Lets Go To Camp
Directly after graduating from the Child and Youth Worker Program in 2007 Nicole Hanlon accepted a position overseeing a school age day care and Summer Camp program. She was asked to ensure quality in the program and address various issues regarding the programming and staff child interactions. Using her advanced training in Restoative Practices she provided training, tools and program enhancements that lead to a number of positive changes as cited by the children, staff, parents and supervisor. These changes included higher porgram involvement. more cooperation and less refusals on the part of the children, satisfaction on the part of the staff and as the supervisor noted "children line-up now."
In addition to training in the core principles of a the restortative philosphy for offering programming and encourgaing positive pro-social behaviours Nicole provided tools to assist staff in their work.
She encouraged staff to develop a set of guidelines WITH the children which were then grahically illustrated and posted in all program areas and rooms. The guide had these points as developed by the children:
1. To Listen to Each Other
2. Be Polite
3. Keep Your Hands Down And To Yourself
4. Respect Each Other
5. NO................... Swearing
In additon other tools were developed and used. These included:
*An emoticon sheet to assist children talking about feelings
*A "Let's Problem-solve" work sheet using the key restorative questions
Can you tell me what happened?
How were you involved?
What were you thinking at the time?
How did you feel when it happened?
What are you thinking now?
How are you feeling now that it’s over?
What can you do to fix this?
What do you need to make it better for you? And
*The Restorative questions placed on small cards to assist staff in responding to incidents throughout the day and program in a non-punitive, restorative way.
In addition to training in the core principles of a the restortative philosphy for offering programming and encourgaing positive pro-social behaviours Nicole provided tools to assist staff in their work.
She encouraged staff to develop a set of guidelines WITH the children which were then grahically illustrated and posted in all program areas and rooms. The guide had these points as developed by the children:
1. To Listen to Each Other
2. Be Polite
3. Keep Your Hands Down And To Yourself
4. Respect Each Other
5. NO................... Swearing
In additon other tools were developed and used. These included:
*An emoticon sheet to assist children talking about feelings
*A "Let's Problem-solve" work sheet using the key restorative questions
Can you tell me what happened?
How were you involved?
What were you thinking at the time?
How did you feel when it happened?
What are you thinking now?
How are you feeling now that it’s over?
What can you do to fix this?
What do you need to make it better for you? And
*The Restorative questions placed on small cards to assist staff in responding to incidents throughout the day and program in a non-punitive, restorative way.