Restorative Works

In this episode of Restorative Works, host Claire de Mezerville Lopez is joined by Deanna Zilske, school leader, theater director, and restorative practitioner, to explore the powerful intersection of restorative and embodied theater practices. Drawing from her work with a community of educators, artists, and practitioners, Deanna shares how integrating narrative practices, such as compassionate witnessing and reauthoring maps, with movement, voice, and improvisation can deepen storytelling, empathy, and connection. When words are not enough, the body becomes a powerful tool for expression, allowing individuals to explore lived experiences, trauma, and preferred futures in ways that feel both accessible and transformative. Deanna also shares moving examples from the group's experience, illustrating how embodied storytelling can support healing, release, and reconnection, both with oneself and with others. As one participant reflected, the process created an opportunity to listen differently and to carry others' stories with greater care and empathy. Deanna Zilske currently serves as the Principal at Jaffrey Grade School in Southwestern New Hampshire. Before that, Deanna served as Principal at Keene Middle School and as a Principal and Instructional Coach at Harrisville-Wells Memorial School. In addition to her work in education, Deanna currently directs the Lions Club Foundation's annual Summer and Winter Musicals. Before moving into administration, Deanna built her foundation with ten years of classroom teaching experience and a background in theatre and arts education. She holds a Master of Science in Restorative Practices, alongside Graduate Certificates in Relational Facilitation for Healing Trauma and Change Implementation in Organizations and Social Systems from the International Institute for Restorative Practices. In addition, she holds a CAGS in Education Administration, an MTA in Elementary Education, and a BA in Theatre Arts. Tune in to discover how embodied theater practices can expand restorative work, opening new pathways for expression, understanding, and collective transformation.

We are joined by Program Manager in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) Jen Torres, to explore what sustainable, system-wide implementation of restorative practices in higher education really looks like. Jen brings a practitioner's lens to a challenge many institutions face: how to move from reactive, discipline-focused approaches toward proactive, relationship-centered campus communities. She walks us through SNHU's three-year restorative practices implementation process that brings theory to life through real-life examples. From using AI tools to audit communication for relational language to tracking real-time shifts in restorative practices approaches with students, these stories demonstrate how innovation and human-centered practice can coexist and thrive. On the topic of the use of AI, Jen reminds us that technology can enhance efficiency, but it cannot replace human connection. In an era of eroding trust, restorative practices become essential to rebuilding and maintaining strong relationships. Jen M. Torres serves as program manager, social justice advocate, and liberatory learning designer for SNHU's Office of Diversity and Inclusion. With over 16 years of experience across education, nonprofit, and corporate sectors, Jen founded SimplyLead, LLC, and specializes in antiracist practice, conflict transformation, restorative practices, and liberatory approaches to leadership and culture repair. Her work centers on dismantling systemic inequities while helping teams and institutions move through conflict with honesty, accountability, and care. Known for blending deep relational practice with clear strategy, Jen designs and facilitates spaces that are brave, grounded, and action-oriented. Through workshops, leadership development, and collaborative learning experiences, she helps teams build cultures rooted in belonging, shared responsibility, and lasting change, where conflict is engaged as an opportunity for growth, learning, and collective transformation. Tune in to discover what it takes to truly weave restorative practices into the fabric of higher education.

We are joined by Lan Nguyen and Jennifer Vermillion, two restorative justice leaders who take us beyond surface-level change to discover what it truly takes to sustain restorative practices in schools and communities across complex educational systems. Together, they unpack a critical tension facing educators and administrators today: why restorative practices are widely embraced, yet so difficult to sustain. Lan challenges the urgency-driven culture that dominates schools, calling for a strategic shift that asks school leadership to do less, go deeper, and prioritize meaningful transformation over constant initiative overload. Jennifer builds on this foundation, emphasizing embodiment over checkbox implementation. She highlights that educators are often expected to practice restoration without ever experiencing it. The result? Burnout, skepticism, and initiatives that fade fast. She argues that real change begins when individuals and systems align and when restorative practices are lived, not just learned. Jennifer is a project specialist with the San Diego County Office of Education, providing professional learning and coaching on restorative practices and implementation. Before working with the County Office, Jennifer spent 5 years with a non-profit, supporting schools in San Diego with their restorative practices implementation, training, and student leadership initiatives. She provided direct services in addressing conflict issues between students, families, and school staff through a restorative justice model that kept youth out of the justice system. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology and her master's degree in peace and justice studies. Lan is a futurist, educator, and leader who is passionate about designing and implementing more liberatory ways of engaging, teaching, and leading in schools. In her work, she critiques and examines systems of power, applies participatory and humanizing approaches to systems change, and uses a decolonial lens to understand issues of educational and social inequity. Lan has held diverse roles in K-12 education, supporting local, statewide, and national projects on community engagement and school climate. She currently supports restorative justice practice implementation across San Diego County at the San Diego County Office of Education. Tune in to walk away with actionable insights on implementing restorative justice with fidelity, building educator buy-in, and creating conditions for sustainable change.

