Restorative
Practice
Conversations | Meetings | Conferences | Circles
Having high expectations, of ourselves and others, is one of the key tenets of Restorative Practice (RP). With One Small Step, RP supports you to actively develop good relationships in your community – at work, at home and in education. Restorative Practice supports us to be the best that we can be.
Through Restorative Practice and with One Small Step you will improve group morale. You can reduce – and prevent the escalation of – workplace, family and community conflict. You will give young people skills for life (and teach older dogs new skills too!). Restorative Practice delivers the techniques we need, to handle disagreement in a healthy way. One Small Step will support you to talk restoratively, to demonstrate and encourage key restorative values:
- Respect
- Empathy
- Personal Accountability
- Fairness
- Honesty
- Collaboration
- Problem-solving
Restorative Practice works for a number of reasons. Amongst these:
- RP separates the behaviour from the person
- RP helps people to listen to one another
- RP seeks understanding rather than blame
Blame is how we discharge our discomfort, pain and anger, as researcher Dr Brené Brown demonstrates – in this highly relatable three-minute video. Blame is corrosive; it works against accountability, connection and empathy.
Restorative Practice never shames either, as shame is far more likely to cause destructive behaviours than solve them – it eats away at the parts of us that believe we can change.
A restorative statement doesn’t always have to be positive, it just has to include an “I..” and a feeling, much like the approach of Marshall Rosenberg on non-violent communication.
One Small Step can facilitate your restorative conversation, meeting, circle or conference – the choice depends on a few circumstances, including what needs to be discussed and whether a formal, or more informal, process would be best. Do get in touch and we’ll have a chat about which most suits your needs.