Peacebuilding Update: June 2018

​May 2018 marked a milestone for Peacebuilding: we completed our first contract STAR Training in collaboration with the Restorative Justice Unit at the Minnesota Department of Corrections. It was an inspiring week filled with thought-provoking questions and reflections on how we can work together to create change within our systems through grassroots leadership, spearheaded by folks with the wisdom, knowledge, and determination to make meaningful change happen. Our institutions often loom over us, faceless, and it’s easy to forget that there are individuals within them who understand the importance of truth, mercy, justice, and peace. Our week at STAR with this wonderful group from the Department of Corrections was a concrete reminder that change comes from the bottom up, from the individuals who want it, and who work together to make it a reality.

Restorative Justice Coordinator, Alicia Nichols, LSW, was instrumental in bringing the 5 day STAR Training to her colleagues at the MN Dept. of Corrections in May 2018.  Alicia’s reasons for bringing STAR to the DOC is deeply rooted in her belief that when we equip the Restorative Justice Unit staff with:

• knowledge about how the body, brain and groups typically and naturally respond to traumatic events;
• skills to develop and model creative, life-giving alternative responses to maintain safety and security in correctional settings;
• tools to develop safe, invitational space to unpack and transform how they know/process the experiences of incarcerated men and women, and;
• understanding of the long-term positive impact of cultivating resilience and wellbeing (in self, family, organization or community).

 They will be more likely to facilitate nonviolent change, model healthier uses of power/leadership, and incorporate the complex experiences of incarcerated men and women to deepen their resilience and increase support for a successful transition from prison to community. DOC staff respond to wounds of conflict, violence and trauma on a daily basis in their work with incarcerated men and women, crime victims and concerned members of the public. The pre/post data analysis and program evaluations clearly demonstrated that STAR provided DOC staff with an inclusive, transformational platform to not only address individual and community trauma healing needs, but to also teach resilience strategies that set the stage for authentic individual and community engagement, healing and reconciliation.

Congratulations to all of our STAR DOC Graduates! We look forward to sharing STAR with more DOC staff and other state agencies in the future.

Written in collaboration with:
Alicia Nichols, LSW
Restorative Justice Coordinator | Victim Assistance and Restorative Justice Program