Discover what it really takes to sustain restorative practices in today's complex school systems. In this episode of Restorative Works, host Claire de Mezerville-López, alongside co-hosts Dr. Michael Washington and Dr. Doug Judge, welcomes veteran educator and systems leader Saundra Hensel. With more than 35 years in education and nearly a decade leading district-wide implementation, Saundra brings unmatched clarity to one of the field's biggest questions: What makes restorative practices stick? Saundra unpacks how her district scaled training across 70 schools while staying grounded in a critical truth: that training alone doesn't guarantee faithful implementation. Instead, she reveals a blueprint built on intentional design that includes whole-school engagement, long-term investment, and a commitment to building internal capacity before rollout ever begins. She discusses initiative overload as a common tension in education. Rather than positioning restorative practices as "one more thing," she shows how they strengthen and align with existing frameworks like PBIS, social-emotional learning, and trauma-informed care. Saundra Hensel has been an educator in various roles for over 35 years. She left a career in higher education administration to teach high school in Chicago Public Schools, then moved to Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, KY, in 2009. In fall 2016, Saundra was asked to join a team at the district level that was to begin implementing restorative practices. She is currently the behavior systems manager, supporting schools in implementing restorative practices and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports. Saundra is a National Board Certified Teacher in English, with a bachelor's degree in interpersonal and small group communication and a master's degree in education and school administration. Tune in to hear how sustainable change demands both patience and precision, because meaningful change doesn't happen overnight, but it does happen with intention.

Boston University Professor James W. McCarty, Ph.D., joins us to explore how restorative justice and conflict transformation can reshape the way communities engage in disagreement, repair harm, and build collective power. Dr. McCarthy invites listeners to rethink one of society's most misunderstood realities: conflict. Rather than treating conflict as something to avoid, he reframes it as a powerful opportunity for growth, learning, and social change. From personal relationships to large-scale movements, conflict is the friction necessary to experience new futures. He discusses the critical role of community in navigating conflict. Whether within social movements, faith communities, or grassroots organizing efforts, strong relationships provide the foundation for constructive dialogue and collective accountability. Practices such as peacemaking circles and storytelling help communities surface difficult truths while strengthening the relational bonds that make change possible. A clinical assistant professor and director of the Religion and Conflict Transformation Program at Boston University's School of Theology, Dr. McCarthy also serves as a faculty affiliate with the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at the Pardee School of Global Studies. He is the author of multiple peer-reviewed journal articles and the editor of two books, the most recent of which is The Business of Incarceration: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Prison-Industrial Complex (Cascade) published in 2025. Tune in to discover valuable insights into how dignifying relationships and courageous conversations can transform conflict into an invitation for growth.

In this episode of Restorative Works! Podcast, Dr. Claire de Mézerville López welcomes Juan Pablo Blanco, Ph.D., for a discussion about intergenerational collaboration, youth leadership, and education justice as a basis for transforming systems that affect youth and families. Dr. Blanco brings more than a decade of experience in community organizing and community-engaged research to this conversation. As Research Manager at CYCLE, The Center for Youth and Community Leadership in Education at Roger Williams University, he works alongside youth, parents, and community organizations to make research accessible, actionable, and rooted in lived experience. Drawing from his own journey as an immigrant and longtime organizer, Dr. Blanco shares how inequitable systems pushed him toward collective action, and how those experiences now shape his commitment to language justice and intergenerational power. Dr. Blanco explains how CYCLE brings together young people and caregivers to co-create equity indicators, challenge traditional data practices, and transform research into a tool for advocacy rather than exclusion. He unpacks why school and district data often misses what communities care about most and how changing that process can lead to more transparent, relational, and just systems. Dr. Blanco currently serves as the research manager at CYCLE (the Center for Youth and Community Leadership in Education) at Roger Williams University in Providence, RI, and as an adjunct professor. CYCLE supports young people and parents engaged in education justice efforts throughout New England and beyond. In this capacity, Dr. Blanco is part of CYCLE's Research and Learning team, supporting community organizations with their research needs and training community members on how to conduct their own research and engage with data for advocacy and organizing. Dr. Blanco holds a doctorate in Community Engagement from Point Park University, a Master of Science in Critical Ethnic and Community Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts Boston. His dissertation focused on intergenerational collaboration between young people and adults in education justice spaces in Rhode Island. He is currently developing resources for the field based on the findings of this study. Tune in to gain a greater understanding of why relationship-building, trust, and restorative practices-rooted responses to conflict are not "extras," but essential to sustainable change.

