Staff

Kathy Durgin-Leighton - Executive Director
kathy@rjpmidcoast.org

Kathy joined the Restorative Justice Project Maine in February 2020 and brings to RJP Maine a vast experience in organizational management and leadership in both the public and non-profit sectors. A collaborative and strategic leader with a strong commitment to social justice and gender and race equity, Kathy has successfully led organizations through transformative times resulting in organizational growth and sustainability. Kathy is a strategic and creative thinker and approaches every situation with an attitude to succeed along with a good sense of humor. Kathy is a native Mainer, and resides in Georgetown with her husband, Dick, and their lab Casco. When she's not leading the charge, Kathy is hiking with Casco or sailing with her husband.

Sarah Mattox - Program Manager, Community Resolution Programs
Sarah@rjpmidcoast.org

Sarah joined the RJP Maine team in 2011. Previously, she spent a decade leading summertime canoe tips and wintertime dogsled and cross-country ski expeditions in the Boundary Waters, out of Voyageur Outward Bound School in Minnesota. Sarah became the Associate Program Director and Staffing Manager there, where she focused on working with at-risk youth. Sarah was the founding faculty member at The Woolman Semester, a school program for high school juniors and seniors focused on Peace, Justice and Sustainability, based in Nevada City, California. When not working or rambling, Sarah can be found tromping in the woods in any season alongside her dedicated quadruped companion, Lucky.

Tim O'Donnell - Office and Finance Coordinator
Tim@rjpmidcoast.org

Tim has been working for RJP Maine for the past seven years as the Office and Finance Coordinator. Tim brings a wealth of experience to the table. He previously worked for 33 years with a hotel management company that granted him the expertise to lead RJP Maine to success. Tim is a native “Mainer” born and raised in Bangor. He currently resides in Searsport with his wife, Jewel, to whom he has been fondly married for 30-plus years. In his free time, he enjoys listening to ‘60s and ‘70s music.

Louise Marks - Restorative Practices Coordinator, Maine Coast Regional Reentry Center
louise@rjpmidcoast.org

As a freshman at Bates College, Louise had the opportunity to take a course on Mediation and Restorative Justice, experiencing for the first time the profoundness of being in circle. Little did she know that this class and the instructors, Barbara Blazej and Margaret Micolichek, would end up shaping the rest of her time at school and bolstering her decision to move to Belfast afterwards to pursue more learning about restorative work. Since beginning her internship at the Restorative Justice Project Maine in June, and more recently having the opportunity to work at the Reentry Center, Louise has felt immensely grateful to be surrounded by people that challenge her. The depth of humor, passion, and authenticity among Reentry residents, RJP Maine volunteers, and fellow staff make Louise feel alive! She didn’t expect to come here and build such a home, and she still finds it hard to believe that her job includes facilitating improv nights, snowshoe outings and circles, and then also being in staff meetings with Margaret, her first RJ teacher.

 Karin Wittmann - Program Manager, Waldo County
Karin@rjpmidcoast.org

Karin comes to the Restorative Justice Project Maine with a teaching / learning background. She has a passion for restorative practices, group facilitation, permaculture, and education. Occasionally, she still teaches in Iceland for the Center for Ecological Living and Learning. Karin has been teaching experiential education programs with both university students and community members for over 20 years and has traveled extensively across North America teaching about wilderness, sustainability and community. Turning her focus to restorative justice in her home community is a natural fit. She is a Registered Maine Guide and is on the board for the Belfast Bay Watershed Coalition, a local education and trails organization.

Margaret Micolichek - Senior Program Manager
Margaret@rjpmidcoast.org

Margaret works with the Restorative Justice Initiative at Long Creek Youth Development Center. The initiative is focuses on supporting youth to have a greater understanding of the impact of the harm they have caused, supporting their transition back to community and training staff and youth to utilize restorative processes to build community and resolve conflict.
Additionally, Margaret works with whole school implementation of restorative practices including RSU 13, Rockland and Bucksport Middle School, and as a trainer and coach with a RAND Corporation research grant. She is also a member of the Restorative Practices Collaborative of Maine a statewide collective of trainers offering workshops and support to schools throughout Maine.
Margaret was awarded a Rotary International Peace Fellowship in 2014 to study Conflict Resolution and Peace at Chulalonghorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. The fellowship provided the opportunity to connect her work with restorative justice to the global peace movement.
Margaret holds a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Masters in Public Administration from Cambridge College, Cambridge, MA. She lives in Belfast where she enjoys family, friends, birding, gardening, and the outdoors!

