Restorative justice is a facilitated circle process whereby someone who has been harmed can confront the harm-doer with the impact of what happened, and the person who has caused the harm can repair it, to the degree possible. Many participants - survivors of harm, offenders and others affected by what has happened - report high degrees of satisfaction with the results of restorative justice circles or conferences. Many survivors and offenders say that they can now "move on", or "put the incident behind" them. And the recidivism (re-offending) rates of offenders who participate are markedly lower than other processes.
Restorative justice is about repairing relationship rather than punishment for breaking rules. Remarkably, wrongdoing in contemporary Western societies is seen not as a violation of relationship but as an offense against the state or institution which deserves punishment. In contrast, restorative justice sees harm-doing as primarily a violation of relationship and community that requires healing.
Restorative justice has deep biblical roots - indeed, deep roots in all of the world's major religions. As one example, in 2005 the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church of North America recommended restorative justice practices to its churches on biblical grounds (you can download its report here).
And while restorative justice began to emerge as an alternative in the criminal justice system, it has now spread to schools, workplaces and other contexts as a viable way of creating cultures where restoration of relationship, and making relationship patterns explicit, are the norm. Restorative justice shows high degrees of both support and accountability at the same time.
What does all this have to do with mental health? So often in therapy clients are dealing with the unresolved after-effects of past wrongdoing, harm and violence. The violations may have occurred years, even decades earlier, but they continue to have a devastating impact on people's lives. Wouldn't it be better, where possible, to repair the harm when it occurs? More and more therapists are therefore embracing restorative justice practices as the "therapy of choice" in many such situations. Research is now bearing this out (see, for example, this recent study of the positive impact of restorative justice of symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder). Restorative justice is a growth edge in the field of mental health.
Shalem is excited to offer three innovative restorative justice programs. With our Hosting Program, co-sponsored with the International Institute of Restorative Practices (IIRP) - Canada, faith communities act as the physical hosts of Family Group Decision - Making conferences. 
Check out FaithCARE, our innovative, multi-denominational program for helping churches transform church-based conflict and become restorative communities. Shalem is also actively training, coaching and promoting the use of restorative practices in schools.
Finally, Shalem and our restorative justice partners frequently offer workshops, training and restorative justice facilitation to groups interested in implementing in restorative practices.
For more information about any of our programs, or to inquire about a workshop or training, please contact Shalem's Executive Director, Mark Vander Vennen by email or phone: 1-866-347-0041. And check out his article "Standing Up for a Just Justice Sytem" in the Winter, 2008 issue of Catalyst.