Interaction staff Grace Nolan, Katie Kohnfelder and Rachael Trill participated in the Deepening Peacemaking Circle Facilitation Skills training with Kay Pranis, a leading figure in restorative justice and the use of peacemaking circles. Kay Pranis is known for her decades of work in restorative practices, helping communities foster dialogue, understanding, and healing through facilitated conversations.
After completing the training, Grace, Katie and Rachael were so energized by the experience that we decided to interview them to learn more about the skills they gained, their key takeaways, and how they plan to use these tools.
How did the idea to go do this training come about?
Katie: As part of my on-boarding process when I joined the RJ team, Russell (Interaction’s Executive Director) connected me to Jon Kidde, a Restorative Justice educator and consultant, who recommended the training. I became loosely acquainted with the concept of Restorative Practice back in 2020, and once you start reading up on it, Kay’s name appears again and again. She is a transformation powerhouse!
Grace: Katie brought the training to our attention. I have been a fan of Kay for years and had learned about her while working as an advocate for a domestic violence agency before joining Interaction. Kay was one of the practitioners that inspired me to pursue Restorative Justice (RJ) /Restorative Practice (RP) work, so getting to take a training with her was a dream.
Rachel: Katie shared that Kay Pranis was holding a circle training in Burlington and I jumped at the opportunity to attend The Little Book of Circle Processes by Kay Pranis was one of my go-to tools for learning about circle practice and its many applications. I love that book. So, it felt absolutely fitting to try to attend the training.
Do you wanna describe your roles at Interaction?
G: I do community based restorative practices with participants and staff of Groundworks Collaborative* for an embedded project (Project Connectionworks) I support folks with navigating conflicts in a way that repairs relationships and builds community, facilitate circles, facilitate Tenant Council meetings and groups at Permanent Supportive Housing sites that are overseen by Groundworks and facilitate RP training and workshops with staff and participants.
*an organization that supports folks who are unhoused and/or precariously housed- through many sites and channels including a low-barrier shelter, case management, two permanent supportive housing sites, hotel case management and a food pantry and multiple embedded programs that offer additional support for participants- https://groundworksvt.org/
K: I am the Pretrial Services [PTS] and Tamarack Court Diversion Coordinator for Windham County. Both programs work with adults, who have been charged with a criminal offense, that may have underlying substance use issues and/or unmet mental health needs, that contributed to their criminal charges. The work of each program is to connect the individuals to some level of clinical support, such as therapists or treatment facilities, with the hope that an intervention of support will lead to fewer overall criminal charges in the future.
R: I coordinate our Community Restorative Practices Program, Circle Up, where I assist self-referred individuals and groups who are experiencing a conflict on how to use restorative practices to help resolve the issue or problem. I also offer training in restorative practices, restorative communication skills, and circles to local groups and agencies. Folks contact for all kinds of reasons spanning from conflicts with a local business to conflicts within their home or work life. Every referral is different and a restorative response could range from one on one conversations that encourage reflection or determining individual needs, to holding one or more circles with folks involved in the incident or issue.
How did this training relate to your work?
G: Circles are a very common tool in RP for building community, addressing harm and impact and repairing relationships. As a frequent facilitator of circles this training was incredibly helpful both for my own internal understanding of the “why” about circles, grounding circle practice in values, and for developing my tool box as a facilitator.
K: I am hoping to be able to offer circle processes to my participants in the future. One theme that comes up again and again while I am working with people in my programs is isolation. People are really struggling to meet their basic needs, or to cope with their lived experience or day to day struggles. 9 times out of 10, when I ask “Who do you talk to about what you are navigating?” they are not able to identify someone they can/would call for support. Circle process is a structure that invites people to come together to talk through accountability, what our values are, and to offer support. Having that additional structure and support might be helpful in bolstering people towards their goals. It’s at least worth a try.
R: This training was immensely helpful for answering questions I had about best practices when facilitating a circle provided hands on experience and the opportunity for me to engage in circle with the best of the best facilitators, Kay herself.
The training was 3 days…! Was that too long? How was it organized?
G: I could have spent a month in that training and would probably still want more. The training was primarily held IN circle, which was at times physically grueling to sit for so long,but ultimately by using circle pretty much all day every day i came out of it with a new and deepened appreciation for the power of Circle and the Talking Piece*.
*a small item used to identify who the speaker is, and who the listeners are.
