Restorative Justice Services Ōtautahi Christchurch held a 3-day summer hui at the end of November 2024.
Restorative Justice (RJ) Facilitators from the South Island gathered for discussion, training and reflection.
The first day included RJ World Cafe which opened space for everyone to share positive and challenging moments of their facilitation journey.
“Great to get knowledge and insight from the team.” comment from post training feedback form
This was followed by another workshop around ‘The Things We Say’ and the importance of the language we use, the power of words and our responsibility to use empowering and participant-centred language.
“We do this a lot. Good to discuss with others, and I took one key statement away which I would use.” comment from post training feedback form
The second day was particularly insightful as Peter Thorburn facilitated a workshop on Unmasking Methamphetamine. Peter generously shared his personal and professional vast sea of knowledge with everyone.
A key takeaway from the workshop from one of RJ’s summer interns was ensuring the importance of listening to understand. Additionally, our summer intern, Jade ,was able to apply what she had learnt about the impacts the Meth use within the conference.
“I found being able to have further understanding and making those links between Methamphetamine use and alcohol, helped my confidence and understanding while being a support person in a conference.”
Peter also explored themes of Co-existing Problems and gave a brief rundown on Motivational Interviewing, in which it aims to be a collaborative and goal-orientated style of communication.
“Well worth coming for this presentation. Great content, enjoyable and thought provoking” comment from post training feedback form
The final day of the hui started with a workshop on Current trends in Family Violence facilitated by AVIVA and informing the services available. The day was concluded with another insightful workshop on Working with Family Violence in the RJ sector by Bruce.
“Family violence is a really important topic to know in our space.” comment from post training feedback form
Overall, the three days encouraged and enabled whanaungatanga and conversations between facilitators with professional development opportunities to learn and grow within RJ.
