Our Services
Peacemaking Circles
TCPC offers a variety of services, including; Circle Keeping, training in the Peacemaking Circle process, as well as, coaching and mentoring opportunities for current and future Peacemaking Circle Keepers.
Our practices focus on healing, connection, collective action, and community among our members. Through facilitating peacemaking circles, we bring people together in a way that fosters trust, respect, intimacy, goodwill, belonging, generosity, mutuality, and equality.
TRAINING
Peacemaking Circle training is intended and designed for anyone interested in learning an intentional and effective process for group dialogue.
KEEPING
TCPC Keepers conduct Peacemaking Circles that are uniquely built to suit diverse groups, teams or communities using one or more of the types of circles.
TRAINING
Learning To Be A Circle Keeper
A Peacemaking Circle is an intentional process focused on connection, in order to build community, promote healing and create collective action through drawing on the wisdom, experience and capacity of the circle members.
Derived from Indigenous teachings and traditions, Peacemaking Circles are a community-directed response that can be implemented and applied in a variety of contexts and settings.
Peacemaking Circle training is experiential-based, in that participants are experiencing the process, building unique skill sets, and gaining knowledge and confidence to be a Circle Keeper, while also;
Learning how the peacemaking circle process and restorative justice overlap
Recognizing that peacemaking circles promote authenticity, allowing participants to learn more about themselves, be wholly involved in the process and be supported while being supportive
Understanding how the peacemaking circle approach allows participants to speak honestly, listen to each other respectfully and recognize the power in every voice
Acquiring the knowledge of how the process links to Indigenous teachings as a means to create balance and hold sacred space
What Participants Are Saying
“The Transformative Circle Practice Centre team has a resource that can change the way your group communicates. I come from a cultural community with a lot of unacknowledged intergenerational trauma. It creates a barrier to generative conflict resolution. Through the years I’ve witnessed exciting community endeavors end up on the scrap heap of history before coming to fruition. Unregulated conflict and hurtful communication are the typical culprits.
The circle training counters that: you can learn how to create a strong, safe container for difficult discussions. The nature of the process keeps harmful reactions in check while allowing our better selves to step forward with deep listening, open sharing and creative solutions. Circles are the way of our indigenous pasts and the way forward. Relearning to connect in a way that does not replicate damaging colonial patterns is critical to community building and cultural reclamation. I wholeheartedly recommend their training, the results are quite magical.“
— Junetta Jamerson, Co-Founder, Black Women United YEG
KEEPING
How It Works
A peacemaking circle is an intentional process focused on connection, in order to build community, promote healing and create collective action through drawing on the wisdom, experience and capacity of the circle members.
A Circle Keeper facilitates the implementation of the peacemaking circle process in order to safely guide participants to a collective outcome that is based on consensus.
TCPC Keepers conduct Peacemaking Circles that are uniquely built to suit diverse groups, teams or communities using one or more of the types of circles. The process begins with:
Suitability
Understand the context and determine the appropriate type of circle based on the need and requirement of consensus.
Preparatory Work
Understand the needs and best hopes of the people involved in order to move forward, and ensure authentic and sincere participation.
Peacemaking Circle Keeping
Hold space for a circle (a dialog process) that works intentionally to create a safe space to discuss matters (ranging from celebratory to very difficult/painful matters). The process is based on an assumption of equal worth and dignity for all participants and therefore provides equal voice to all participants.
Follow Up
Offer resources and support as needed.
PEACEMAKING CIRCLE KEEPING
Types of Circles
Peacemaking circles can be applied in a variety of contexts. Your vision can be deepened, processed, and intentionally participated in when you have an inclusive Circle Keeper as part of your team, community, group, or family.
Celebration Circle:
Bringing people together to meaningfully honour a person, team, group or community accomplishment or significant milestone.
Learning Circle:
Bringing people together to learn, teach, and share our understanding of a subject matter. This will enable us to draw upon the collective knowledge of all the participants to fill in any gaps.
Community or Team Building Circle:
Bringing people together to identify commonalities, differences, and issues relating to building relationships. It is our goal to review processes and identify disconnections and enhance and reestablish those connections.
Dialogue Circle:
Sharing thoughts, feelings, and opinions with one another around a particular topic without seeking consensus.
Healing Circle:
The purpose is to bring together the person or people who have experienced harm and those who support them. This is to discuss how certain harm affected them and to determine what supports they require in order to heal. These are talking circles or sharing circles.
Support Circle:
Support circles are designed to understand the underlying causes of behavior and intervene when it causes worry. Support circles are compassionate and directed interventions. Support could be provided by developing a plan that addresses the individual’s behavior and its impact on others. An individual who has had or needs a significant change in behavior receives support.
Reintegration Circle:
For those returning to the community after leaving. In order for this person to return to their community, what does the community need from this person, and what does the person need to see for this to happen?
Conflict Resolution Circle:
The process of coming together after a conflict has occurred, understanding where the conflict came from, and deciding what to do about it. To avoid this conflict recurring, consensus building is necessary to identify what people are committed/prepared to do to resolve the conflict. As well as a shared understanding of what happened, and how we will handle it next time. A conflict can be real or perceived, internal or external. Depending on the situation, resolution can be reactive or proactive.
Sentencing Circles or Restorative Justice Circle:
Assists victims, offenders, and community stakeholders in identifying what needs to be done so that the person who caused harm can make amends and put things right for all parties.
Decision Making Circle/Family Group Conference (FGC)
The purpose is to bring stakeholders together in order to build consensus on an important decision that may affect an individual, group or community. The FGC is a restorative approach to gathering families and encouraging/facilitating dialogue in a circle format as it relates to making decisions and creating plans for children and youth involved in the Child Intervention System.
A Family Group Conference is of crucial importance as it relates to establishing physical and relational connections for children and youth; creating a holistic perspective on developing and building a sense of home and belonging through family, friends, and significant connections. In addition, one of the primary principles of the FGC process identifies that solutions developed by the family are more likely to respect and preserve children’s bonds to their family, community and culture as opposed to those imposed by professionals.
Join a Peacemaking Circle Today
TCPC acknowledges that the Peacemaking Circle process is based on Indigenous teachings in Canada and around the world. We offer immense gratitude for the Indigenous and cultural teachings that help us practice with sincerity.
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