Dominic, one of my colleagues as a Certified Trainer with the Center for Nonviolent Communication, has developed and tested a process for creating a place for people to have conflict with each other without the typical distraction of violence.
Yes, that's right -- a place to have conflict! ...because much of what we tolerate, Dominic suggests, is to withhold and suppress our needs and that's why conflict eventually escalates into some form of violence.
A Restorative Circle is a community process for supporting those in conflict. It brings together the three parties to a conflict – those who have acted, those directly impacted and the wider community – within an intentional systemic context, to dialogue as equals. Participants invite each other and attend voluntarily. The dialogue process used is shared openly with all participants, and guided by a community member. The process ends when actions have been found that bring mutual benefit.
Restorative Circles are facilitated in 3 stages designed to identity the key factors in the conflict, reach agreements on next steps, and evaluate the results. As a circle form, they invite shared power, mutual understanding, self-responsibility and effective action.
Learn more here.
