A. Service overview and contact details
Focus of restorative justice (RJ) and restorative practices (RP) activities
Limerick Restorative Practices Partnership (LRPP) is a network of representatives of many statutory, community and voluntary agencies who are experienced RP practitioners and trainers who promote RP and provide training and development opportunities. The project offers support to create more restorative communities for children, young people and families in Limerick City. Since 2013, it has trained, mentored and supported over 1,000 people and 52 organisations across Limerick City to use restorative approaches.
Year of commencement (RJ/RP elements)
2013
Name of service
Limerick Restorative Practices Project (LRPP)
c/o Céim ar Chéim
Unit 5 Shannon Development Units
Knockalisheen Road
Moyross
Limerick
Website: http://www.restorativepracticeslimerick.ie/
Email: http://www.restorativepracticeslimerick.ie/contact-us.html
Tel: 061 322122
Mob: 0879363010
Head of service
Elaine Slattery, Manager, Céim ar Chéim (host agency), elaine@mya.ie
Joe Power, Restorative Practices Development Officer, respracdevoff@gmail.com
Staffing structure
LRPP is a network of representatives of many statutory, community and voluntary agencies who are experienced RP practitioners and trainers who promote RP and provide training and development opportunities. It employs one part-time Restorative Practices Development Officer.
Staff training in RJ/RP
The network is made up of people from a variety of backgrounds with diverse restorative justice and restorative practice backgrounds and qualifications. The Development Officer is an RP facilitator and trainer accredited by the International Institute of Restorative Practices (IIRP) and the Childhood Development Initiative (CDI).
Use of volunteers
Not applicable
Volunteer training in RJ/RP
Not applicable
Main source(s) of funding
Limerick City and County Council
Annual budget
€12,000
Nature of funding
Annual, but current fund closing in 2021 (alternative funding being sourced at present).
Organisational status
Not-for-profit
Target client group
Services, professionals, schools, students, residential centres, community residents.
Nature of offences
Not applicable
Source of referrals
Self-referrals
Geographic area of activity
Limerick City
B. Nature of RJ/RP service
RJ/RP services provided
- Coffee Mornings
- Community of Practice
- RP Training and mentoring
- RP Facilitation
- Schools Initiative
Coffee Mornings: These are held every second month for people who are new to RP or still getting to terms with the concept. They are an informal way to get some basic information on the various concepts, help people decide if RP is something that might suit their service or organisation and find out how to progress things further.
Community of Practice: This is an informal and supportive gathering for restorative practitioners, from beginners to experienced professionals, who want to develop their practice. It enables participants to:
- Share learning and information about restorative practices
- Tease out what is working well and not so well in the practitioner’s RP work
- Collaboratively solve problems and issues brought to the table
- Discuss fears and barriers
- Explore innovative restorative ideas
- Reflect on the uses, benefits and limitations of restorative practices
RP Training: Accredited IIRP courses are offered to professionals, students, volunteers and community residents. Specific courses that have been offered include Facilitator Skills Training, Introduction to RP Training and Circles Training. LRPP also provide shorter introductory sessions and ongoing mentoring sessions, which can provide some of the basic tools as well as the philosophy of RP, as a way to introduce RP into a service or organisation
Facilitation: LRPP can recommend trained restorative facilitators to run restorative processes to help address areas of conflict, to both prevent conflict from escalating and resolve it when it occurs.
Schools Initiative: The ‘circle process’ is an RP initiative being introduced free in Limerick City primary and secondary schools. It is a 15-20 minute facilitated process where the whole class sit in a circle along with their teacher and answer a series of questions about themselves. Circles can also be used to address sensitive topics such as bullying, social media safety or any other issues that arise in a fair and respectful way. LRPP has been rolling out the initiative by visiting schools and demonstrating to students and teachers what the process looks like.
Activity levels
- Training: Since 2013, 348 professionals, students, volunteers and community residents have completed RP Training. Many more people have benefitted through introductory sessions, workshops and mentoring. Training to date has included:
- 125 completions of Facilitator Skills Training
- 159 completions of Introduction to RP Training
- 64 completions of Circles Training
Community participation
Not applicable
Outcomes
Not applicable. The project is more about helping and training professionals to make an impact with their own clients. The project also undertakes significant public awareness work each year through Restorative Justice Week in November, running six events both in 2018 and 2019, as well as an ongoing fortnightly blog.
C. Sources of further information