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  RJPMidcoast
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All About​ Community Building Circles!

What are Community Building Circles?

We feel connected to other people when we sense that they see us, know us, and care about us.  That is what connection circles are about: being seen, being heard, being known, and developing affection.  Therefore, the objectives for these circles are that participants - be they youth or adults, their family and their friends and fellow community members will feel:

That they have been seen;
That they have been heard;
That they have been understood;
That they are connected;
That they have given and received respect—and perhaps affection—from their family and their friends.

Circle Values and Guidelines

​​Respect the talking piece
Confidentiality - what's said in circle stays in circle
Speak from your own experience/ your own truth/ your heart
Listen to understand/ from the heart
Picture
Click Here to Learn about Restorative Practices in SchoolS!

Community Building Circle Break-Down
PicturePart 1; Mindfulness Moment & Opening

​Two Minute Mindfulness Activity: Ask the group to stand up and stretch anything that feels like being stretched, inviting the group to connect to their bodies and needs during a time where there is so much screen time (circle keeper can guide the stretching if your group needs more structure).

Invite the group to take a collective three deep breaths together (remind the group that taking deep breaths is an easy way to connect back to the present moment and let stress or worries fall away).
​
If comfortable, exhale through pursed lips, as if you are blowing a bowl of hot oatmeal (this increases their exhale and provides more of a calming effect on the brain).


PicturePart 2; Introduction of Centerpiece & Talking Piece






​​About the Centerpiece;
Centerpieces are a visual representation of the center of the circle--the point that connects us all...this is an invitation to let our desire to make time to be in community with one another to connect us and be our center. 


​About the Talking Piece;
A talking piece can be ANYTHING! A smooth stone, a piece of driftwood or even a tiny marble. The talking piece is an invitation to listen when you don’t have it, invitation to speak from your own personal experience when you have it.
​
You can always pass, always moves in order around the circle.
PicturePart 3; Hold a Community Building circle- here’s a simple sample script you can use:

Open with a 2 minute mindfulness activity!
​

Round 1: Personal Needs
What do you need? 
​
Round 2: Tapping into Resilience
What is a strength you have these days and what can you offer to those around you?

Round 3: Tapping into a Broader Perspective
Tell a story about life going on around you. 

Check Out Round
What are you taking away from this circle?                                                                                                                                                        Closing                                                                                                    
Group Stretch (invite each person in the group to choose a stretch for 15 seconds, everyone else mimics that stretch)


​Restorative Justice Project Maine | Facebook
​Restorative Justice Project Maine
P.O. Box 141 / 132 High Street
​Belfast, ME 04915
For individual phone numbers, please see staff page!  Thank you!

© 2023 by the 
Restorative Justice Project Maine 
All rights reserved.
  

The Restorative Justice Project Maine is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
  • Home
    • About RJP Maine
    • Working definitions
  • Our People
    • Staff
    • Board
    • Want to volunteer? >
      • Volunteer Voices
    • Partners
    • Job Openings
  • Community Justice Hubs
    • Community Building Circles
    • Harm Repair Program >
      • Approaches to Harm Repair
    • Community Reentry: The Open Table >
      • Maine Coastal Regional Reentry Center Program
  • Learn With Us
    • Volunteer Training: Midcoast
    • Group Training & Support
    • Implementation Resources
  • Advocacy
  • Donate
    • Connect And Subscribe
  • Resources
    • Media >
      • Circle Up Newsletters >
        • Circle Up Dec/Jan 2023
        • Circle Up Oct/Nov 2022
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        • Photo Gallery >
          • 10th Anniversary Photo Gallery
        • Black Lives Matter
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