Training spreads restorative ways

Shelly Harkness

The journey to make the Wanganui community a more respectful place took another step last week.

A training day organised by the Restorative Practices Whanganui was attended by about 20 people representing the Wanganui District Council, Department of Corrections, Whanganui District Health Board, Whanganui Kindergarten Association, local businesses and welfare agencies.

Restorative Practices facilitator Shelly Harkness said it was a chance for locals to understand the restorative practice philosophy in action.

The hope was that those at the workshop would take what they learned back to their workplaces to improve the culture, problem-solving and create better communication.

Ms Harkness said the workshop also made more people aware of the restorative city goal and help the city return to being a healthy and thriving place.

Wanganui is the first community in New Zealand to adopt the restorative practices principles which have gained traction in Hull and Leeds in Britain and in Halifax (Nova Scotia) in Canada.

"Restorative practice is a positive way to build and maintain respectful relationships and can be applied in all areas of our community," Ms Harkness.

The workshop was led by Greg Jansen and Rich Matla from Christchurch who have been using restorative approaches for a number of years.

Mr Jansen said he would prefer to call the process "relational" practices rather than restorative because at its foundation was "building, maintaining and fixing relationships".

This approach to relationships in a workplace could also have positive spinoffs in private life.

"If a restorative conference doesn't work the first time, people will say it shut it down. But if ending up in prison doesn't work the first time, do we shut the prisons down?

"We're happy to live with this punitive mindset. What I'm saying is it's not about forgive and forget - I'm saying it's about forgive and start afresh.

"There are times when we can't rebuild relationships but we've got to live in a community and respect one another," he said.

Mr Jansen said measuring the impact of restorative practice was difficult.

"If we live in a society that is built and maintained on good relationships then maybe we don't have to be looking for the fix all the time."

Ms Harkness said the Whanganui Restorative Practices Trust had made significant progress since it was set up last year. An example of its success could be seen in the Ministry of Education's restorative approach, which has seen the rate of student suspensions from Wanganui high schools drop by between 55 per cent and 75 per cent this year.