Restorative Training, Consulting, & Program Design for
RJI works with community justice organizations, police departments, youth diversion programs, reentry and reintegration programs, and community outreach initiatives to strengthen restorative practice, conflict transformation, community engagement, and program effectiveness.
Through consulting, training, facilitation, and program-design support, we help organizations develop thoughtful, trauma-informed, practical approaches that reflect the needs of their staff, participants, partners, and communities.
Whether you are developing a new initiative, strengthening an existing program, preparing staff for community-facing work, or navigating challenges involving trust and collaboration, we can help you clarify your goals and build the capacity to move forward.
We help departments strengthen restorative knowledge, communication, leadership, community engagement, and conflict readiness. Support may include experiential staff training, train-the-trainer development, community dialogue, organizational assessment, and consultation on initiatives designed to strengthen trust and collaboration.
We prepare SROs, community officers, youth officers, and their school and community partners to build relationships, navigate conflict, and respond more restoratively when young people experience challenges. Our trainings can strengthen communication, de-escalation, trauma-responsive engagement, restorative decision-making, and collaboration among officers, educators, families, and youth-serving organizations.
We advise organizations developing or strengthening youth diversion and community justice initiatives. We can support program design, staff and facilitator training, restorative frameworks, participant-readiness practices, community partnerships, and approaches to accountability, repair, and reintegration.
RJI currently provides training, consultation, and capacity-building rather than direct diversion case management.
We advise organizations supporting people returning from incarceration, navigating community supervision, or rebuilding stability in the community. Our role may include restorative program design, staff and facilitator training, peer-support approaches, cross-system partnerships, and practices that support accountability, dignity, and successful reintegration.
RJI currently provides consulting, training, facilitation, and capacity-building. We do not provide direct services to incarcerated or formerly incarcerated individuals at this time.
We help municipalities develop coordinated, community-centered approaches to conflict, public safety, and civic engagement. Support may include training for municipal staff and community-facing personnel, facilitated planning, community listening processes, restorative program design, and consultation for mayors, city managers, human-relations offices, public-safety leaders, and other local officials.
We work with prosecutors’ offices, county attorneys, probation departments, and other justice-system partners interested in developing or strengthening restorative and diversion pathways. Our role may include restorative-practice education, program advising, staff and partner training, referral-pathway development, stakeholder engagement, and consultation on ethical, voluntary, and community-centered program structures. This does not currently include court services or direct case facilitation.
We support community-relations teams, police advisory boards, civilian oversight bodies, human-rights commissions, neighborhood leaders, and community organizations seeking more constructive ways to engage across conflict and difference. Services may include community-listening sessions, police-community dialogue, circle process, facilitated planning, trust-building initiatives, and training for those responsible for convening difficult conversations.
Organizations may reach out when they are:
Community engagement specialist, mediator, and restorative justice practitioner with over 15 years of experience cultivating trusted relationships across government, education, and community sectors to improve public safety and strengthen neighborhood partnerships.
Tisha N. Carter-Smith is a dedicated community engagement and restorative justice professional with over 15 years of experience cultivating trusted relationships across government, education, and community sectors to improve public safety and strengthen neighborhood partnerships. As the former Community Impact and Relations Liaison for the City of Des Moines, Tisha led the design and implementation of the city’s Community Mediation Program, utilizing restorative practices to foster community trust and resolve conflict. Her extensive work with public safety agencies includes developing and delivering implicit bias training for the Des Moines Police Department and spearheading research-based recommendations to advance equitable policing and community-centered service delivery.1
Tisha’s consulting expertise is supported by advanced credentials in law enforcement equity and conflict resolution, including a Graduate Certificate in DEI in Law Enforcement from Widener University, a Certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution from George Mason University, and an Executive Certificate in Diversity & Inclusion from Cornell University. By integrating these specialized qualifications with deep experience in trauma-informed engagement and cross-sector collaboration, Tisha offers a comprehensive approach to training and consulting that prioritizes dignity, accountability, and the meaningful repair of harm within the restorative justice field.
Mediator, facilitator, civil rights and conflict management specialist, restorative justice practitioner, Former Conciliation Specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service (CRS)
Clay Fong most recently served as a Conciliation Specialist with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Relations Service, where he mediated and facilitated community conflicts involving civil rights and hate crimes and delivered related training across the United States. He also served as a lead trainer for local and federal law enforcement agencies on how to effectively collaborate with diverse communities. Alongside his colleagues serving on CRS’s 2024 Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention Deployment Team, he was a recipient of the Attorney General’s Award for Outstanding External Contributions, recognizing that team’s work with law enforcement to provide on-the-ground conflict resolution at those events.