Welcome to season four of Restorative Works! Podcast! In this episode, Dr. Claire de Mézerville López welcomes Johari "J.P." Mitchell for a discussion around positive self-talk, children's literature, and how the power of storytelling helps shape how we relate to ourselves and one another. J.P. explores how children's literature, especially picture books, can serve as a restorative practices tool across all ages. She emphasizes the concept of restorative practices-rooted self-talk: the internal narratives we use to make sense of shame, grief, identity, and belonging. J.P. illustrates how stories offer young people and adults pro-social alternatives to dealing with shame. She explains how picture books act as mirrors and windows, reflecting our inner lives while inviting us to step into experiences we may not yet have lived. Through age-appropriate storytelling, children gain language for complex emotions like loss, difference, and empathy long before crisis arrives. This proactive exposure builds emotional literacy, resilience, and relational capacity. The episode also challenges the assumption that children's books are only for children. J.P. and Claire reflect on how picture books speak powerfully to adults, educators, parents, and leaders by reconnecting us to the "child within" and creating space for intergenerational dialogue. From navigating grief to understanding identity and difference, children's literature becomes a shared entry point for meaningful, restorative conversations. Johari "J.P." Mitchell is an educator, writer and speaker whose passion is helping leaders link vision to opportunity through the power of words. J.P. is a restorative practices trainer with Columbus City Schools, as well as a 2-time TEDx speaker, author, and Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach. She lives in Columbus, Ohio with her family. Tune in to learn how to become a friend of children's literature, not just a consumer, and use stories as a bridge to stronger relationships and healthier communities.

In this episode of Restorative Works!, the Restorative Pedagogies Series continues with a rich, practice-forward conversation on how restorative practices transform English Language Arts classrooms from the inside out. Host Claire de Mezerville López is joined by co-host Nikki Chamblee and special guest Jamee Cox, an eighth-grade English Language Arts teacher and IIRP Graduate School student, for a grounded exploration of what it means to teach reading, writing, and critical thinking through relationships. This episode centers on a timely and pressing question for K–12 educators: Can restorative practices deepen academic learning, not just strengthen school culture? Drawing from her classroom experience in Texas, Jamee makes the case that relationships are not an "add-on" to instruction; rather, they are the pathways to engagement, comprehension, and meaningful learning. At a time when students read less, test more, and often disengage from traditional instruction, Jamee shares how circles and community-centered dialogue reignite students' interest in reading and learning. Jamee offers concrete examples of restorative pedagogy in action, from using the restorative conferencing questions to analyze fiction and character development, to journaling practices that build literacy while honoring student voice. The conversation also explores the human side of teaching. Jamee speaks candidly about navigating grief, emotional resilience, and self-restoration while leading a middle school classroom. Jamee Cox is a current IIRP Graduate School student and eighth-grade teacher at DeSoto Independent School District in DeSoto, Texas. She previously served as a restorative practices specialist for Fort Worth Independent School District in Fort Worth, Texas, working in a network of 10 schools, where she trained teachers, administrators, and staff in restorative practices. Tune in to learn how dignifying relationships and intentional community-building can transform English Language Arts instruction and help students learn not only how to read and write, but how to connect, reflect, and grow.

