Harm Dialogues and Apology Letter Bank Programs
Healing Beyond Harm Restorative Justice Pilot Project is a multi-agency and community collaborative effort that aims to create spaces of healing for people who have been harmed and those that have caused the harm. There are two main processes that Healing Beyond Harm offers: The Apology Letter Bank and Harm Repair Dialogues. Both are created to support healing and learning after harm has occurred.
Illinois is joining 13 other states to use facilitated trauma-informed restorative processes with workshops to create apology letters by people who have harmed others. With the crime survivor community advocates, we will also provide support and capacity-building experiences for survivors of harm who may have a letter of apology written to them.
Restorative Justice aims to:
An Apology Letter Bank (ALB) is a RJ practice that allows a person who is incarcerated or who has caused harm to write a letter of apology to the person that they have harmed. Survivors can be notified about these letters and then decide if they would like to accept such a letter. Both survivors and letter writers are provided support throughout the process.
During the pilot we invite people from two institutions to participate in transformational trauma healing workshops.
This is the first step to promoting a greater sense of well-being for the people harmed by their crimes.
Stateville Correctional Center
Logan Correctional Center
Justice, Equity, and Opportunity
Initiative
Prisoner Review Board
Victim Services Unit
Illinois Department of Corrections
Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office
Victim Services Unit
The Institute on Public Safety and Social Justice
at Adler University
Community Stakeholders
For more information, please contact the
Healing Beyond Harm Restorative Justice Coordinator
Vanessa Westley
Adler University
Institute on Public Safety and Social Justice
17 N Dearborn
Chicago, IL 60602
312-662-4071
vwestley@adler.edu
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