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Amicus Training Academy Upcoming Trainings | Training Recap | Hot Topics Who We Are: Through the Amicus Academy, professionals and stakeholders in the fields of corrections, social work, education, and others receive innovative and practical instruction about working with their clients, students and cases more effectively. For more information contact Marissa at Amicus by email or by telephone at 612-348-8570. Upcoming Trainings Opposite Gender Staffing: Men Working With Girls, Women Working With Boys: Critical Issues Tuesday, March 30, 2010, 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Location: Men as Peacemakers, Duluth, MN 55802 Cost: $50 In our trainings throughout the state, the Amicus Training Academy has heard the same question from many of you: How do I, a man, work effectively with girls? How do I, a woman, work effectively with boys? How do we reduce the potential pitfalls of opposite gender work with clients as well as develop the characteristics for successful opposite gender client relationships? Whether by choice or due to budget cuts, many juvenile justice professionals, probation personnel, social workers and educators are finding themselves filling these new professional roles. Based on research about cross-gender mentoring as well as years of experience by the training's facilitators, the Amicus Training Academy is presenting this session to provide the advice and information needed to work safely and effectively with opposite gender client. See attached flyer for more details. Amicus Academy Fall Training Recap Amicus - MCA Gender Training Draws Positive Response  Bridget Sanders and Chris Doege facilitating the training September 1st, 2009: MACCRAY School District, Raymond, MN It's All About the Relationship: All Together for Our Students Amicus recently conducted a training for the Maccray school district entitled: "It's All About the Relationship." Although the training was originally designed for professionals in corrections, the Amicus Training Academy was more than happy to customize a relationship-building training for the school district. The Maccray school district has been on a mission recently: to make their school climate less restrictive and more supportive. Staff believe it is important that children who struggle have opportunities to grow from their mistakes, and many educators feel that a nurturing and supportive environment is crucial to ensuring no students get left behind. Student surveys, which revealed that many students perceive low levels of support from their teachers, only confirmed to administrators that what the school needed was to focus on relationship-building - first amongst the staff, and second between staff and students. During the first half of the day, Amicus helped more than 130 school district staff, including educators, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, principals, cooks and custodians, rethink ways to strengthen the relationships they had forged with each other. A number of participants voiced concerns about feeling alienated in the teacher's lounge, and our exercises encouraged staff members to view their relationships with one another through the lens of restorative culture. By the end of the morning, district staff realized that unhealthy relationships in places such as the teacher's lounge not only fostered a hostile learning environment but also set a bad example for the students. After the training, one teacher realized that "we're on the same team." The superintendant of the school district noted that "talking about restorative measures…and how we interact with each other is invaluable." The second half of the day focused on staff-student relationships and was centered on giving educators a concrete set of tools, techniques and perspectives to use in their classroom. The goal was not create new "work" for the teachers but to find ways for teachers to incorporate relationship-building techniques and restorative practices into their day-to-day activities. Participants learned how to "keep a circle" and were encouraged to re-conceptualize how they viewed their students. One participant noted that this part of the day was "really enlightening," and many educators were eager to try the circle technique when they left the training. Additionally, district employees who generally have fewer opportunities to forge relationships with students - such as janitors, bus drivers and cooks - were challenged to find new ways to connect to students. Already, the training has helped district employees make inroads in relationship-building. "I think the training went really well," a district employee remarked recently. "Just today I asked a custodian who has a good bond with one of our students to help mentor the student with their educational goals and pursuits. I thought: how nice that we spent the day discussing relationship building and how now this staff member was very willing to help out when called upon." Although the training was only one-day long, it is expected to have a lasting impact on the lives of both students and educators in the McCray school district. According to Superintendant Greg Schmidt, "the day is one that staff will remember for the rest of their professional careers."  Mary Maas, on the right, leading a discussion on relationship building December 3rd and 4th, 2009: Chippewa County, Clara City, MN Youth Mentor Training Amicus was invited by Chippewa County Circle Sentencing coordinator, Emily Wright to develop a youth mentoring training to explore various avenues for incorporating mentoring strategies throughout the county. Approximately twenty interested county residents participated in this two-day intensive training. Participants brought a wealth of background and experience, and included school personnel, a massage therapist, long-time foster parents, a county defense attorney, a retired farmer…Chippewa county citizens concerned about improving their community through mentoring and restorative justice. Much of the training occurred in Circle so that participants could hear one another's stories and learn from each other about what it really means to be a mentor, to have a mentor, and to develop a mentoring program. Topics explored included: - Values and Principles as the foundation of any mentoring program - Inspiring others to join the youth mentoring movement - Building healthy mentoring relationships - Understanding and re-framing adolescent development - Establishing mentoring program guidelines and boundaries - Brainstorming about various