The RJ team had the honour of being invited along to join prisoners on the last day of the Sycamore Tree course at HMP Pentonville and HMP Belmarsh recently.
The Sycamore Tree is an accredited victim awareness course that teaches the principles of restorative justice. The 6-week programme is led by volunteers from the Prison Fellowship, a charity serving England and Wales that was founded in 1979. The programme has a proven track record of changing the attitudes that lead to re-offending and is extremely well received by the learner.
On the final week of the course, the learners give a presentation in summary of their 6-week journey. This is known among the Prison Fellowship volunteers and learners as a symbolic act of restitution. The presentations are creative and moving with some learners showing their artwork and others writing poems or letters. Each and every one showed great courage in sharing their stories and taking accountability for the impact of their crimes.
After the certificates were awarded we got to congratulate the learners personally during a delicious lunch and many engaged us in conversation, exploring their options to participate in restorative justice with direct victims.
All of the learners in both prisons expressed sincere thanks to the victims of crime who, in earlier sessions, had shared their stories of how they had been impacted by crime. We got to meet them too and imagine how proud we felt to realise they had both participated in restorative justice facilitated by Calm Mediation!
All in all, it was a very thought provoking day and we hope to be invited back.
If you are a victim of crime and would like to volunteer your time to share your experience and how you have been impacted with learners on the Sycamore Tree, please get in touch with the RJ Service on 0300 102 3031 or restorative.justice@calmmediation.org.