Clay’s work has included leading sessions on event marshaling and contingency planning for public demonstrations, advising stakeholders on conflict management, and helping design effective resolution processes in situations involving significant power imbalances, including interactions between communities and law enforcement. He also contributed to an agency working group developing restorative justice strategies for inclusion in the agency’s conflict-resolution toolkit.
Previously, Clay managed the City of Boulder’s Office of Human Rights and Community Relations, where he supervised the investigation and resolution of alleged violations of Boulder’s Human Rights Ordinance, including discrimination based on race, gender, and national origin. He developed mediation strategies for staff and coached parties in expressing their interests across cultural and linguistic differences. Recognizing that the effects of discrimination often extend beyond transactional remedies, he incorporated restorative justice principles to support relational understanding and resolution.
For more than a decade, Clay also led Boulder’s Community Mediation Service, overseeing a team of staff and volunteer mediators and advising thousands of community members on their rights and conflict-resolution options. He was responsible for integrating the city’s mediation and restorative justice programs into a unified structure, recruiting and training restorative justice facilitators and community volunteers, and resolving complex cases. His work also incorporated motivational interviewing and rites-of-passage practices into restorative processes.
Restorative justice facilitator, trainer, circle keeper, and community catalyst building partnerships to promote inclusivity and engagement between law enforcement and local communities.
Addison Simms earned a Master of Arts in Restorative Justice from Vermont Law and Graduate School in 2024. He began working as a restorative justice facilitator with the Center for Children’s Rights in 2021 and has since facilitated circles in a wide range of settings, including after-school programs, detention centers, NICU parent groups, and prosecution teams. He has also contributed to initiatives to strengthen engagement, communication, and collaboration between law enforcement and local communities.
Addison’s work includes mediating community conferences involving children under school threat review and adolescents affected by cycles of community violence, including young people from rival groups. He currently serves as a project director, providing restorative-practice training and support to colleagues, and demonstrating restorative justice practices within the University of North Florida’s School of Social Work.
Addison Simms earned a Master of Arts in Restorative Justice from Vermont Law and Graduate School in 2024. He began working as a restorative justice facilitator with the Center for Children’s Rights in 2021 and has since facilitated circles in a wide range of settings, including after-school programs, detention centers, NICU parent groups, and prosecution teams. He has also contributed to initiatives to strengthen engagement, communication, and collaboration between law enforcement and local communities.
Addison’s work includes mediating community conferences involving children under school threat review and adolescents affected by cycles of community violence, including young people from rival groups. He currently serves as a project director, providing restorative-practice training and support to colleagues, and demonstrating restorative justice practices within the University of North Florida’s School of Social Work.
Conflict resolution and dispute resolution professional with over 20 years of experience supporting individuals and communities across education, law enforcement, courts, and community-based organizations.
Kate Miller is a conflict resolution and dispute resolution professional with over 20 years of experience supporting individuals and communities across education, law enforcement, courts, and community-based organizations. A Certified Anger Management Specialist, Court Certified Domestic Violence Provider, and Victim Advocate, Kate brings a thoughtful and compassionate approach to mediation, crisis intervention, and trauma-informed care. She holds a MA in Dispute Resolution and a BA in Counseling.
Throughout her career, Kate has been deeply committed to the principles of restorative justice, consistently integrating these practices to foster accountability, healing, and meaningful dialogue. She is passionate about helping people navigate complex conflicts—whether interpersonal or systemic—and has extensive experience working within multi-agency environments.
Kate’s work focuses on building collaborative, practical solutions that prioritize safety, accountability, and opportunities for genuine restoration and long-term positive outcomes.
Consultant specializing in mental health and justice-involved peer support, including diversion and reentry; restorative practitioner and program director with extensive experience working across law enforcement, incarceration, and community-based support systems.
Katie Bourque brings more than a decade of experience in healing-centered and restorative justice work, including ten years managing innovative community programs. Her career has focused extensively on supporting incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people through prison-based groups, reentry services, transitional housing, halfway-house programming, and Housing First initiatives.
At Pathways Vermont, Katie has served in a director role overseeing multiple programs, including the statewide Housing First team and the development of a Forensic Assertive Community Treatment program. She regularly facilitates groups and meetings, provides staff training, and serves as faculty for Yale University’s LET(S) Lead program. She also consults internationally on mental health and forensic peer support and recently served on a state-appointed committee for the Vermont Judiciary Commission on Mental Health and the Courts.
