Personal Theology – Restorative Justice: why it matters, Dave Belden and Kevin Skipper, Presenters
01-26-2025
9:30 am - 10:30 am
RESTORATIVE JUSTICE LINKS DOCUMENT
UUCB member, Dave Belden, and his friend and colleague, Kevin Skipper, know clearly that Restorative Justice can be seen as set of practices but it is deeper than that.
Restorative Justice is how WE respond to any harm with healing, instead of neglecting the person harmed or punishing the person responsible.
It’s about taking accountability, making amends, recovering from shame, hate and despair, learning to empathize and sometimes, though this is never required, to forgive.
It’s about how trauma works on us, and how we can begin to heal.
These two men have devoted their lives to helping people who have been harmed and those who have done the harming. And it’s not been easy.
In a world that seems to only want to punish and settle scores but NOT restore accountability or recovery, their work is courageous, disheartening, encouraging and exhausting.
And yes, the work we do at UUCB to help heal our world can often seem overwhelming and unending.
Dave and Kevin will speak to us from their hearts and share how they and we can stay resilient, committed, self-caring and patient as each of us is uniquely called to help heal the world.
See BIOs below.
Bio of David Belden
David Belden gave a Personal Theology talk here last May about his journey from the religious movement he was raised in, to the feminist Left, and then to restorative justice. He barely touched the last topic and people have asked for him to talk about it in more depth. Between 2011, when he trained as a restorative justice facilitator for prison programs, and 2020, he facilitated 16- or 18-month long groups in three men’s prisons, one women’s prison, and two county jails. He is a white middle class English immigrant, so you can only imagine how much he has been taught about life by his fellow facilitators and the participants in their groups, most of them people of color. In recent years with the Ahimsa Collective he has done much work with people convicted of sexual harm. He is currently engaged with his colleague Kevin Skipper in community facilitation outside of the criminal legal system. Communities that learn how to safely facilitate their own conflicts, without bringing in lawyers or law enforcement, are a growing part of restorative justice today.
Bio of Kevin Skipper
Kevin Skipper served the Ahimsa Collective as a facilitator for the Victim Offender Dialogue (VOD) program. He previously served as a volunteer facilitator for the Victim Offender Education Group (VOEG) @ San Quentin State Prison with the Insight Prison Project (IPP). He currently serves as a professional facilitator and mediator with the Conflict Intervention Service (CIS) on behalf of the San Francisco Bar Association in the support of transforming community organizations via restorative practices. Kevin combines his 30+ years of financial services consultation and 20+ years as a real estate broker as a platform for addressing historical harm and creating a pathway to equity and social justice within housing. A California native and lifelong Bay Area resident, he understands the connection between acknowledging harm, creating accountability, and setting the stage for equity inclusion and collaboration as a basis for building strong healing communities. He is a father of three and grandfather to 4 grandchildren. He loves yoga, good food, and exceptional conversation.
