One in Four

A.     Service overview and contact details 

Focus of restorative justice (RJ) and restorative practice (RP) activities 

One in Four professionally supports adults who have experienced childhood sexual abuse, as well as their families, and those who have engaged in sexually harmful behaviour. It works on all aspects of sexual violence in an effort to break the cycle of abuse. Victim-offender dialogue and family conferences are employed in appropriate cases. In 2014, One in Four committed to establishing a restorative organisation ethos and imbuing its dealings with staff and clients with restorative values.

Year of commencement (RJ/RP elements)

2003

Service details

One in Four

2 Holles Street

Dublin 2

Website: https://www.oneinfour.ie/ 

Email: info@oneinfour.ie 

Tel: 01 662 4070

Head of service 

Maeve Lewis

Executive Director

Email: maeve@oneinfour.ie

Tel: 016624070

Staffing structure

Board of Directors (7 members) 

Management Team: Executive Director, Advocacy Director, Clinical Director, Head of Fundraising, and Head of Business Services

Staff: Advocacy Officers, Psychotherapists, Fundraising Officer, Administrative staff, Intern Psychotherapists

No staff are dedicated exclusively to restorative justice. 

Staff training in RJ/RP

Staff members from both the clinical and advocacy teams are trained RJ facilitators. Their training with the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) had a special emphasis on trauma and complex cases. In 2014, the management team undertook IIRP training in restorative leadership and staff training sessions and seminars were facilitated to establish a restorative organisational ethos.

Use of volunteers 

None

Volunteer training in RJ/RP

Not applicable

Main source(s) of funding

Grants, donations and fundraising including grants from the HSE, Tusla, and the Commission for the Support of Victims of Crime.

Annual budget 

Total income for 2018 was €1,045,616.

Organisational status 

Charity

Target client group 

Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and their family members and non-convicted adult sexual offenders.

Nature of offences 

Childhood sexual abuse

Source of referrals

Self-referrals and families plus other professionals or organisations working with individuals, including the courts, Tusla and Gardaí.

Geographic area of activity

Services are provided in Dublin but are open to individuals nationwide and abroad. 

B.     Nature of RJ/RP service

RJ/RP services provided

  1. Victim-Offender Mediation
  2. RJ Conferences
  3. Circles
  4. Advocacy

One in Four runs two therapeutic programmes. Its Family Support Programme supports individuals who have been indirectly impacted by the disclosure by a family member or a friend of childhood sexual abuse. Its Prevention Programme works with sex offenders, their families and the statutory services to help offenders confront the harm that they have caused and to support them in living lives that are free from sexually harmful behaviour. The programme is underpinned by the Good Lives Model and risk management principles to reduce recidivism. Victim-offender dialogue and family conferences are employed in appropriate cases. 

In 2014, One in Four committed to establishing a restorative organisation ethos and a restorative code of conduct was developed with the aim of imbuing staff engagement with each other and with clients with restorative values. Restorative processes such as circles are used regularly to address issues that arise and interpersonal conflict.

One in Four’s advocacy programme supports victims of childhood sexual abuse to report the offences to the Gardaí and Tusla.

In a 2019 report on the experiences of its clients in the criminal justice system, One in Four recommended that research be carried out into the design and potential benefits of restorative justice for certain cohorts of cases, with a view to providing restorative justice as an alternative option to the traditional adversarial model of criminal justice to meet the needs and rights of victims of sexual violence (Brown, McKenna and O’Kennedy, 2019 – see below).

Activity levels

In 2018, One in Four worked with 52 individuals under the Prevention Programme, while psychotherapy services were provided to 121 individuals and 25 group participants. In total, 3,607 hours (2017: 2,814) were provided to individuals and families by One in Four’s psychotherapists. During the year advocacy services were provided to 553 clients. 

In 2016, five families were facilitated with a restorative process. In one case, the offender was involved, while in the other four, the family members of the survivor were involved. 

Community participation 

Not applicable

Offence breakdown  

One in Four deals with cases of childhood sexual abuse 

Offender age and gender breakdown

Age profile of participants in Prevention Programme for offenders (percentages)

18-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60+ Total (n)
2018 27 14 22 15 22 52
2017 20 19 19 23 19 54
2016 28 17 22 20 13 46

Offenders participating in the Prevention Programme have been exclusively male. 

Outcomes

In 2016, interviews with clients who participated in a restorative practice and with staff who facilitated them revealed that most participants benefited from their engagement.

C.     Sources of further information 

Website

Annual Reports

Research