Restorative Practice Specialist

Nexus Family Healing•Austin, MN

2d•Onsite

About The Position

Nexus Family Healing is looking to add a Restorative Practice Specialist to our team at New Dominion School, our on-campus school in Austin, MN! Our Restorative Practice Specialist will work to empower students through social and emotional growth within the school setting to contribute to positive outcomes and brighter futures!! At Nexus Family Healing, we embrace diversity, promote equity, and foster inclusion. As a national mental health organization, we serve a diverse group of youth and families, and we strive for our workforce to support and represent that diversity. Position Summary: The Restorative Practice Specialist will develop a school-based restorative strategy that refocuses student behavior from disruption to self-reflection. The Restorative Practice Specialist will work to refocus student behavior by turning discipline into learning; providing students with opportunities to grow from their behavioral opportunities. This role will work to empower students through social and emotional growth, while meeting the goals of the Empowering Restorative Engagement Model (ERE Model). This position, develops, aligns, and delivers trauma informed care support, to ensure students in school, are able to engage in rigorous learning, and have a stable educational environment.

Requirements

High School Diploma with Paraprofessional Licensure Required.
Minimum of 1+ year experience in an educational setting that required behavioral based trauma informed care.
Valid driver’s license required.
Must meet state regulating agency and Home Office driving requirements.
Must have the ability to build strong relationships with diverse individuals or communities and understand their unique needs and challenges.
Must be open to meeting the cultural needs of individuals or communities, considering factors such as language, traditions, and values.
Must successfully pass a MN criminal background check.
Successfully participate and complete a two-day Handle with Care exam and training.

Nice To Haves

2+ years’ experience in an educational or residential setting requiring behavioral based trauma informed care.
2+ years’ experience in a setting with restorative justice practices.
2+ years’ experience working with middle school and/or high school students.

Responsibilities

In collaboration with the Administrative Team, develops restorative strategies, practices, and processes; creates supporting tools and resources to consistently apply and document restorative practices with students.
Builds trust, rapport, and credibility with school staff by providing tools, training and education pertaining to restorative practices; demonstrates the positive impact and benefits of a restorative and refocused approach.
Assesses restorative referral forms submitted by school staff/behavioral interventionists; asks follow-up questions relating to attempted tier one and two interventions and prepares for student refocused time.
Assesses student mood, body language and ‘pulse’, to determine if intervention and refocus time is needed.
Evaluates the emotional state of each student that enters the restorative room; determines the needs of each student upon arrival and greets students to ensure they feel safe, invited, and welcomed.
Creates a restorative room, environment and space that fosters patience, trust and is free from judgement.
Collaborates and communicates with school staff to identify and transition students to the restorative setting/room; begins refocused activities, mediation, and return to learning.
Leverages restorative activities and training combined with a trauma informed care approach, to facilitate and council students on behavioral self-reflection; asks open ended questions to help student process behavior.
Acts as a liaison between student and school staff; identifies how escalation occurred and discusses how to prevent future classroom disruption; provides school staff with an alternate location to send disruptive students.
Mediates discussion between student and staff; uses restorative techniques, allowing the student and staff to acknowledge choices individual choices, create a development plan and mitigate future disruption.
Fosters balance and accountability by creating safe space with students; holds students accountable to their actions while continuing to focus on the greater picture of supporting social and emotional development.
Guides students to finds ways to improve behavior while instilling and solidifying positive interactions with trusted adults.
Works with students to complete reflection forms; guides students in identifying, understanding, and learning from disruptive behavior tied to intolerance, bullying, aggression, disrespect, truancy, and anger.
Maintains a strengths-based and trauma-informed care approach when working with school staff; infuses and applies restorative practices in classrooms by providing school staff with tools and information.
Responds to school-based behavior referrals to assist in determining appropriate restorative responses; follows up on restorative processes and ensures that all agreements among stakeholders are upheld.
Provides training and assistance to support the implementation of restorative practices in the school; provides school-based support for Restorative Circles, conferences, and meetings.
Develops training modules addressing restorative practices for school-based and non-school based staff; provides resources, allowing restorative practices to thrive at GPS/ EDS beyond the restorative room.
Analyzes and leverages data to identify and deliver school-specific targeted technical assistance and coaching, to build the capacity of school staff in: (a) implementation of the GPS/EDS student handbook & ERE Handbook and, (b) strategies/interventions to support student behavior and promote positive climate.
Supports the effective implementation of trauma informed care and restorative based disciplinary process.
Creates timelines for each restorative initiative; assesses and tracks project progress regularly, using various computer programs and tools while driving project completion and holding others accountable.
Collaborates with colleagues and management teams to determine opportunities for improvement; researches specific issues and develops detailed recommendations and implementation plans to resolve.
Advances the analysis, presentation, and progress of data-driven initiatives for school team and external audiences; communicates restorative program progress through data, to key groups and stakeholders.
Assigns interactive and relevant professional development to school staff designed to increase their knowledge and skills, in developing academic, social, and emotional support for students.