In this opening episode of the Restorative Pedagogies series, Claire de Mezerville López and Nikki Chamblee to the Restorative Works! Podcast to explore what it means to approach teaching through a restorative practices lens. Moving beyond the idea of restorative practices as solely relational or disciplinary tools, Claire and Nikki reflect on pedagogy as a human-centered practice—one that honors voice, agency, belonging, and emotional safety as foundations for learning. Drawing on research, classroom experience, and theory, they discuss how integrating restorative practices into curriculum planning can create conditions where mistakes are welcomed as part of growth, creativity is nurtured, and students can remain engaged even when learning feels challenging. Together, they examine how restorative practices support high academic expectations without reverting to fear-based or punitive approaches, and how educators can intentionally embed relational processes into content instruction across subject areas. This episode sets the stage for the series by inviting listeners to rethink what effective teaching looks like when dignity, connection, and accountability are held together. Nikki Chamblee, Ph.D., has been an educator for over 19 years. She currently serves as an Instructor and Implementation Coach for the IIRP, providing training and coaching to support districts in effectively planning implementation. Her area of focus is the interweaving of restorative practices with other district initiatives. She is licensed in New York and Texas in the areas of English Language Arts, Special Education, and English as a Second Language. From 2017 - 2022, she served as a Coordinator of Restorative Practices for two districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She received Tier 1 and Tier 2 training in restorative practices from the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility and restorative discipline training from the Texas Education Agency. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Restorative Practices from the IIRP. Tune in to explore how integrating restorative practices into lesson plans can be a game-changer for your classroom.

Claire de Mézerville López welcomes Deanna Van Buren and Adrienne Hogg to the Restorative Works! Podcast. We are joined by Deanna Van Buren, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (DJDS), and Adrienne Hogg, Co-Executive Director of Community Works. Together, we explore how spaces, rooms, buildings, and environments in which we gather directly shape our nervous systems, our sense of dignity, and our ability to repair harm. Deanna reframes "trauma-informed design" as designing for well-being, offering a body–mind–spirit lens on how spaces can regulate, inspire, and care for us. Adrienne shares how Community Works brings this philosophy to life by creating warm, culturally rooted, non-institutional spaces where young people, survivors, families, and staff feel seen, grounded, and capable of restoration. From reimagining classroom design in higher education to redefining what justice spaces can communicate, the conversation weaves together architecture, community wisdom, creative practice, and systems change. Both guests illuminate how co-designing that deeply involves communities, including those most impacted by harm, becomes its own restorative practice. Deanna Van Buren is the co-founder and executive director of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces. An architecture and real estate nonprofit working to end mass incarceration through place-based solutions, DJDS builds infrastructure that addresses its root causes: poverty, racism, unequal access to resources, and the criminal justice system itself. Van Buren has been profiled by The New York Times and has written op-eds on the intersection of design and mass incarceration in outlets such as Politico, Architectural Record, and Stanford Social Innovation Review. Her TEDWomen talk on what a world without prisons could look like has been viewed more than one million times. She is the only architect to have been awarded the Rauschenberg Artist as Activist fellowship, and she is also the recipient of UC Berkeley's Berkeley-Rupp Architecture Prize and Professorship. Van Buren received her bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Virginia and her master's degree from Columbia University, and she is an alumna of the Loeb Fellowship at Harvard's Graduate School of Design. Adrienne Hogg is co-executive director at Community Works. In this role, she focuses on finance, administration, and operations in addition to working with her co-executive director on strategic and development activities. Prior to joining Community Works, Adrienne founded Gather Locally, a startup e-commerce technology company. Before starting Gather Locally, Adrienne was the head of finance and controller for several public and private corporations in the life sciences and construction industries, where she managed accounting, finance, human resources, legal, and facilities. She is an Oakland native who received bachelor's and master's degrees from the UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business. Tune in to learn more about how the spaces we build reflect the futures we believe in.

Claire de Mézerville López welcomes Nikki Fynn, Ed.D., to the Restorative Works! Podcast. We are joined by Dr. Nikki Fynn, a restorative education and leadership consultant whose journey through guilt, grief, and shame has reshaped her approach to healing, leadership, and human-centered systems. She shares with us a pivotal moment from 2018, when a mentor's story about a monkey trapped by its own grip opened a new path for self-examination. That metaphor sparked a deep exploration into the "pulp" she was holding, false beliefs about worthiness, over-functioning, hyper-independence, and the emotional labor she thought she owed the world. Her narrative invites us to reflect on the stories that keep us stuck and to imagine what becomes possible when we finally let go. She explains how expressive arts, attunement, and holding space became essential tools in her healing and now shape her consulting work with nonprofits, leaders, and communities. Dr. Fynn reminds us that transformation doesn't happen through correction, but through connection, presence, and being truly seen. With 20 years of trauma-informed education experience, Dr. Fynn taught inclusion to pre-service teachers, supported neurodiverse students through transitions, and secured funding for education and enrichment programs that serve youth of all ages. Equipped with a doctorate in education leadership, a certification in expressive arts, and a master's in public health, she hosts "Words of Heart" sessions for adults to help them with relational issues that influence their professional success. Dr. Fynn's personal restorative work has shaped her leadership approach as a compassionate disruptor in dysfunctional systems. She applies her expertise to grant writing, capacity building, and burnout prevention in nonprofit organizations. Tune in to hear Dr. Fynn's message: when we reclaim our nervous systems, embrace our differences, and examine our patterns with compassion, we build healthier teams, stronger communities, and more humane organizations. View "Words of Heart" sessions: https://restorativeducation.carrd.co/ View art from restorative sessions: https://www.redbubble.com/people/GrowthUP/shop?asc=u Linktree: https://linktr.ee/GrowthUpEducation Email: growthuped@gmail.com LinkedIn @ Nicole Penelope Fynn