K: As Grace mentioned, it was 3 full days of learning about circle facilitation in the model of circles. The first day I could definitely feel the physical and mental effects of literally sitting in circle for 8 hours straight. Our minds were mush! But by the end of it, I didn’t want to leave and was feeling some grief that this group of 15-20 people, from all over the state and with different areas of focus, may not ever get the chance to come together again.
R: By the end of day three I did not want to leave the training. The sense of connectedness, respect, and safety that was generated by sitting in circle for three days with the same group of folks is something that I imagine can only be replicated in circle. I wish that as a culture we did more of our work and decision making together in circle. I am hopeful that I can adequately represent circles in my day to day work so that others can experience the value that such an approach to relationships and community and resolving conflict may bring.
Did you achieve your learning goals through this training?
G: 100% yes. I got more out of it than I even thought possible.
K: Yes! The experience was deeply moving and transformative to how I would like to run my programs in the future.
R: Absolutely, yes. This training exceeded my expectations and provided me with knowledge and experience that I would not even have known to ask for prior to attending.
Who were the other participants?
G: Restorative practices and restorative justice practitioners from across the state in various roles at Community Justice Centers or schools.
K: We had a mix of different professionals that work with people across all ages. There was a harmed party coordinator, a few Court Diversion folks, a Youthful Offender Probation officer, a COSA Coordinator, Community Circles organizers, and a number of Middle School Educators.
How is meeting Kay Pranis, one of the so-called “godmothers” in restorative justice?
G: Amazing. I was unexpectedly star-struck the entire time. Getting to pick her brain, experience her facilitation and listen to her thoughtful articulation to our questions was amazing. She’s brilliant.
K: It felt extremely special to get to share so much time and space with Kay! Getting to hear from her, first hand, about the work she has done with inmates in Brazil and getting to hear how she thinks through “what would the right question be for this situation?” was really expansive. She is just one of those gifted people that has the ability to inspire folks to feel comfortable in her presence and to “dig deep” within ourselves.
R: Despite her incredible wealth and depth of knowledge and experience, she remains such an accessible person! Given her experience I was expecting a much larger training, so to enter a space with only twenty five or so other people and have the opportunity to interact with Kay in such a small, intimate setting was surprising and should have elicited much more anxiety in me, and yet I felt comfort and safety in that space, which I think speaks volumes of her skill level! She’s certainly an inspiration!
You all came back with a very heartwarming and inspiring feeling from that training. Do you wanna share what made you feel this way?
G: Circles are a really special experience. Something Kay said that resonated with me was that if you haven’t been in circle no amount of explanation can really capture it. I felt such a deep sense of belonging and connection
K: I think it might just be the magic of circles?! I know that sounds really woo-ey, but I think the structure lends itself well to people having a good experience engaging with it. A group of people who don’t even know each other, come together, and are presented with thoughtful prompts/questions. Then we all take turns passing the talking piece around, speaking from the heart about what we truly believe and/or what we have experienced in their life. People felt comfortable enough by the second day to openly cry. Crying isn’t a requirement by any means, but I found it notable. I’ve never been to a training like that before.
R: Having the opportunity to engage in circle is such a humanizing experience, and one which is in contrast to so many of our day to day experiences that can feel isolating, confusing, and almost unnatural. This experience actualized the idea of “possibility” in doing things differently. The training armed me with confidence in the structure of circle itself, and a better understanding that upholding circle structures is a crucial part, possibly the most crucial part, of a facilitator’s role.
What are some takeaways you want to share with other staff, volunteers and/or the southern Vermont community?
G: Restorative Practices take time. The relationship building, space-setting, internal work and community building are absolutely integral. A struggle for RP practitioners is time constraints, being coerced by timelines of other institutions to get a specific result in regard to a conflict. The power of RP and circles hinges on relationships, story telling, value setting and internal work… things that are usually considered fluff by our dominant social structure which demands prompt and prescriptive results from practitioners. Learning that this was something EVERYONE else in the training struggled with was validating We can’t “do RJ to people” we can only do RJ WITH people.
K: I wish we all had circles for accountability and support. I wish that these structures were already a part of our communities and I feel equal parts sad that we don’t have them in place already and energized to help organize them. But Grace is right, Restorative Processes take time. It is all about relationship building and relationships need to be able to move at the speed of trust.
R: CIRCLES! I want people to know that there is a process that is available for addressing so many of our experiences that need further attention in life. From good experiences we want to celebrate, to difficult experiences that call for support or processing, to harmful experiences that call for repair or agreement, to experiences that require input and decision making! There is this amazing process available for all of us to engage in, if we want to access more holistic, positive outcomes even in instances of great difficulty!
