Our Services
The Youth Restoration Project helps organizations, schools and communities resolve problems and achieve goals.
We do this by teaching Restorative Practices, simple techniques that address conflict and harmful behavior, avoiding endless cycles of anger and retribution.
Training
Social Work CEU’s are available for all certificate training.
Certificate Training Program
In-depth training for the Certificate of Initial Mastery in Restorative Justice Practices or the Basic Restorative Tools Certificate.
On-Site Training
for the Basic Restorative Tools Certificate, with sessions arranged at your school or organization.
Additional Booster Training
If you’ve completed Certificate training and want to hone your skills, hear about others’ experiences, or begin the process of becoming a trainer yourself, sign up for one or more upcoming sessions.
Train-the-Trainer Program
We’ll also work with people who’ve done in-depth training and have some experience using Restorative Practices, to help them become trainers for their school or organization.
Implementation Consulting
How to implement restorative practices in your community.
Our consultants will guide your team through an Implementation Design Process resulting in a plan tailored to your organization and circumstances, with short- and long-term actionable goals.
We work with groups:
- Who are just getting started with Restorative Practices.
- Who are underway, but want to expand, hone or re-ignite their efforts.
Developing accountability systems versus managing behavior
Restorative training for personnel is necessary, but it’s just as to re-work an organization’s rules and protocols to support a restorative culture. Punishment is baked so deeply into most families, schools and organizations that it’s often used as a first, not last resort.
A well-thought-out menu of pro-active strategies for handling conflict and repairing harm is far more effective at changing behavior. It takes time to develop an Implementation Plan, but we can guide you through process, raising the questions and considerations that can help build a restorative accountability system.
For Schools
YRP’s Social Skills Restoration protocol may not be the only way to promote discipline by teaching social skills, but it considers all aspects of school accountability. To assess a school’s readiness and prepare for the implementation planning process, we use a “Discovery” protocol that examines the unique features, goals and problems of the particular community.
For the Workplace
Are you experiencing low morale, a problem worker, dysfunctional systems or the need to heal an internal rift? These problems need organizational restoration, not retribution.
The Restorative Workplace, a division of the Youth Restoration Project, will work with your team to develop confidential solutions that foster resilience against future conflicts.
Customized for businesses and organizations, the workplace program uses restorative practices to pro-actively equip your group to manage misbehavior and interpersonal tension before conflict lands in the boss’s office or in the Human Resources office.
Embedded Assessment
Fresh eyes can provide a report on your community’s readiness for RJP implementation. We can station neutral observers in your building to consider the obstacles and challenges likely to arise in your environment. They’ll check out your facilities, have random hallway conversations with staff and students, meet with focus groups and stakeholders. You determine the time and depth of the assessment and develop your own set of questions it should address. The final report provides data and guidance for the Implementation Team.
Consulting, Once Underway
We observe, discuss and give feedback as your initiative develops. Bumps in the road will inevitably appear, because, for example:
- Some people will have unrealistic expectations of immediate results.
- Fidelity to the Restorative model can weaken as people slide back into old habits, or new people come onto your staff.
- Systems, both new or old, may fail to work as expected, for reasons that need to be examined so adjustments can be made.
- The Implementation Plan may have been a good start, but bolder next steps are needed to maintain momentum.
- Poor communication may be inhibiting the ability of Restorative Practices to thrive and spread through the community.
Restorative Conferencing
A powerful tool with a great variety of uses.
Conferencing is a restorative protocol used internationally to deal with serious criminal offences by getting to the root of the problem and repairing the harm done to victims and the community. It can also help organizations and communities discern their core values, handle conflicts and forward initiatives efficiently and inclusively.
Our Conference Facilitators work with all parties involved to explore the context of the problem and decide who should be at the table. They arrange a conference meeting to work toward agreements acceptable to all, and follow up to ensure agreements are met.
Conferencing is useful in families, schools, social work and child protective services, as well as juvenile and adult justice systems. And using these techniques can help foster change and improve the cultural climate in any organization.