1. Introducing myself and my role, and what I am intending to achieve for the practitioners this year.
My name is Richard De Martin and I started work for the NED Foundation in January this year, 2024, as the Restorative Practice Coordinator. I live and work on Awabakal country in Newcastle. I am also involved with Hunter Restorative Community as Network Convenor & Board Member.
I studied a degree in drama and have worked in the community for the last 20 years in a range of settings.
Most recently I have been experimenting through the lens of a neighbourhood centre with the notion of “Community Places As Restorative Spaces” and believe that safety, “physical, psycho-social and spiritual” is the key to embedding Restorative Approaches in our communities.
As a youth worker I started to identify that my practice aligned with restorative principles and my passion lies in working restoratively with young people and communities exploring inner development and identity while engaging them on a critical and creative level to explore complex issues and to enable change personally and systematically.
I have a passion for community development particularly around social justice and community dialogue advocating strongly for the intersection of the educative and support processes and creative practice.
In this NED role my current focus is on the development of Restorative Practice in Education toward the creation of holistic communities of practice which can enable a systemic shift toward a more empathic and flexible shift in curriculum which is values-based and appreciative of the process of learning over outcomes. I also have a strong interest in nurturing the development of Restorative Arts processes to build these learning communities.
I am committed to building on the inspiring preceding work of the NED Foundation and its skilled collaborators to nurture the continuing emergence of restorative practices and approaches in Australia and beyond.
2. Advocating for attendance at the November International Conference for Contemporary Restorative Practice.
The International Conference for Contemporary Restorative Practice, happening in Canberra from November 21-23 this year, is a response to the growth of Restorative Practice in Australia and internationally across the continuum of approaches from community healing to restorative justice.
The conference theme “From Awareness To Practice To Transformation” acknowledges a rich legacy in the development of relational practices that seek to challenge the transactional nature of systems that seek conformity and may have tended toward enabling harm through bureaucratic processes and institutional neglect in the name of progressing society.
The conference is an amazing opportunity to engage with a program that has attracted a diverse array of knowledge holders and practitioners across the spectrum of fields such as First Nations approaches, criminal justice, redress, education, family & youth, community life, restorative cities and workplaces.
The program invites participation in panels, presentations and discussions culminating in an open-source day which allows anyone to hold a space to share, listen and grow the work collaboratively.
The list of international contributors will bring a cross-cultural perspective to the development of the work globally, with people travelling from Canada and the USA, Europe, Taiwan and New Zealand. They will highlight the universality of practices and approaches where there is an intention to repair relationships at an inter-personal level but also influence community-building and societal culture change across cities and nations.
The NED Foundation is committed to the success of the conference through its role as a supporting partner and has made funds available to support emerging practitioners to attend the conference. While the conference organisers have intentionally tried to keep costs low, we appreciate the importance of access and equity for all.
We invite an expression of interest to access this support.
3. Going Forward via This Blog.
Through this blog I will continue to share my ambitions for the field of restorative practice and engage appreciatively with practitioners and others who have an emerging interest in the development of the relational work that is not only restorative but also regenerative in terms of human ecology and its relationship to the precarity of the planet.
NED is committed to the evolution of the Restorative Practitioner series and in nurturing projects within the restorative space and this is where I will aim to engage in dialogue which enhances the development of pro-active and change-focussed ideas.