The Center for Restorative Approaches

There are many organizations in the United States that directly and indirectly use restorative justice processes. The Center for Restorative Approaches is an incredible organization in New Orleans, Louisiana that uses restorative justice to work towards building, strengthening, and repairing relationships. The organization was founded by Troi Bechet, CEO, in 2008 as an initiative of the Neighborhood Housing Service. Troi has over 25 years of administrative experience and earned her Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of New Orleans and Masters in Social Work from Southern University of New Orleans. Another important figure to the CRA is Jen Pagan, Restorative Approaches Specialist, facilitating restorative circles and training sessions for staff in Restorative Approaches. Jen has 20 years of experience in youth art programming as an administrator, is a certified Talent Teacher in Theatre Arts and is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory in Acting and Writing. The CRA’s staff, interns, and volunteers are committed to making restorative approaches possible, specifically in the greater New Orleans area (CRA, 2021).

Troi Bechet, founder and CEO of the Center for Restorative Approaches

The CRA’s mission is to provide schools, workplaces and other New Orleans communities with dialogue circles that improve communication through training, consulting and facilitating. They work to help people discover their natural ability to respond to crime in constructive ways. The CRA offers a wide range of restorative justice approaches and practices from prevention to intervention (CRA, 2021).

Jen Pagan, Restorative Approaches Specialist with the Center for Restorative Approaches

Restorative practices like meditation and reconciliation have been around since the 1970s (Zehr, 2015). Restorative justice is a theory of justice that emphasizes repairing the harm caused by crime and criminal behavior. It forces people to respond to and think about crime in a more constructive way. Restorative justice gives victims a voice and a chance to meet face to face with their offenders to communicate and explain the real impact of crime (Centre for Justice & Reconciliation, 2021). The restorative justice approach has been shown to provide both the victim and offender with more satisfaction, less PTSD, and less of an urge for violent revenge against their offenders (CRA, 2021).

Another aspect that the CRA seeks to address is the enormous problem of the student-to-prison pipeline. The CRA sees practices of suspension and expulsion as unhelpful and harmful. Students who are struggling mentally, emotionally and/or academically are more likely to face disciplinary action. When a student is removed from a classroom setting and punishment is forced on them, they face greater hardships. This cycle decreases their likelihood to succeed and grow to their full potential. The CRA hopes that the use of rehabilitation and restorative practices within school systems will decrease the rates of recidivism and increase the rates of student success.

Restorative Circle

The Center for Restorative Approaches has been a vital resource for the New Orleans community. They are extremely passionate about the work they conduct and all their hard work is shown in the results. Coming into existence right after Hurricane Katrina was crucial, as many school systems with communication-based issues were in dire need of help. The Center for Restorative Approaches’ innovative ideas of discussion circles have drastically reduced conflict in the New Orleans community. Restorative circles keep conflicts from becoming larger issues and keeps people at peace while also learning skills about how to efficiently communicate and build long-lasting relationships. The Center for Restorative Approaches has helped numerous students and community members. According to their website, 415,080 in-class instructional minutes have been saved due to suspension reductions since January of 2015 and 1348 restorative interventions have been convened since 2002 (CRA, 2021). The Center for Restorative Approaches is an impressive organization that’s selfless work for our community has helped numerous people and will continue to do so in future years.

References:

Centre for Justice and Reconciliation. (2021). Lesson 1: What is Restorative Justice? A Program of Prison Fellowship International. http://restorativejustice.org/restorative-justice/about-restorative-justice/tutorial-intro-to-restorativ e-justice/lesson-1-what-is-restorative-justice/#sthash.cq7JXri9.KHne7SDz.dpbs 

The Center for Restorative Approaches. (2021). About Us. http://www.thecra.net/about-us/ 

Zehr, H. (2015). Changing lenses: Restorative justice for our times. Harrisonburg, VA: Herald Press.