Building a Trauma-informed Restorative School: An interview

Joe has been the victim of two separate violent anti-gay hate crimes and what began as a personal healing response to the trauma, he has transformed into professional involvement in the field of community and restorative justice. He is the author of the recently published book, Building a Trauma-informed Restorative School: Skills and Approaches for Improving Culture and Behavior.

In this session we will talk to Joe about his new book, below is a description of the book.

Covering both theory and practice, this book will teach educators everything they need to know about developing restorative practices in their educational settings, in a way that is also trauma-informed.

The first part of the book addresses the theory and philosophy of restorative approaches, and of trauma-informed and trauma-sensitive schools. The second part outlines the five restorative skills (mindfulness, honest expression, empathy, the art of asking questions, and the art of requests), what they look like in practice (including using circles, respect agreements and restorative dialogue), and how to implement them. Every strategy is clearly explained and adapted to be appropriate for children and adults who have experienced trauma.

Everything the book discusses has been specially designed to be adapted for different school settings and their particular challenges.

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