Katie’s work is also informed by lived experience of parental incarceration, which has deeply shaped her commitment to dignity, healing, and systems change.
Certified Professional Mediator, facilitator, and restorative justice practitioner with extensive experience in victim–offender mediation, community corrections, juvenile and adult justice settings, restorative sentencing processes, and group-based accountability and behavior-change programs.
Teri Crowther, MS, CPM, is a Certified Professional Mediator, facilitator, trainer, and restorative justice practitioner with extensive experience in victim–offender mediation, conflict resolution, community corrections, and justice-involved settings. Her work centers on creating structured processes for accountability, dialogue, behavior change, and repair.
Teri previously served as Education Coordinator and Facilitator with Lemhi County Probation, where she worked with both adult and juvenile populations and facilitated group programs focused on accountability, decision-making, behavioral change, and community impact. She collaborated with probation officers and multidisciplinary teams in support of rehabilitation and case-planning goals. Her restorative justice experience also includes victim–offender mediation and working across justice-system roles to develop constructive, restorative approaches to accountability.
Beyond the justice system, Teri brings two decades of experience in behavioral education and community-based support. As an independent contractor with the State of Idaho, she designed and delivered individualized behavior education, taught emotional regulation and adaptive skills, and trained and mentored community support staff. She is also the co-founder of Lighted Pathways, a mentoring-based nonprofit focused on education, accountability, problem-solving, and mutual support for people navigating legal and personal challenges.
Teri holds a Master of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Science in Legal Studies and has served as President and Vice President of the Idaho Mediation Association. Her approach brings together restorative practice, mediation, adult education, de-escalation, and a deep commitment to meaningful dialogue, accountability, and repair.
Strengthen Communication, Negotiation & De-escalation
We help officers and community-facing professionals communicate effectively under pressure, recognize escalation, and respond in ways that preserve safety, dignity, and choice.
Develop Restorative Responses to Conflict & Harm
We help organizations expand their options for responding when conflict, negative impact, or community rupture has occurred.
Build Engagement & Dialogue between Law Enforcement & Local Communities
We help departments and community partners create meaningful opportunities for relationship-building, listening, dialogue, and shared problem-solving.
Strengthen Youth Engagement & Diversion Pathways
We support departments, SROs, youth programs, and community partners seeking more developmentally responsive approaches to youth conflict and accountability.
Build Internal Conflict Capacity & Restorative Leadership
We help leaders and teams strengthen their ability to address internal tension, guide organizational change, and model restorative practice consistently.
Design & Strengthen Diversion, Reentry & Community Justice Programs
We advise agencies and community partners developing new restorative initiatives or strengthening programs already underway.
Training & Professional Development
Practical, experiential learning for officers, supervisors, program staff, municipal leaders, and community partners. Participants build skills in restorative practice, conflict transformation, de-escalation, trauma-responsive communication, accountability, circle process, and community engagement.
Train-the-Trainer & Facilitator Development
We prepare internal trainers and facilitators to lead restorative learning and dialogue within their own agencies, programs, and communities. Support may include facilitation practice, curriculum adaptation, coaching, feedback, and implementation guidance.
Consulting & Program Design
Strategic support for agencies and community justice organizations developing or strengthening restorative initiatives, such as diversion, re-entry, and community support. We help assess readiness, design programs and processes, engage stakeholders, establish safeguards, and create practical implementation plans.
Facilitation & Community Dialogue
We design and facilitate police-community dialogues, listening sessions, staff conversations, strategic planning, cross-agency meetings, and community circles. These structured processes support honest conversation, relationship-building, shared understanding, and clearer next steps.
Coaching & Implementation Support
Confidential support for chiefs, supervisors, program directors, trainers, facilitators, and community leaders carrying restorative work forward. Coaching helps leaders navigate resistance, prepare for difficult conversations, strengthen their practice, and address implementation challenges.
Restorative Mediation
Structured support for appropriate internal, interagency, and community-partner conflicts. Restorative mediation helps participants understand impacts, clarify responsibilities and boundaries, and explore workable agreements or possibilities for repair.
Strong community justice and public-safety initiatives require more than a promising model. They need clear purpose, skilled staff, thoughtful safeguards, strong partnerships, and practices that can be sustained over time.
You don’t need to have it all figured out. Tell us what you are building, strengthening, or trying to understand. We can help you identify a practical next step.