This week we're revisiting our conversation with Marlee Liss from January 18, 2024! Claire de Mézerville López welcomes Marlee Liss to the Restorative Works! Podcast. Marlee speaks with us about her experiences as a survivor of sexual assault. Her case made history as the first in North America to conclude with restorative justice processes through the courts. She describes her experience in the traditional court system as one where her voice, needs, and ability to make decisions in her best interest were dismissed. Concerning the use of restorative justice processes, Marlee emphasizes how imperative it is to engage with fully prepared, skillful, humane, trauma-informed, and attentive individuals who are striving to meet the needs of survivors. She provides examples of centering and identifying survivor's needs and making space to hear directly from them. Marlee Liss is a somatic educator, award-winning speaker, author, restorative justice advocate and lesbian Jewish feminist. She has supported thousands of women and non-binary folk in healing shame, transforming trauma, and bridging healing with justice. Marlee's work has been featured in Forbes, Huff Post, Buzzfeed, the Mel Robbins Show, and more. As an award-winning speaker, she's delivered talks for: The US Military SAPRO, Vanderbilt University, Fordham University, Trauma & Recovery Conference, Women's Mental Health Conference at Yale, National Sexual Assault Conference, and more. Marlee was 1 of 25 survivors on an elite panel for the National Action Plan to End Gender Based Violence informing federal policy, and her story was made into a documentary directed by Kelsey Darragh, The Limits of Forgiveness, which premiered on December 17, 2025! Tune in to learn more about Marlee's perspective on the future of restorative justice and the potential of continued healing for survivors and offenders of violent crimes.

Claire de Mézerville López welcomes Blair Kirby and Professor Mark Osler to the Restorative Works! Podcast. Blair and Mark join us to illuminate how restorative practices intersect with clemency work, storytelling, and systemic reform. Their conversation opens a window into the human impact of policies that often feel remote, revealing how small acts of recognition and repair can shift entire systems toward healing. Mark tells us about his commutation clinic at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, where he guides students as they uncover untold stories, meet directly with clients inside federal prisons, and learn how authentic narrative reshapes justice. Blair, a third-year law student and senior editor of the Journal of Law and Public Policy, brings her own lens as a former data analyst turned advocate. Her retelling of a first-degree murder clemency case, where three heartfelt apology letters were lost inside the corrections system, reveals how transparency and communication influence a victim's family's capacity to heal. Together, Mark and Blair describe how the commutation clinic operates at both the individual and systemic level, helping incarcerated people tell the fuller stories of their lives while also proposing legislative reforms that expand access to second chances. They highlight clients whose transformations demonstrate the power of rehabilitation, the role of narrative in restorative justice, and the responsibility of legal advocates to restore humanity, not simply file petitions. Blair grew up in South Korea and came to the US on her own at 15. After graduating from Macalester College with degrees in Applied Mathematics, Statistics, and Economics, she worked with government agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on epidemiology studies during the COVID-19 pandemic as a data and policy analyst in the Bay Area of California. She is currently a student at the University of St. Thomas School of Law (MN). Mark is the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas, where he was chosen as Professor of the Year in 2016, 2019, and 2022. He also holds the Ruthie Mattox Preaching Chair at First Covenant Church, Minneapolis. His writing on clemency, sentencing, and narcotics policy has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Atlantic and in law journals at Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Chicago, Northwestern, Georgetown, the University of Texas, Ohio State, UNC, William and Mary, and Rutgers. A former federal prosecutor, he won the case of Spears v. United States in the U.S. Supreme Court, with the Court ruling that judges could categorically reject the 100-to-1 ratio between crack and powder cocaine in the federal sentencing guidelines. Mark is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and Yale Law School. Tune in to discover how storytelling, advocacy, and courageous leadership move restorative justice from theory into action.