Restorative Justice Services Ōtautahi Christchurch (RJSOC) recently hosted a training event for colleagues across Te Waipounamu. The training was attended by 27 participants, including some colleagues from other regions. The workshops covered various topics, including Restorative Justice Values & Principles, presented by Tracey Wakefield from RJSOC, and Spirituality and Restorative Practice, presented by Jeremy Simons from Te Ngāpera Centre for Restorative Practice at Victoria University. Other topics included Positive Youth Development, Disability and Neurodiversity, Risk Assessments and Family Violence. The feedback from the event was extremely positive, with participants emphasising the importance of connecting and the value of taking time to reflect on and truly understand the language used to describe their work.

“One big thing I took away from the amazing hui was that we as a group are all totally committed to putting people first. Manakitanga – doing what we can to illuminate people’s mana. And then we got to delve into the question of what’s needed for us to do it EVEN better. That all meant a lot to me.”

Thank you to all our attendees and presenters.