VOMA

VOMA Training - Mediation and Reconciliation in War and Political Aggression

Thursday, August 5 8:30 am - 4:30 pm
One Day Training on Mediation and Reconciliation with the International Victim Offender
Mediation Association (VOMA). Participants will become familiar with VOMA and will explore VOMA's use of mediation and restorative justice principles in the context of war, prison and political aggression.

for Session #2:

Workshop Description:

Restorative Practices in School Settings.
When restorative justice philosophy is introduced to the school environment, students are encouraged to take responsibility for their behaviors. This experiential, interactive workshop will present ideas and techniques for implementing restorative practices in an educational setting. Participants will explore ways of dealing with conflict that can facilitate positive change in the school environment without resorting to "zero tolerance" and punitive responses.

PRESENTER BIOS:

Sheri Gatts coordinates the Victim-Offender Conferencing and Peer Court Programs at Youth Services of Southern Wisconsin in Madison, WI, and provides coordination for the Wisconsin Restorative Justice Coalition. She is a certified trainer for VOMA, and was elected to the VOMA Board of Directors in 2004. For the past several years she has worked with schools to replace "zero tolerance and punitive approaches" with restorative practices and responses. She has extensive experience providing technical assistance and training for issues related to restorative justice and cultural competency. Her undergraduate degree is in Management and Communications from Concordia University.

David L. Gustafson, M.A., R.C.C.
Brief Bio

Dave Gustafson is Co-Director of Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives Association (CJI) in Langley, B.C. CJI specializes in training, program development, and victim offender mediation across the spectrum from minor crimes to the most serious offences in the Canadian criminal code. Dave is also Adjunct Professor in the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University where he teaches on peace and justice-making theory, models and practices. Dave also maintains a small psychotherapeutic private practice specializing in trauma recovery. An avowed life-long student, Dave is working on his doctoral dissertation (KLU, Leuven, Belgium) on the clinical implications of facilitated therapeutic encounter between trauma survivors and those responsible for the harms.
Dave is husband to Peggy and proud father of three great `kids’, Johanna, Aaron, and Christopher. In what time remains, he is an active member of his church and community, a sailor and a woodworker.

Martin McAnallen  - Biography May 2004

Martin has practised within the mainstream criminal justice system for 26 years.  For much of that time his work has been within the Probation setting, and has involved practice in a number of community locations as well as the main custodial establishments.

A feature of his work within the prison environment was the resettlement of long term and life sentence paramilitary prisoners.

More recently Martin has specialised in a number of specific areas of practice.  These have included Mediation, Alternatives to Violence project work, and Restorative Justice. 

Since the mid 1980’s Martin has been closely associated with the development of Mediation practice in Northern Ireland.  In 1992 he was a central figure in the establishment of what later became the Mediation Network for Northern Ireland (M.N.N.I.).  M.N.N.I has become a highly respected, leading edge agency within Northern Ireland.  Its mission since 1992 has been to bring the practice of Mediation to bear on the conflict within the province: in short a core belief of the agency is that Mediation can transform how we view conflict and how we manage it. 

From 1994, Martin has been working to promote understanding of the philosophy and practice of Restorative Justice within the Northern Ireland Criminal Justice System.  His special focus has been in the area of Victim Offender Mediation and particularly Family Group Conferencing (F.G.C.) with young offenders.

In April 1998, Martin facilitated the first F.G.C. within a criminal justice setting in Ireland (North or South). Since that time he has facilitated further F.G.C.s with young offenders: offences have ranged from assault to burglaries to hoax bomb warnings.  Martin has also coordinated and delivered training for staff within the Probation and wider Criminal Justice setting.

During his time with M.N.N.I. Martin delivered a Community Awareness Training programme for police recruits within the province.  This work has opened the way for a more fundamental reassessment by the police command of how operational staff link to a divided community.

As well as being an experienced trainer, Martin has also recently presented papers at two World Mediation Forum conferences and two Victim Offender Mediation Association (U.S.A) conferences. He has had material published in two local social work journals, “Childcare in Practice” and “Scope”.

Fellowship of Reconciliation
Box 271, Nyack, NY 10960
(845) 358-4601 ext. 18 Fax: (845) 358-4924
Email: amarsh@forusa.org

©2004 Fellowship of Reconciliation

This is not a function of Occidental College