The GBV Restorative Pathways Facilitator Training from Regional Red Deer Restorative Justice is a four-session, eight-hour online program. It prepares restorative practitioners to facilitate trauma-informed, survivor-centred non-contact restorative pathways with people who have experienced gender-based violence. It is grounded in real tools, built for real practice, and designed for practitioners working across contexts.
This program is delivered ONLINE in 4 parts. Please ensure you can attend all four sessions:
The training moves in deliberate sequence, from understanding to application.
Session 1: Understanding Gender-Based Violence
Practitioners develop a clear, nuanced understanding of what gender-based harm is, how it shows up across different survivor experiences, and why restorative practice is needed alongside — and sometimes instead of — other responses. This session covers forms of GBV, the dynamics of power and coercion that underlie it, and how to recognize harm that is often invisible to those not trained to see it.
Session 2: Trauma-Informed Practice
This session builds the foundational skills every restorative facilitator working in GBV contexts must have. Practitioners learn how trauma lives in the body, what fight, flight, freeze, fawn, and flooding responses look like inside a session, and how to apply the six core trauma-informed principles to their facilitation practice. The session draws a clear and honest line around the facilitator role: what it is, and what it is not. Practitioners leave with a grounding technique toolkit they have practised and can offer naturally.
Session 3: The Three Houses Restorative Crossing Model
The Three Houses model is RRDRJ’s structured framework for moving survivors from understanding to action through steady, intentional steps. Practitioners learn the House of Strength, the House of Harm, and the House of Restoration, and all seven steps of the crossing process. Using real case scenarios, they practise walking the model and making sequencing decisions: knowing when to begin with strength, when to begin with harm, and why that choice changes everything.
Session 4: Non-Contact Pathway Tools and Program Integration
The final evening is where everything comes together. Practitioners learn to facilitate all four non-contact pathway tools: journal writing, expressive art, letter writing, and storytelling. They practise choosing the right tool, opening with grounding, using core prompts, monitoring for escalation and drift, and closing sessions in a way that leaves survivors centred. Documentation requirements and follow-up protocols are covered in full.
