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Key summaries to empower and inform your restorative practice journey.
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The Small Things That Prevent Big Harm: The Role of Active Bystandership in the Workplace
Graham Goulden is a retired Scottish officer. For the last 8 years of his career he was a chief inspector with the Scottish violence reduction unit. It was during this time he became passionate about the role bystanders can play to reduce harm. He now works across the UK and...
Continue ReadingTrauma-Informed and Shame-Sensitive Restorative Justice
Field notes from the PFI Learning Hub webinar with Claudia Christen-Schneider Martin Howard · 22 May 2026 I sat in on a PFI Learning Hub webinar with Claudia Christen-Schneider — our paths first crossed years back through Sycamore Tree Project networks. She’s now president of the Swiss RJ Forum, on...
Continue ReadingHolding Hope: Preventing Suicide among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People in New South Wales.
RPI Board Member Christine Thomas discusses her work on this landmark report Since sharing our research at the Australian Indigenous Psychologists Association National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Conference on Kaurna Country, the response has been humbling and the urgency has not diminished.Today we share the full story of Holding...
Continue ReadingReview of the RJ4All E-Library for Practitioners
For practitioners who want their work grounded in current scholarship without the institutional access that academia takes for granted, the RJ4All e-library is one of the more genuinely useful free resources in our field. Run by the Restorative Justice for All International Institute under Theo Gavrielides, it now houses around...
Continue ReadingWhy Restorative Practice Struggles in Complex Systems
And why goodwill is not enough. Luke Roberts works at the intersection of restorative practice, systems change, and complexity. He supports schools, justice organisations, charities, and public sector leaders to navigate conflict, harm, and culture change in complex environments. For more on Complex Systems Luke’s book – Leading Schools and Sustaining...
Continue ReadingFirst, do no further harm: the case for institutional courage in healthcare (Part 2)
Juliette McAleer is a former public sector leader and PhD candidate living with disability arising from the physical and psychosocial consequences of preventable healthcare harm. Based in regional Queensland, Australia, Juliette writes from her lived perspective of harm and its aftermath, focusing on post-harm responses and how they shape safety,...
Continue ReadingThe ‘vicissitudes of life’ after healthcare harm (Part 1)
Juliette McAleer is a former public sector leader and PhD candidate living with disability arising from the physical and psychosocial consequences of preventable healthcare harm. Based in regional Queensland, Australia, Juliette writes from her lived perspective of harm and its aftermath, focusing on post-harm responses and how they shape safety,...
Continue ReadingChanging the Lense: Involvement or Engagement?
As the former Principal of Fairholme College, Dr. Linda Evans was a cornerstone of the school’s restorative journey for over two decades. Since 2004, she championed Restorative Practices (RP) as the primary framework for navigating the daily relationship complexities of the school community, believing there was no better alternative for...
Continue ReadingWhat Is Forgiveness?
Dr William Wood, Senior Lecturer in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Griffith University. Forgiveness is a complex and deeply human response to being wronged. While most people think of it simply as the act of forgiving someone else for their wrongs, researchers have shown that forgiveness is...
Continue ReadingNew Discoveries About The Deepening Impact of Forgiveness in Restorative Practices Schools
Martin Howard and Marg Thorsborne OAM (Co-author) This article is part of Restorative Practices International's ongoing exploration of emerging forgiveness research and its implications for restorative practice. As the field of restorative practices matures, researchers are increasingly examining the psychological processes that underpin successful restoration and healing. Forgiveness has emerged...
Continue ReadingMythbusting Forgiveness — in prison
Martin Howard discusses new developments in the study and application of forgiveness. Martin is an Australian restorative justice practitioner and innovator. He facilitates victim-offender dialogues and trains facilitators around Australia. He serves with Prison Fellowship Australia, RPI and RJI, advancing evidence-based anti-crime initiatives, practitioner training, and community awareness across faith...
Continue ReadingPart 1: Myths and Realities about Restorative Justice for Young People in Australia
In the first part of RPI’s series on Restorative Justice and Youth Offending, we look at some of the more predominant myths about restorative justice and explain restorative conferencing. Our goal is to provide a plain-language overview of restorative justice as used with young people in Australia. However, we recognise restorative justice depends on a...
Continue ReadingSpecial Topic: Restorative Justice and Youth Offending in Australia
In the 2024 Queensland election, youth justice was a primary focus of both major parties. Over the past three years Queensland has seen a rise in some types of youth crime as well as substantial social unrest about youth offending. This unrest has been heightened by several high-profile violent crimes...
Continue ReadingRestorative Justice in a no excuses charter school
Lustick, H., Cho, V., & Miller, A. (2024). Restorative justice in a no excuses charter school. Education and Urban Society, 56(6), 756-776. Hilary Lustick is an Educational Leadership scholar and critical qualitative methodologist. Her research focuses on school climate and culture, specifically for historically marginalized student populations. Vincent Cho specializes in advancing...
Continue ReadingBelonging transforms lives. But practitioners can’t provide it unless they feel it, too.
Megan Corcoran, Trauma-informed wellbeing consultant and Director of Wagtail Institute Megan Corcoran is a trauma-informed wellbeing consultant and Director at Wagtail Institute. With a background in alternative education and a Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology, she supports practitioners, leaders, and carers with practical strategies to foster healing, resilience, and wellbeing...
Continue ReadingYour source for accessible summaries from scholars and researchers alongside a virtual library of open access resources. This initiative supports best practice, promotes critical perspectives and informs members of restorative research.
Summaries of key research on Restorative Practices (RP) in education, strengthening practitioner understanding of school culture, behaviour management, relationships, and educational outcomes.
Explore scholarly insights into youth-focused Restorative Justice (RJ), enhancing practitioner effectiveness in promoting accountability, empathy, resilience, and community engagement among young people.
Connect with our research-oriented team to collaborate, seek expert advice, or contribute your perspectives to the advancement of restorative practice scholarship and application.
