2nd Restorative Trainers' Retreat 2025

For Who

The Retreat brings together trainers in restorative justice and related areas. All trainers are welcome:

• With little or extensive experience in training organisation, facilitation and delivery;
• With extensive experience in training, even if little in restorative justice
• Senior restorative justice facilitators interested to improve their training skills are also welcome

Aims

The Trainers’ Retreat has the following aims: 

• exploring key qualities of restorative learning and principles of facilitation that can enable these
• consolidating skills and competencies of (junior and senior) restorative trainers
• fostering trainers' professional exchange
• strengthening the network of restorative trainers and professional connections
• offering a space for trainers to share and discuss challenges in their work 
• offering a space for getting inspired & recharged 

Stories have the power to make an experience or a concept personal. A story can connect dots, and create a system of meanings; it can exemplify complex processes; illustrate and embody abstract ideas. A story can help its listeners to create a connection with the material it talks about, and it can help them to remember the subject of it. 

Using stories and narratives can enhance learning in a multitude of ways. We invite participants of the Retreat to explore the significance of using stories and narratives in training, and how this can enhance the learning experience, and the engagement of learners at all stages of the training.

We invite trainers to submit 60; 90 or 120 minutes of workshop proposals that explore the theme of using stories and narratives in restorative training settings. Here are some ideas (the list is not exhaustive, you may come up with completely new considerations): 

• inspiring ways of using of case studies in training
• stories that create connections in training
• creating learners’ connection to stories
• co-constructing/building narratives together with the learners
• the whole training as a narrative: using stories to design a training process
• non-verbal ways of using narratives in training 
• stepping into a story: role-play and other approaches
• the use of narratives in evaluation 
• the missing parts of stories: how a hiatus in a story can inspire learners to look for their answers
• the creation of stories as meaning making activities

The idea of the Retreat is that trainers share and examine different approaches to the facilitation of restorative learning through demonstrations, and trying out proposed activities. We encourage trainers with relevant experience to register for the event with a workshop proposal. The event will be outstanding thanks to your contributions! 

The organisers will select a series of workshops from the proposals that complement each other, and create a rich and stimulating learning experience together for all attendees. The selection will be done by the representatives of the EFRJ Training Committee, Values & Standards Committee, and the Secretariat. 

In case you wish to propose a pre-designed workshop, please include the details of it in the registration form. 

Proposals should be submitted by 15th of August 2025. Proposers will be notified by 25th August. In case their proposal is selected, they will be offered a 100€ voucher valid for any EFRJ events in the upcoming two years. 

Workshops should reflect the theme of the event (stories and narratives in training) and demonstrate or explore a key principle that is important in restorative learning facilitation. They should focus on an important area of training delivery (tools, situations, challenges, etc). 

The workshops have to offer an active and participatory role for the participants. (In other words: we are looking for interactive activities rather than lecture-style presentations).

The workshops should be 60, 90 or 120 hours long.

The registration fee includes participation in the event and meals. Participants can choose to sign up with accommodation (basic style room), or choose to sign up without accommodation. In the latter case they are requested to reserve their own accommodation (hotel or Airbnb) in Kortrijk. The organised accommodation is offered in the same building where the Retreat will take place (Fatima Site, Kortrijk, a former cloister that hosts several restorative and social organisations.) For the details included in the registration see the explanation below the table. 

EFRJ members

EFRJ members get a discount of the fee. The discount is automatically applied to members (only after logging in to our website). If you haven't paid your membership due for the current year yet, you will not get the discount automatically. If you don't get the discount for any other reason, please contact Bálint Juhász to get your discount before you fill in your application. 

Vouchers for trainers holding a workshop

Trainers who sign with a workshop proposal, which will be selected for the programme will receive a 100€ voucher valid for any EFRJ events in the next two years (valid until September 30th, 2027). 

For this event the EFRJ does not offer partial waivers of the fee. 

Cancellation Policy 

If you cancel your participation by the 15th August 2025 you get 70% refund of your subscription fee. If you need to cancel after the 15th of August 2025 your participation for a 'vis major' reason, and you can provide a proof of this, you may get a voucher for another EFRJ event in the following two years in the value of maximum 50% of your registration price. In other cases we cannot refund your registration fee. 
You may transfer your registration to another participant without any costs until the 3rd of September 2025.

The following meals are included: 

The on site lunches and dinners will be prepared by the "Heerlijkheid van Heule", which is an organic farm belonging to the Oranjehuis vzw. The food will be seasonal and organic. 

The breakfast will be prepared by the organisers of the event and offered to participants who sign up with Option A) or B). 

Participants will also enjoy snacks and coffee/tea prepared by the hosts each day. 

Accommodation

Option A - with basic accommodation (3 nights) 

The accommodation is organised within the building of the Fatima Site.

The rooms are simple and include bunk beds. If you sign up with a colleague you may request to stay in the same room. If you sign up alone, we will allocate you a room with someone from the same gender. 
There is a sink in each room, but no cupboards. Bedsheets; duvet- and pillow covers; and towels are not provided by default, you need to take your own. (There are duvets and pillows on site.) 

Option B - with basic accommodation with sheets (3 nights) 

On your request we will provide you with a sheet, a pillow-cover, a duvet-cover and towel for the time of the Retreat. This has a small additional cost. All other features of the accommodation are the same as above (described in option A). 

Option C - without accommodation 

In this case you organise your own accommodation in Kortrijk (check Airbnb and hotels, try to stay in the proximity of the venue of the event). You will also not receive breakfast from us. But you are welcome to join us for a coffee or tea in the morning or directly at the start of the first workshop. 

The Fatima Site is large cloister building situated in a beautiful green garden. It is 15-20 minutes walking distance from the center of Kortrijk, and 25-30 minutes from the train station. It formerly belonged to catholic order of nuns. After the community left the building was secularised and today hosts organisations with various social missions working with vulnerable groups of the society under the umbrella of Oranjehuis vzw. 

The local host of the event will be Ligand, an expertise and innovation centre working with youth care, welfare and education with a restorative approach.