Mint House update 

 Friends may welcome news of what’s happening at the Mint House – the Centre for Restorative Practice that the church helped create five years ago and in which we are still very active. (The centre has also benefited greatly from financial contributions from the church and the Charlton Fund. Myra, Jon and Rosie are also trustees, along with five others from varied backgrounds.) Here are the headlines!
Supporting the county’s children’s workforce: In 2019 the Mint House won a contract to support wider use of restorative practice across Oxfordshire’s children’s workforce (teachers, social workers, mental health workers and others). This work continues to develop. We host monthly reflection sessions where children and families’ workers explore what it means to work restoratively (summed up as working ‘with’ children or families, not doing things ‘to’ or ‘for’ them.) Since January this year we’ve also been running the staff training programme and helping grow a team of in-house trainers.
Growing a network of restorative champions: We used to host lunchtime network sessions in the actual Mint House, bread and soup provided.  Zoom has been transformative! Helped no end by the appointment in January of a part-time communications officer (Joy Bettles) we’ve gone from running ‘in person’ events for a dozen or so people to online events that people join from round the world. A session in April on Restorative justice in cases of sexual violence attracted over 500 sign-ups along with requests for follow-up sessions, now scheduled for September and October. This autumn will also see sessions on Restorative Prisons, Restorative Policing and Restorative Justice and the Climate Crisis.
Restorative practice in higher education: a task group including current and recent students is working on promoting restorative practice in University settings, initially through taster training for student leaders and staff and through ‘conversation cards’ to help freshers get to know each other better. (Thanks to New Road students for their input on these!) We’re also active members of a new Restorative Practice in Higher Education network. Co-ordinated by Warwick University, this brings together a growing band of HE institutions committed to expanding restorative approaches. We hope there will be power in numbers!
Research: we’ve a couple of research proposals under discussion with potential collaborators. One is a scoping study looking at restorative practice in higher education. The other involves action research on how restorative approaches can help reduce school exclusions while also reducing racial disparities in school exclusions.
Restorative practice in faith communities: Oxfordshire’s High Sheriff (Imam Monawar) has appointed a circle of 7 chaplains from a variety of faiths for his year in office. At his suggestion we plan to host a tea and coffee event with Imam Monawar and all the chaplains in the early autumn where we can talk together about peace building and interfaith work in Oxford/Oxfordshire.
There’s lots more to say but space precludes it! Suffice to say that Joy’s arrival has really helped a lot of things take off. Please continue to pray for the Mint House – that we’ll make progress on our journey to being sustainable long-term and sow seeds that make conflict less likely or (where it does occur) help repair the harms that those affected suffer.