WEBINAR: Using Conflict Coaching to Strengthen Restorative Practices
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About the webinar
Restorative justice (RJ) convenors spend much of their time in pre-conference conversations, where participants’ readiness, emotional capacity, and understanding of the process are shaped. Research and practitioner experience show that this preparatory work can be just as important as the conference itself in creating a safe environment and meaningful outcomes.
Conflict coaching offers structured, practical tools that help convenors conduct these one-on-one meetings with greater clarity and confidence. In this webinar, Dr Judith Rafferty and Richard Dening explore how selected techniques from the REAL Conflict Coaching System can be ethically and effectively integrated into restorative justice preparation. Rather than turning RJ practitioners into coaches, the session examines how specific coaching micro-skills can support convenors deepen engagement with parties, strengthen responsibility-taking of persons responsible, and enhance emotional safety while remaining firmly grounded in restorative values.
Participants will learn practical tools to assess and strengthen the three dimensions of readiness for meaningful participation in JR: orientation, emotion, and knowledge.
Although this webinar focuses on restorative practice, the preparatory challenges it addresses are familiar across other conflict resolution processes. Supporting people to reflect on harm, take responsibility, manage strong emotion, and prepare for constructive dialogue is also central to mediation and other facilitated conversations.
What you’ll learn
- Why high-quality preparation is foundational to effective restorative processes
- How conflict coaching principles strengthen restorative preparation — and what this reveals about effective conflict work more broadly
- Distinct preparation strategies for people harmed, people responsible, and support people
- Techniques for helping participants clarify goals, explore their narratives safely, and prepare for challenging dialogue
- Practical approaches for working with shame, defensiveness, fear, and emotional overwhelm
- How to assess and strengthen readiness across domains of orientation, emotion, and knowledge
- Ethical considerations and role boundaries when integrating coaching tools into restorative practice
Who should attend
- Facilitators in restorative practice (particularly, restorative justice convenors)Mediators looking to expand their skill set
- Conflict coaches, mediators, and other ADR practitioners
- HR and workplace professionals
- Community justice and social services workers
- Conflict professionals interested in deepening their approach to preparation and responsibility-taking conversations
- Anyone interested in the intersection of conflict, accountability, and meaningful repair
About your trainers
Dr Judith Rafferty is a conflict resolution specialist, and educator with over 15 years’ experience in conflict resolution practice, training and research. She is a Senior Trainer and Coach Mentor at the Conflict Management Academy and an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Cairns Institute, James Cook University.
Judith is a nationally accredited mediator (NMAS) and a conflict coach accredited with Conflict Coaching International, with additional training in group facilitation and restorative justice conferencing. Her current work focuses on how structured reflective practices strengthen professional judgment and support ethical conflict engagement.
Her PhD examined justice for victim-survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Rwanda’s post-genocide gacaca courts, deepening her expertise at the intersection of justice, harm, and healing. She has also worked internationally, including training village chiefs in conflict resolution in the Central African Republic.
Richard Dening is a mediator, conflict coach, and restorative practice practitioner with over a decade of experience in government and community settings. An accredited mediator since 2012, he has held senior leadership roles including Senior Director of the Restorative Justice Unit in the ACT and Manager of the Queensland Adult Restorative Justice Service.
Training in the REAL Conflict Coaching System significantly shaped his approach to mediation and restorative preparation, particularly in emotionally complex and accountability-focused matters.
Richard is currently completing a PhD at the Centre for Restorative Justice at the Australian National University, examining the skills required for effective restorative conferencing and how training can support institutional change. Conversations with Dr Judith Rafferty about integrating conflict coaching and restorative practice led to a joint publication in the Australasian Dispute Resolution Journal and the development of this webinar.