Practicing Transformation: A Restorative & Transformative Justice Series
Learning, unlearning, and exploring harm, accountability, and belonging through lived experience and real-world practice
Week 1: Entering Restorative & Transformative Justice
What I’m learning, what I’m noticing, and why I’m sharing this here
I’m currently in a course on Restorative and Transformative Justice as part of my PhD in Transformative Social Change, and I want to bring my community into this learning with me.
This isn’t just academic for me—it’s deeply connected to lived experience, to patterns of harm I’ve witnessed and experienced, and to the question of what it actually takes to create spaces of real accountability, belonging, and repair.
So over the course of this class, I’ll be sharing what I’m learning—not as an expert, but as someone practicing in real time.
Key Takeaways from Week 1
1. Conflict is not the problem—how we relate to it is
One of the first shifts is moving away from seeing conflict as something to resolve or avoid. Instead, conflict can be a signal—something that reveals deeper relational or structural tensions.
This lands for me because I’ve experienced environments where conflict was shut down instead of understood—and the harm didn’t go away, it just became quieter and more entrenched.
2. Harm is patterned, not random
Transformative Justice asks us to move beyond “what happened?” and into:
→ what conditions made this possible?
That shift feels foundational.
It moves us from:
individual blame → systemic awareness
reaction → transformation
And it helps explain why harm often repeats, even in systems that claim to be helping.
3. Accountability is relational—not punitive
This is simple in theory and complex in practice.
Accountability isn’t about punishment or removal. It’s about:
recognizing harm
taking responsibility
staying in relationship (when possible)
and changing behavior
What I’m already noticing, though, is that many spaces don’t actually have the structures to support this. So accountability either doesn’t happen—or it turns into something else entirely.
4. There is a gap between language and capacity
Many systems are now using language like:
“restorative”
“transformative”
“healing-centered”
But naming something is not the same as being able to practice it.
I’ve experienced this directly—spaces where harm can be named (in ERGs, in listening sessions, in dialogue), but nothing moves. No structural change. No shift in power. No pathway forward.
That gap matters.
Because that’s where harm continues—inside systems that believe they are doing something different.
Why I’m sharing this (and why here)
This work is not abstract for me.
It’s connected to:
lived experiences of harm in systems that were supposed to support
ongoing questions about accountability, belonging, and repair
and a deep curiosity about what it actually takes to do this differently
Over the course of this class, I’ll be sharing three longer pieces in this space:
📝 Post 1: Foundations
What Restorative & Transformative Justice actually are (beyond the language)
📝 Post 2: Praxis
What these frameworks look like when they meet real life—tensions, breakdowns, and possibilities
📝 Post 3: Application
What it might take to build these practices into our communities and systems in ways that actually hold
Invitation into this space
If you’re here, you’re likely already asking deeper questions about:
harm
accountability
systems
and what meaningful change actually requires
This space is for that.
Not answers—but exploration.
Not perfection—but practice.
We’ll move through this together.
A note about this space
The deeper pieces in this series will be shared with my paid subscribers.
This is intentional.
Not because this work should be exclusive—but because I want to create a space where we can engage with these topics in a way that is:
thoughtful
relational
and grounded in lived experience
Restorative and Transformative Justice are not just ideas to consume—they are practices that require reflection, nuance, and a willingness to sit with complexity. This space is meant to hold that.
As a paid subscriber, you’ll receive:
three in-depth posts throughout this course (foundations, praxis, and application)
reflections that connect theory to real-world experiences
and the opportunity to engage in conversation with me and others who are also thinking through these questions
How I hold this space
My intention is not to position myself as an authority, but as someone practicing in real time.
This means:
I will share honestly, including tensions and places where things don’t resolve easily
I will center lived experience alongside theory
I will approach this work with care, curiosity, and accountability
In return, I ask that this space be engaged with in the same spirit:
openness over certainty
reflection over reaction
and respect for the complexity of people’s experiences
Invitation
If you feel drawn to explore:
how harm actually functions in systems
what accountability can look like beyond punishment
and what it takes to build spaces of real belonging and repair
I’d invite you to become a paid subscriber and be part of this unfolding conversation.