May began with the opportunity to offer a Restorative Practices workshop to the Human Resources staff at Victoria University. It was great to have a chance to share the restorative approach with this group and to talk through their questions and reactions. Having the HR team on board is an important step in our effort to build a restorative university.
On May 14th, I was the guest speaker for the Rotary Club of Wellington lunch meeting. It was wonderful to get to share a little bit about my research and how it contributes to the Rotary mission of peace and conflict resolution with my host club. Many club members also didn’t realize that New Zealand is a global leader in restorative justice in so many ways, so it was great to get to share that information!
This month, I also went to the premier of the New Zealand-made film The Breaker Upperers with a live Q&A with the three main actors. The movie was hilarious and I highly recommend it if you have the opportunity to see it. In my opinion, kiwis make some of the best comedy!
The rest of my time this month has been filled with facilitating restorative justice processes for student misconduct cases at the university, continuing to put my research findings into writing, and reading to deepen my understanding of restorative practices. One interesting insight from my research this month is a connection between Carl Rogers’ necessary conditions for effective therapy and the facilitation process. You can read more about that insight here.
The most recent issue of the Rotary Peacebuilder newsletter is on the topic of creativity and peace. You can read my contribution along with the rest of the newsletter here.
Haley and I were interviewed for the EdX course Restorative Justice and Practice: Emergence of a Social Movement about the implementation of restorative practices at Victoria University, specifically in the Residential Halls. Check out the videos below for two clips from that interview.
Lindsey Pointer, Ph.D. 
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