ways to implement mentoring for youth If you're interested in having Amicus design and deliver training for your organization contact Kathleen or Marissa. Enrollment topics for 2010 include men working with girls and women and combining therapeutic and restorative paradigms. Hot Topics Matching Court-Ordered Services with Treatment Needs: Predicting Treatment Success with Young Offenders. (PDF, 226Kb) From the Journal of Criminal Justice and Behavior, April 2009. Amicus will be working with the DOC and others to hold trainings that further the application of these findings in the work of organizations throughout the state of MN. Abstract to the article: The rehabilitation of young offenders and their reintegration into society are important goals of the juvenile justice system. An empirically supported model of service delivery attending to the principles of risk level, criminogenic need, and responsivity provides direction in achieving these goals. Although research on this model thus far has evaluated the principles only at a group level, the present study evaluates the impact on recidivism of matching youth with services at the individual level. Files of 122 youth who received court assessments were reviewed to determine whether clinical recommendations and services received were congruent. Youths' criminal records were reviewed to determine reoffense outcomes. As predicted, higher risk scores were associated with earlier and more frequent recidivism. Knowing whether a young offender had his or her specific criminogenic needs addressed in treatment added to the predictive power of risk. Having only a few treatment needs met was associated with significantly earlier recidivism and a greater number of new convictions. These findings may provide direction in enhancing efforts to effectively respond to youth crime. Hot Topic- Racism and White Privilege Thoughts after attending a Tim Wise lecture, "White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son." April 7, 2009. University of St. Thomas. - Impressions from Marissa Steen, Amicus VISTA The question isn't, "Does racism still exist in this country?" but rather, "What equally de-humanizing forms has it taken?" Ask anyone who isn't white and you'll start to find out the truth. We must start by hearing one another's stories, and believing one another's realities. Following a presentation on historical trauma at one of our Amicus trainings, a discussion opened upconcerning racism. A probation officer shared a story of a female offender who, upon being given a harsh treatment, asked, "Is it because I'm Black?" Participants concluded the woman honestly wanted to know the answer because, based on past experiences, the woman's race often played a factor in how she was treated. Many people's initial response to the woman would have been to say "Of course not. I'm not a racist!" I've come to realize that my first step in renouncing racism should be admitting that I'm likely racist and also that because I'm white, I'm privileged in ways I don't even notice. Start to believe it, and you'll start to see it- the many and complex ways that racism and white privilege exist in our society. We incorporated this idea into our recent trainings on gender-responsive practice; when you're with a client you must believe his or her reality, however they see it. One of the facilitators told the story of her response when a client said she was racist. While the facilitator's gut reaction was to object and say the client was wrong, she forced herself to ask the client questions in order to understand how this client was experiencing her as racist. She chose to believe the client's reality, rather than tell the client that the client was wrong or lying. Over time she realized that clients are generally telling the truth as they perceive it from their life experiences and when they're not, it's often for a compelling reason. The facilitator found that the experience allowed her to learn and grow in the process. For information on requesting a similar Amicus Academy training in your area, contact Marissa Steen at Marissa@amicususa.org Hot Topic- Restorative Justice: Thoughts after attending a Waziyatawin lecture: "What Does Justice Look Like? The Struggle for Liberation in Dakota Homeland". April 9, 2009. College of St. Catherine. - Impressions from Marissa Steen, Amicus VISTA Restorative justice is a shift in the way we look at justice. The focus is less on laws and punishments, and more on what the victim, offender, and community need in order to heal from the injustice that was committed. Waziyatawin's lecture and book led me to ask what we do when it is nearly impossibile to provide that which a victim needs to heal. The Dakota people were victims of many crimes in the late 1800s. With the intention of taking land from the Dakota, state and federal officials engaged in a practice of genocide on the Dakota. Men were separated from women and children; 1,700 Dakota were made to march 150 miles while being attacked by civilians; Dakota warriors were killed by mass hanging and Dakota children were federally-mandated to attend boarding schools designed to strip away aspects of their indigeneity and replace it with the foreign culture of the settlers. The Dakota people are now asking for justice. In order to heal, Waziyatawin said, the Dakota people need their land back because their health as people is closely intertwined with the health of this land and their closeness to it. I had to stifle my rising objections as Waziyatawin talked about all settlers leaving so that the Dakota could again care for their land, and force myself to listen and take it in. As a child of settlers, I don't want to leave; Minnesota is my home too. This exemplifies the complexities of justice. Based on restorative justice, does the U.S. therefore need to help the Dakota heal by giving them back their land and making all settlers leave? Sometimes we have to sit with the questions and the Dakota story for awhile, rather than immediately think that we each have the right answer to such a complex situation. A restorative justice framework gives us a way to facilitate this process. Want to learn more about restorative justice and how you can make your program/organization more restorative? For information on requesting an Amicus Academy training on restorative justice and/or circle processes in your area, contact Marissa Steen at Marissa@amicususa.org Projects are funded/supported, in part, by the Office of Justice Programs through the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. | |||||||||||
