health--to improve the social determinants in a community. And you can see, we're starting to use language, not only just restorative practice language, but other language to really foster how these two things can operate as a multi modal approach. And so when used as universal prevention strategy for everyone in the community, regardless of any specific risk factors that may or may not exist, restorative practice really can help create the social conditions for people to be healthier and have greater well being.

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Keith: It just proves the point that, you know, it really is about relationships and how we help people find their human dignity, and how do we give human dignity back to those that are harmed. And so restorative practices, it's really been proven to be an effective approach. 

Miranda: Yeah, I mean, so what I'm hearing is everyone should be utilizing restorative practices! 

Keith: Yea, as much as you can, yeah! I mean, you know, it's not the silver--it's not the fix it all, but it is a process and a way to communicate and find a language, and deal with vulnerability and rebuild trust in order to take those steps, right?

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Join us for season one as we explore bias, systemic racism, the roots of oppression and barriers found within education and the criminal "justice" system. 

The Unpacked Project is produced by Vicky Lee with Branding and Marketing by Raquel Avalos. 

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