Trauma-Informed Restorative Dialogues: The Power of Community(Contemporary Issues in Restorative Practices)

This book combines trauma-informed practice with restorative justice to explore how restorative dialogues can support those affected by trauma. Trauma-informed practice involves understanding the impact of trauma and creating an environment that is sensitive to its effects, which is essential for fostering meaningful dialogue between victims and offenders. Conversely, restorative justice focuses on addressing harm through inclusive processes involving victims, offenders and the community, and aims to respond to the needs of all parties affected by the harm. By integrating these perspectives, the book illustrates how trauma-informed restorative dialogues - an approach that expands access to restorative justice when direct encounters between victims and offenders are not possible - can improve access to justice, promote recovery and facilitate transformation. It provides practical guidance based on insights from victims and facilitators in five European countries and offenders in Swiss prisons, and addresses secondary trauma among practitioners, offering strategies for their self-care and organisational care. Aimed at practitioners, academics, policy makers and service providers, this in-depth research fills a gap in the restorative justice literature by demonstrating how trauma-informed principles can strengthen communities and support those affected by serious harm.

Table of Contents:
1. Laying the Foundations, 2. Situating Restorative Dialogues in Context, 3. Exploring Restorative Dialogues through the Voices of Lived Experiences, 4. Implementing Restorative Dialogues: Reflections from Switzerland, 5. Being trauma-informed in restorative justice, 6. Delivering trauma-informed restorative dialogues, 7. Preventing and Addressing Secondary Trauma, 8. Final reflections and recommendations

About the Author :
Claudia Christen-Schneider is a criminologist and restorative justice practitioner, president of the Swiss RJ Forum and board member of the EFRJ. She leads restorative justice projects in Swiss prisons and is a guest lecturer at the Swiss Competence Centre in Corrections and some universities.

Review :
Trauma-informed Restorative Dialogues offers an excellent basis to understand the deep dynamics and power when a small group of people meet to share their plural narratives on harm and suffering. Claudia Christen-Schneider has been able to explore in a remarkable way the lived experience of all involved, combining theoretical insights, research and practice. A safe and sustainable guide for all who want to enrich the field of restorative justice through transformative encounters of victims and offenders of unrelated crimes. Ivo Aertsen, Emeritus Professor of Criminology at KU Leuven, Co-Editor of the International Journal of Restorative Justice and General Co-Editor of the International Encyclopaedia of Restorative Justice Trauma-Informed Restorative Dialogues is a book that beautifully blends theory and practice, something that few books achieve. It is also innovative in that it approaches a restorative practice that has been poorly described in the literature from a particular angle, shedding light on the foundations of restorative justice. Daniela Bolívar, Associate Professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile This book on the relatively unexamined process of restorative dialogues will, indeed, contribute to increasing the access of victims and perpetrators of harm to safe and healing spaces in which they can address what needs to be restored in their lives. Claudia Christen-Schneider presents a clear explanation of a complex restorative practice model which integrates contextualisation, the pluralistic nature of narratives, and trauma-informed practice. Combining theory, her own practice experience and the narratives of practitioners and participants of restorative justice, her style of writing is accessible and very useful to practitioners, students and scholars. She elevates restorative dialogues from a pragmatic, second best alternative to face-to-face meetings to a process which stands as a valuable process in its own right. Tim Chapman, Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde. Claudia Christen-Schneider’s book Trauma-Informed Restorative Dialogues offers a clear and comprehensive analysis of the conceptual foundation and practical dimensions of this form of restorative justice. The widespread potential of restorative dialogues to fill unmet needs for victims and offenders makes this work a welcome resource for practitioners. Kay Pranis, Author, Trainer, Peacemaking Circles and Restorative Justice