The Restorative Approaches (RA) Collaborative is comprised of Vermont trainers, researchers, Community Justice Center (CJC) staff, and school educators and leaders. Membership in this collaborative is based on a deep commitment to the development of the restorative approach in Vermont schools, not on any specific criteria related to experience as a restorative approach trainer in schools.
Some members have worked in a wide range of schools throughout Vermont and beyond while others bring expertise from restorative justice work to their community justice centers. Many have experience in both community and school-level restorative justice work.
Therefore it is important each school does its own research before contacting a collaborative member. You can start that work by searching this directory and reading the profiles.
Lisa Bedinger
Co-Director and Co-Founder Starling CollaborativeBiography
Being an educator today requires a much broader and deeper set of skills, knowledge, and capacity than most teacher and leader preparation programs offer. With increasing rates of mental health issues and challenging behaviors, alongside the imperative to create more equitable schools and classrooms, educators often feel overwhelmed and underprepared. Starling Collaborative was founded in response to this need for a more holistic approach to supporting teachers, staff, and school leaders in all the ways that are now so needed: mindfulness, trauma-informed and restorative practices, diversity equity inclusion (DEI), social-emotional learning, and youth voice.
Lisa Bedinger brings a restorative philosophy and practices to how schools operate in order to build an inclusive, vibrant, and authentic culture and climate. Her work helps create the conditions for both students and educators to not only flourish when things are going well, but work together towards solutions when things get hard. She is our go to person when there has been harm or conflict, particularly when the harm involves identity such as racial harm. She provides a strong, dependable compass as schools and districts travel towards creating more restorative, equitable and trauma-informed schools.
Lisa’s work is founded in a master’s degree in mediation and applied conflict studies and over 30 years of experience in teaching classes, support groups, and workshops on identity, culture, and their impact upon relationships and opportunity. Inspiring her work is her passion for dialogues on equity issues that aim to repair relationships across lines of difference. Previously, she worked as the Director of the South Burlington Community Justice Center and lead consultant for the Burlington Schools District’s restorative practice implementation efforts. In addition, she has taught classes in restorative justice at Vermont Law School’s Masters in Restorative Justice program and has facilitated hundreds of trainings across the state. She believes that the wisdom and creativity needed to address the important and challenging issues we face in our schools and communities increases when the diversity of voices at the table increases.
PO Box 4298 Burlington Vermont 05406