Interfaith project kicks off in Glasgow
This is a blog by our Restorative Justice Trainer and Service Coordinator, Mark Hamill.
At the start of this month, Mark Hamill, our newly-appointed Training and Service Coordinator, and Deputy CEO, Kate Aldous, led Restorative Justice training across two days for our interfaith project partners, The Faith and Belief Forum and Interfaith Glasgow.
The training took place in Glasgow and was a ‘deep dive’ into all things Restorative Justice. A lot of discussion took place around the key themes of empathy, responsibility and safeguarding, focused on a range of case studies. Training also included input from Rob, one of our ambassadors, who talked movingly about the transformative power of Restorative Justice in his own life. Everyone had the opportunity to practise their ‘restorative skills’ through role playing separate pre-meetings with the harmer and the harmed in a fictional case study. The group made the decision not to proceed with a restorative conference due to concerns over the harmer’s mental wellbeing. They planned to discuss the offer with him at a later date.
The training also revealed the synergy and shared values of Restorative Justice and interfaith dialogue, touching upon the roots of RJ in different faith traditions. Most of all, the training provided an opportunity for the project team to learn more about each other and to bond over our shared vision of using restorative practices to prevent and address interfaith conflict. Recruitment of community facilitators in both Glasgow and Solihull is ongoing. It is estimated that their training will take place in autumn of this year.
I am looking forward to further developing these connections as we deliver this innovative and exciting project over the next three years!
To learn more about the interfaith project, check out our newly-launched project page.
