"Restorative justice can use a trauma-informed approach by recognizing the impact of trauma on both the person harmed and person causing harm and addressing those effects in the process of restoring harm and repairing relationships. By focusing on the traumatic impact, preventive strategies can be formulated.

A trauma-informed restorative justice process would involve understanding the prevalence of trauma, recognizing signs and symptoms, responding with empathy and support, and taking steps to avoid retraumatization.

For the individual who was harmed, a trauma-informed restorative justice process would involve creating a safe and supportive environment for them to share their experiences, feelings, and needs. It would also involve providing appropriate support and resources for them to heal from the trauma.

For the individual who caused the harm, a trauma-informed restorative justice process would involve understanding the role of trauma in their behaviour and addressing those underlying issues as part of their rehabilitation.

Additionally, a trauma-informed restorative justice process would involve training and educating all involved parties, including facilitators, about trauma and its effects to create a more empathetic and effective process."

Source: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/building-resilient-minds/202301/the-use-of-restorative-justice-as-a-trauma-informed-approach 

When discussing the impacts of trauma-informed practices, we try to focus on creating emotional safety by using the PACE model. PACE stands for Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy. These principles help to promote the experience of safety in your interactions with young people. 

PACE is a way of thinking, feeling, communicating, and behaving with a child that aims to make the child feel safe with you that they stay open and engaged because you are being open and engaged with them. As a result, the child dares to let you in, to be close emotionally, to trust you with their pain and share their hopes and dreams. 

Playfulness 

• Delight in them, show interest

• Keep in mind that when dealing with kids with trauma, their emotional age is different than their chronological age. Development can be stunted

• Face to face contact. If they can’t handle that, use voice proximity.

• Playfulness allows child to practice being in the relationship without fear and realizing that connection isn’t dangerous.

• Difficult to be in a state of shame or fear, if giggling

Acceptance

• Accept the emotion that’s underneath what’s being said. Never talk them out of what they are feeling/experiencing. 

• Sit with that emotion, recognize it

• Accept the emotion they’re coming with. It’s not the time to change their mind yet.

• Behaviour is always less improtant that the relationship. Focus on the experience not the event.

Curiosity 

• Figuring it out together helps us understand the child and it helps the child understand themselves (have them develop their narrative). It puts words to their experience.

• If the child is really struggling, use parents or other support staff.

• Not asking “why” but asking “what are you thinking?” Other examples include: "What's going on that is causing you to feel or experience...", "Let's figre it out", "I wonder if... (thoughts, perceptions, motives, wishes, feelings)" 

• Sit with the child in their emotional experience  

Empathy 

• Draw out feeling/emotional experience then soothe the feeling

• Match the vitality of the emotion. This is a big part of co-regulation. For example, if the child is yelling, it won’t land if we whisper. It might make the child to escalate further to get us to understand. Or, you tell them to “calm down”, they might have a big response to that.

• Match the energy. For example: “You’re so mad. You’re yelling to tell me how mad you are. It must be a hard day for you” or “This is very upsetting for you. It must be so hard.”

• Once they feel seen, heard, value they move into sadness. The voice vitality will also change too (softer, quieter). This is learning a new way of speaking and being. For example, “Oh my goodness, I can hear the worry in your voice. How big is that worry for you right now?”

• It deflates the emotion because you’re validating it and allowing them to be seen and heard

• You don't need to fix it at this moment

Adapted from trauma informed training by The George Hull Centre