Transcending the Punishment Paradigm

The Promise of Restorative & Transformative Practices


Course Description


The world is awakening to the widely resonating damages of systemic harm, inviting us to demand accountability and nurture healing-centered, cultural transformation. Amid this prolonged crisis, we pose a series of critical questions: As a collective society and individuals, how do we move forward and rebuild? How can we ensure meaningful repair and reconciliation amid the many ways harm presents in our systems, our communities, and ourselves?

This class presents an overview of restorative and transformative healing ideals, philosophies, paradigms, and practices. These frameworks carry immense potential to transform the ways that our society responds to mental health crises and the needs of those who struggle on both interpersonal and systemic levels. Our hope is to galvanize practitioners and community members alike, uplifting concrete tools you can employ in your life and work in pursuit of creating a more trauma-informed and compassionate future. Participants will be introduced to practices that center individual and community restoration, and invited to consider how we might move away from our current reliance on carceral practices and paradigms.

What you’ll learn:

  • Strategies rooted in restorative and transformative justice that will help you create transformative change in your patterns of thinking, interpersonal interactions, and community work

  • How the mental health, criminal justice, and other systems can proliferate harm, and patterns in response to harm

  • How you hold power in these systems, the responsibilities and accountability that connect to that power, and ways to own that power to cultivate transformative change

  • How to question the deeply-ingrained, punishment-centered programming the world has had instilled in us, and explore how this has implicated us in individual and systemic harm

  • The real life applications and proven successes of restorative and transformative justice practices through the experiences of of faculty

  • How the punishment paradigm shows up in mental health work, and how it creates harm that will have lasting repercussions


Faculty


mik berry, abolitionist educator

mik (they/them) is a writer,educator, and creator focused on making and providing spaces in which marginalized voices can be heard and encouraged. They currently work as the Restorative Justice Coordinator for Soul Sister's Leadership Collective where they manage Circles Not Cells, a restorative approach to conflict, in addition to 8 Circles of Safety – which implements 8 Restorative Justice Healing Circles to support young people with their reentry. For the past 2 months. Mikaela has also been engaging in restorative justice work with the young men at Horizons Juvenile Detention Center, where the programming is centered on navigating toxic masculinity and LGBTQIA education. Mikaela is also a second-year Master’s student at Columbia's School of Social Work. Their goal is to write trauma informed curriculum to make the classroom a safer and more equitable place for students of color.

William M. Evans, Restorative Justice Practitioner

William grew up in the south Bronx. As a victim of gun violence and the criminal justice system, he internalized the impact and contributed to the destruction of his community. Making restorative decisions as an adult allowed him to improve his lifestyle and the lifestyle of those around him. William reflects the values of social responsibility and self empowerment as a part of his mentoring practices with young people. William is a Restorative Practitioner specializing in Strategic Urban Leadership Development (SULD) and three levels of healing (Individual, Neighborhood, Community) to transform systems of impacted individuals into people that model changed behaviors and rebuild community. William is the Co-Director at the Institute for Transformative Mentoring, Founder & President of Neighborhood Benches, Co-Founder of Never Be Caged, member of the Restorative Roots Collaborative, and board member of New Yorkers Against Gun Violence.

SHANA LOUALLEN, Principal Consultant, Ark + Moonlight

Shana Louallen (she/they), formerly a publicist permanently shifted into the human services industry in 2008. As a graduate of the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College, Shana engages in advocacy and organizing around social policy, race, class, gender, and sexuality. While her primary focus is on the intersectional work of racial justice, she remains connected, both locally and abroad, to youth-based organizations, stakeholders, and organizers creating impactful changes in their communities. Currently, Shana works to help their clients actualize the intersection of racial justice & restorative practices as a way of life in and outside of the workplace. As a consultant, she engages schools, organizations, and communities in strategic planning & action-taking on transformative culture shifts, trauma-informed models, equitable policies, and uplifting stakeholder voices. She offers expert-level executive coaching for existing business teams as well as entrepreneurs looking to break into social innovation. In addition to serving communities as a licensed Social Worker, Shana was previously the co-Executive Director of Peer Connect, a consultancy firm focused on the training, coaching, support, and implementation of restorative practices nationally. Peer Connect has been the recipient of several awards and fellowships for the advancement of anti-racist, anti-oppressive work through a restorative and transformative justice lens. In this, Shana has long held an abolitionist framework that seeks to deconstruct power and punishment paradigms. She continues to explore this work with organizations invested in building out diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) initiatives across hiring practices, Employee Resource Groups, conflict resolution/mediation, community/relationship building, shared power, and shared decision-making. Shana has recently held roles such as a Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer and continues to thought-partner on strategies across shared spaces of growth with other DEIB professionals. She is currently the Principal Consultant at Ark + Moonlight, specializing in wellness at the intersection of DEIB and RJ work. She is based in New York City.

I enjoyed the instructors’ unique perspectives and openness. Each instructor was encouraging and created a great environment for attendees to participate. Thoroughly enjoyed the topic at hand and appreciated being asked to brainstorm and be creative.
— 2021 Course Participant

What You Get


  • 13 videos (2 hours of content) full of history, research, and unique perspectives

  • Exclusive readings and resources

  • Discussion with a creative community of professionals and advocates inside the course

  • A reference and resource list to aid ongoing learning and exploration on the course topics


Audience


This course is for:

  • Mental health and physical health professionals, including: clinicians, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, peer specialists, recovery support specialists, housing specialists, nurse practitioners, wellness support workers, coaches, holistic practitioners

  • Students

  • Activists

  • Family members and advocates

  • Anyone who works or plans to work with people experiencing mental health-related challenges

The things that struck me most were the comparison of schools to prison, and the history of design of the two institutions. The class was a great introduction to transformative justice though and the personal testimonies were powerful.
— 2021 Course Participant

Take the Class


This self-paced course is hosted on Mighty Networks, home to IDHA's School for Transformative Mental Health. This virtual community space supports sustained learning, engagement with other students, access to supplemental resources, and opportunities to interact with your faculty.

We provide the option of enrolling for at the general ($20) or supporter rate ($40) to ensure the sustainability of IDHA’s work and enable us to create more accessible, cutting-edge training content.

CLICK THE BUTTONS BELOW TO JOIN US ON MIGHTY NETWORKS!

  • If you already have an account, simply log in to proceed to the course.

  • If you’re new to IDHA’s Mighty Network, you will be prompted to create an account and then receive access to course content.


FAQ


When does the course start and finish?
This is a completely self-paced online course - you decide when you start and when you finish.

How long do I have access to the course?
After enrolling, you have unlimited access to this course for as long as you like - across any and all devices you own.

What if I am unhappy with the course, content, or platform?
We love hearing your feedback on what we can do to improve our efforts to bring transformative mental health to the public! Shoot us an email at contact@idha-nyc.org and let us know your thoughts. If you disagree with any of the perspectives shown in this course - that's great! We encourage differing perspectives, so feel free to leave a comment in the course - so long as your comments remain respectful and you speak from your own point of view.

I am a person struggling with mental health issues/a family member of someone who is struggling. Can I take the course?
Absolutely! Just note that this course is geared towards professionals in the field, and will speak mostly to those working in a formal support role. However, we welcome anyone who wants to join!

Are refunds available?
At this time, all sales are final, we cannot offer refunds after purchase.

Other questions? Email us at contact@idha-nyc.org