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Rea Blash is a senior at Longmont High School and a
third year member of the Student RJ Team. He is a trained
facilitator, restorative mediator and community member. In
addition to RJ, Rea is also a swimmer and a rapper. Rea was
awarded the Si Se Puede award in 2011 for his incredible work and
commitment on the RJ Team and his consistent, positive
encouragement of his team members.
Laura Snider is the Program Manager of Restorative
Practices in Schools at the Longmont Community Justice
Partnership. For the past 2 years, she has worked on a highly
successful student-led RJ pilot project with high school students
to develop skills as RJ facilitators, restorative mediators, youth
community members and connection circle leaders.
In 2010, she
graduated from the Kroc Institute at the University of Notre Dame
with her Masters in International Peace Studies. Prior to her work
in restorative justice, Laura worked with children with attachment
disorders; adults with dual diagnoses of schizophrenia and some
form of addiction; HIV+ clients involved in a music, dance and
drama group in Kampala, Uganda; and the South Bend Human Rights
Commission. She enjoys learning other languages, traveling,
cooking and working with youth.
Dr. Beverly Title, the
founder of our organization and a longtime practitioner, trainer
and leader of restorative justice. After 21 years as a
public school educator, Dr. Title founded Teaching Peace in 1994,
now known as the Longmont Community Justice Partnership (LCJP), a
not-for-profit agency that partners with police, courts and
schools to deliver restorative justice services.
Dr. Title was
awarded the Virginia Mackey Award for Leadership in Restorative
Justice. She now works with reSolutionaries, Inc. with a focus on
bringing restorative justice practices to schools and other
communities. She is author of Teaching Peace: A Restorative
Justice Framework for Strengthening Relationships.
Convener: Edwin Rutsch is founding director of the Center for Building a
Culture of Empathy. See
his full Bio here.
=============================
Title: How does Empathy Show up in Your RJ Work?
Promo for 2012 RJ Summit
07-31-12 11am-12pm Denver
Welcome to our panel discussion on
Restorative Justice and Empathy
Introductions:
I’m Deb Witzel, the Executive Director
for the Longmont Community Justice Partnership and CO-producer of the
Colorado Restorative Justice Summit set for August 9, 10 and 11th in
Denver. To learn more about that please go to
www.rjcolorado.org.
It is my pleasure to have on the panel
today,
Rhea Blash a student from Longmont High
School and restorative justice facilitator,
Dr. Beverly Title, the founder of our
organization and a longtime practitioner, trainer and leader of
restorative justice.
Laura Snider
Each of these esteemed panelists has a
unique perspective on restorative justice and the ways empathy shows up
in this work.
I would like to start by asking:
Beverly, to describe briefly how
restorative justice works.
Rea, why did you join the restorative
justice team at your high school?
would you please briefly share with us
your experience and how empathy showed up for you in the process?
Questions:
1. How do you all think restorative
justice helps build empathy?
Do you have a story of when you saw it or
felt it?
2. When you are sitting in a restorative justice process how do you
know when empathy is happening?
3. What ways do you work to build empathy when doing restorative
justice?
4. What else would you like to say about restorative justice and
empathy?
Thank you all for taking the time to
share your wisdom and insights.
Beverly Title will both be presenting at the Restorative Justice Summit in
Denver next week. Rea has teammates who will be presenting as well.
