From a collection of solitary individuals and a few small families, Hub City Village is knitting itself into a caring community that is concerned each person’s welfare and solves problems peacefully, thanks at least in part to a generous grant which paid for all adult residents and a few CHC board members to participate in a 15-hour training on Restorative Justice.
Restorative Justice is a practice that seeks to move away from addressing conflicts with punishment to focus on creating stronger and healthier relationships through open communication and understanding. Restorative approaches center the needs of those who have been harmed and ask those who have caused harm to account for the impact of their actions. Beyond the individuals at the heart of a conflict, restorative justice asks everyone participating in the process about the collective responsibility for creating conditions that enable and foster harm, while also accounting for the ripple effect of wrongdoing in our communities.
The residents were divided into three groups for delivery of the online classes taught by Janine Carroll, an accredited practitioner and trainer. Each three-hour time slot was divided into listening to input from Ms. Carroll followed by smaller break-out sessions where the residents role-played situations requiring them to use new approaches to difficult situations to arrive at better outcomes. In total, 18 residents completed all hours of the training, including practices, so they in turn are now qualified to serve as trainers for future residents to help them acquire the important skills for growing and maintaining a healthy community.
The three residents interviewed for this article all agreed that the training had personal and community benefits. Nicole, one of HCV’s newest residents, was quite enthusiastic about the program’s benefits. She has applied what she learned to her relationship with her 13-year-old daughter and was thrilled that it has brought them closer together. She feels it helps with emotional self-regulation and hopes to apply it in the future as a Mind Set Coach, a career she is passionate about. In Hub City Village Nicole has noticed an energy shift and feels the training is helping residents to connect better with their neighbors and not just make assumptions about the feelings and needs of others.
Another resident, Alex, was also very happy with what she learned. Alex admitted that before the training she was not happy with the idea of giving up so many hours on a Saturday when she was home from her regular job. But she quickly grasped the value of the training in diffusing sticky situations. She was delighted to be able to help her young daughter resolve a huge conflict with her best friend that threatened to end their relationship entirely. By talking to each one on the phone and then coaching them to speak to each other by phone, the situation was satisfactorily resolved and the two became best friends again.