RJ and Mediation

by Sabrina Sherman

Published: September 15, 2025

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As an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) center, RSCCM is uniquely positioned to foster resolution through a variety of methods. From helping the youth find ways to manage emotions to reconciling debts between neighbors, conflict resolution supports people in every circumstance. Each piece in the resolution process is a stepping stone toward building a more peaceful community.  The center has two departments Restorative Justice (RJ) and Mediation both of which handle issues and help achieve productive dialogue toward positive change. 

 

Restorative justice is a process for resolving conflicts with a focus on building relationships and repairing harm. RJ centers the communities who have been affected by the conflict and ensures that those communities are able to give voice to their concerns. This includes supporting individuals through issues ranging from the systemic to the familial. 

 

Similarly, mediation is a facilitated conversation that brings parties together to resolve a conflict, typically concerning legal matters or matters of dispute. Because of the more formal context, mediation tends to regard the restoring of relationships as a secondary matter, the primary focus being communication toward an agreement. 

 

Although at RSCCM they often take place in different contexts, RJ at the schools, and mediation as an alternative to courts, both take a holistic approach to the individual.  Because of their differing relationships to the courts and schools, RJ and mediation both impact the community in different ways.
 

RJ emphasizes reparative work towards building harmony through reconnection. An RJ facilitator might mediate a concern by neutrally weighing each party’s contributions to the conversation, but ultimately the goal of RJ is to reunify families and understand the emotions at the heart of conflict. The parties of a mediation often end the session without the deep connections emblematic of RJ. The time constraints and formal legal context often mean that emotions are not as important, though many mediations make space for people to be heard and to hear one another. 

 

Although mediation takes place as an alternative to courts and restorative justice (RJ) RSCCM often considers how our restorative justice and mediation programs work together and how our frameworks center clients. Whether settling an agreement or facilitating a conversation about an issue, both RJ and mediation meet people where they are and consider their circumstances throughout the process. RJ frameworks approach the whole person in considering why a problem has arisen. Mediation seeks to resolve similar problems by bringing people together to engage in an open dialogue about certain issues. Both use dialogue to build connection and find common ground.

 

Mediation is all about self-determination, and the willingness to come to an agreement despite having to compromise and accept agreements with partial wins. Both methods center relationship-building and the connections forged between participants, so that the conversation continues beyond the meeting room into real life.