Restorative Practices offers a way to see things differently. It gives us the framework and tools that we need to manage challenges so that they are productive rather than destructive. Restorative Practices allow us to work with what is wrong and make it right. And it involves everyone and builds relationships in a good way.

In criminal justice, we bring offenders together with victims and community members who have been affected by their crimes. The offender takes responsibility and agrees to make things right by living up to the terms of a formal agreement that is created with input from everyone.

In schools, we create communities where students and staff members can have good relationships with lower levels of conflict. When students behave in challenging ways, we bring them together with their families, teachers, and other students who have been affected. Together they talk about what has happened and create an agreement with commitments that make challenging behaviour less likely in the future.

In workplaces, churches and associations, restorative practices build relationships between people by getting everyone on the same page early on about how to manage disagreements and differences. In this way, conflicts are not only less likely but are also more productively resolved.

In communities, we bring people together to dialogue about things that are important to them. Through circles, community members might talk about crime that makes them feel unsafe or the house fire that has left a neighbour homeless. People talk about challenges and changes and how they feel about them. And together, they problem-solve, mobilize and take action to make their community a stronger place.