february 10 - 16 | 2016
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circulating in wangaratta, myrtleford, bright, mt beauty, beechworth, yackandandah, rutherglen, chiltern and districts
Changing relationships By KYLIE WILSON
RESTORATIVE PRINCIPLES:
Terry O’Connell talks about restorative practices with Wangaratta High School quality education leader Lesley Milne. PHOTO: Kylie Wilson
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A DIFFERENT way of addressing conflict and building lasting personal relationships, known as restorative practices, has made a splash in the North East. The Wangaratta High School community was recently involved in workshops and learning with former NSW police senior sergeant, Terry O’Connell OAM. He first began to use the problem solving framework as a young policeman in the 1970s, when he was on the receiving end of a coward punch attack from a violent repeat offender. Rather than charge him and put him through the justice system, which would have seen the offender spend further time in custody, Terry sat down with the perpetrator and his mother to talk through the incident and the effect that it had had on him. It transpired that the young man was dealing with a lot of anger from the death of his father, and Terry said the meeting ended with the perpetrator realising the consequences of his choices for his family as well as himself – including the pain he had caused his mother. Some 15 years later, the pair ran into each other again, with the former angry, violent youth transformed into a law abiding family man. “He never, ever got into trouble again,” Terry said. According to the former officer, restorative justice was a way of building healthy and lasting relationships between people instead of simply reacting to a situation. “It shifts focus from behaviours and blame, to harm and relationships,” he said. Lesley Milne, a member of the leadership team at Wangaratta High School, believes in the workshops. continued page |
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