The Mint House

Building bridges through restorative practice
 
The Mint House was formed from a collaboration involving academics, practitioners, faith groups and others.  
 
- We exist to grow use of restorative practices to resolve conflict and promote reconciliation. 

- Our vision is that restorative approaches permeate all aspects of how people relate to one another, being seen as ‘how we do things round here.’ 

- We work to promote their wider use through open access events, creative communications, training and support, network-building and community initiatives, linking up research and practice. 

- We believe that restorative approaches can change lives and transform society, helping us feel better connected to each other, disagree well and repair the damage caused by crime and conflict.  This is more important than ever at a time when relationships in all areas of society are under pressure and when lives risk being cramped by unresolved conflicts fuelling fear, distrust and isolation.
 

Interest in restorative practice has been growing in recent years, extending beyond criminal justice to sectors including health, education, housing and social care and with ambitions to develop restorative cities.  Restorative values and behaviours have, though, proved challenging to embed, making them vulnerable to short-term shocks or changes in leadership and/or seen as marginal to how communities and organisations operate.   
 
Our ‘Building bridges’ project will bring together restorative practitioners, academics and leaders from across sectors and specialists in areas such as culture change, organisational development and community engagement in a series of ‘research and practice dialogues’ during which participants will explore the challenges and creative opportunities for embedding restorative practice. The first two dialogues will focus on embedding restorative practice through organisational culture change, leadership, systems change and organisational design. A second set of dialogues will explore what’s involved in embedding restorative practice in communities and the role within this of intermediary organisations, including faith-based organisations.  The project will conclude with an online open-access event to share learning, inspire action and build new partnerships.

The dialogues themselves will build bridges across research and practice and (we hope) foster new collaborations across sectors and specialisms. Through them we aim to co-create accessible tools and resources that can be widely used to embed restorative practice, laying firm foundations for better connected communities marked by respect, understanding and inclusion.