Sarah Matari - Director of Training and Capacity Building
smatari@rjpmidcoast.org

Sarah came to Restorative Justice work with hopes of empowering community members, organizations and institutions to address conflict holistically through restorative interventions and proactive community building. Sarah focuses on training and implementation strategy at RJP Maine, having provided restorative justice and mediation services to New York City based institutions and communities in the past, such as the New York State Unified Court System, Family Court, Community Dispute Resolution Centers, and the Department of Education. Most recently, Sarah assisted the NYC Department of Education to create a Restorative Justice Pilot Project. The Pilot created and tested best practices in select schools to better implement Restorative Practices in all NYC public schools. Her ground work in select Pilot schools consisted of delivering mediation and Restorative Practices trainings to staff and students as well as directly facilitating Restorative interventions to repair harm done in the community. She continues to work towards partnering with any institution, organization, or school interested in building up their restorative culture and conflict resolution skills. Sarah began conflict resolution work at Smith College, and went onto Fordham Law School to advocate for children's rights. Her passion for helping communities to establish a culture of belonging and safety for all of its young people drives her work. When Sarah is not at RJP Maine, she is either cooking, doing yoga, swimming or dancing.

Leslie Ross- Hancock County Case Coordinator
leslie@rjpmidcoast.org

Having inherited, from her familial elders, strong visions of the possibility of a just world and just communities, with inclusion, compassion and dialogue, Leslie was deeply engaged with NYC's Community Gardens for decades before moving to Maine, and within a few months of her arrival here, enthused and excited about the Restorative Justice Project, found herself working first as mentor, then facilitator and now also as Hancock County's Case Coordinator. She is also fortunate to work alongside the inspiring and dedicated board members of Downeast Restorative Justice. When not working with RJP and DRJ, Leslie parcels the rest of her time (in typical Maine fashion) among playing and composing music, building bassoons and teaching, supervising her local small water system, gardening, knitting, tending chickens, and hosting residency, sound installation and performance programs at the Cannery @ South Penobscot.

Jenna Golub- Communications Coordinator
jenna@rjpmidcoast.org

Jenna joined RJP Maine in September 2018, after several years home with her three young children, August, Willa and Indy. Previously, she spent time working in account management and teaching, as well as volunteering in grant writing, research and editing, and she holds a B.A. in Liberal Arts, minoring in Behavioral Sciences and History. Jenna is a bubbly people person and she adores her mid-coast community, most especially the RJP Maine volunteers and residents of the Maine Coast Regional Reentry Center, all of whom she's fortunate to spend time with as she collects stories and snaps photos for the RJP Maine blog and media. When she's not hopping around town for a story, circle or meeting, Jenna can be found in the woods, at the beach with her kids, watching old episodes of Antiques Roadshow or traveling with her sweetheart, Erik.

Leigh Anne Keichline- Lincoln & Sagadahoc Case Coordinator
lkeichline@rjpmidcoast.org

Leigh Anne has a background of two decades of education work with both children and adults. She has studied, worked with, and taught in widely diverse school settings in Ohio, Virginia, New York, and other New England states in addition to Maine. For over a decade, she has tutored adults from around the world in English fluency work. As a trained National SEED Project leader, Leigh Anne has led seminars for educators in equity and diversity. Her interest in restorative justice is rooted in community relationships, in the potential to evolve and build together

Erica Buswell- Knox County Community Justice Coordinator
erica@rjpmidcoast.org

Erica came to Maine in 2004, chasing visions of Winslow Homer’s winter ocean. She landed in Belfast, where what was intended to be a temporary gig at the Belfast Co-op blossomed into 16 years of work in the Maine food system, including 10 years of service at Maine Farmland Trust. She’s excited to bring a mixed skillset in collaborative leadership, facilitation, program development, and data analysis to support the work of RJP Maine. A Montana girl at heart, Erica originally came out east to attend the College of the Holy Cross, where she discovered a passion for social justice and community development. She feels fortunate to care for a small, off-grid homestead in Searsport, where she and her husband, Scott, are cultivating abundant food and joy.

INTERNS

Amy Frankel is currently an MSW student at the University of Maine. Social work is a career pivot for Amy as she previously studied English Literature, both as an undergraduate and graduate student, subsequently earning a position as Director of Digital Communications at the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation in New York City, where she worked for thirteen years. Amy’s commitment to social work is grounded in her long-standing interest in social justice and social policy. Beyond her work and studies in social work she is an avid photographer and student of documentary and fine arts photography. Amy lives in Rockport with her husband, and a rescued lab mix named Ava, who is also enthusiastic about living in Maine.

Advisory Board

Elijah Anderson, William K. Lanman Jr.
Professor of Sociology, Yale University

Carolyn Boyes-Watson
Director Restorative Justice Center and Associate Professor of Sociology, Suffolk University, Boston, MA

Michael Tonry, Director
Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge and Sonosky Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of Minnesota

﻿Staff﻿

Advisory Board

Staff