Advanced Restorative Justice Skills

This course offers participants the opportunity to deepen their understanding and practice of restorative justice facilitation, with particular emphasis on the victim–offender mediation framework. Victim-offender mediation is a prevalent form of restorative justice practices across a number of European countries with a well developed practice—such as Belgium, where the course trainers are based. The principles underpinning victim–offender mediation are consistent with those of other restorative justice processes, allowing the competencies developed in this training to be applied to diverse contexts, including conferencing and restorative circles.

Designed for practitioners and learners interested in enhancing their facilitation abilities, the course encourages participants to (re)engage with the essential principles and methods of restorative justice through a practice-oriented lens. Through a range of interactive exercises, attendees will strengthen their confidence and skill in guiding restorative processes effectively.

Topics discussed in the course include: 

- Key principles of restorative justice facilitation, and how they manifest in practice (voluntariness, confidentiality, multi-involvement with the parties, transparency) 

- The role of the mediator in the process

- Managing imbalance of power (between the involved parties) in practice

- Communication rules and techniques (active listening, exploring underlying needs, rephrasing, etc) 

- How to manage difficult emotions

Bie Vanseveren will be the lead trainer of this course. She is a senior victim-offender mediator and and experienced educator and trainer, whose professional knowledge, practical and creative approach to training and care has inspired learners in a number of previous EFRJ training courses. 

Bie graduated in Ortho-pedagogy, started her professional career by working with people with disabilities. Until 2020, she worked in the field of restorative justice with adolescent delinquents and victims, more specifically as a mediator and Family Group Facilitator in the Alba vzw. She is one of the pioneers who implemented Family Group Conferencing in Belgium and trained many other facilitators. Currently she works as a practical supervisor in the Familial Sciences program in the Co-University Odisee, where she also teaches  restorative methodology. She is a member of the Belgian Commission responding to persons affected by historic abuse, and works as an independent mediator in youth care, dealing with conflicts between clients and the institutions. 

Hilde Vanlommel will contribute to the course as a co-trainer one specific day. She has a master in Pedagogical Sciences and a certificate in Gestalt therapy. She is working for 22 years as a victim-offender mediator for the NGO Moderator and is responsible for the local policy in the region of Antwerp.