Restorative Approach™ Training

The Restorative Approach™ is a trauma-informed alternative to traditional “point and level” systems for child congregate care settings. Based on attachment theory and the principles of restorative justice, it answers the question: “now that I understand how trauma affects children, what should I actually do on Monday?”

The Restorative Approach translates what we know about trauma, the brain, and how children heal into specific strategies for all treatment providers within the organization.

When children display behaviors that hurt others and the community, rather than “doing time” or dropping levels, staff assign learning and restorative tasks to help children learn skills and make amends. Therefore, after children lose control, they learn that all is not lost — they can handle emotions differently and take effective action to mend relationships. The model also includes a focus on taking care of the staff that do this difficult work.

The Restorative Approach includes practical strategies for:

• Responding to behaviors with concrete learning and restorative tasks.
• Interacting with youth in an attuned manner.
• Understanding the adaptive role of behavior and using the understanding to create change.
• Defining the role of the clinician within the team. This includes helping the clinician develop formulations, use them to guide daily life, and lead the team to consider the function of behavior.
• Designing unit structure and programming to promote healing relationships.
• Teaching children that effective action is possible and that problems within relationships can be solved.
• Individualizing treatment and examining the role of consistency
• Structuring and strengthening self-aware teams consisting of staff who care for themselves and each other.