The Staff at RJP Maine
Scroll through the list below to find someone local to you; this list organized alphabetically by first name!
![]() Emma is overjoyed to be a returning member of RJP after completing an internship in summer 2021. She comes from a background of working with people struggling with dual diagnosis, trauma and incarceration. Her goal is to transform retributive and traditional systems of justice towards more transformative, community-driven models. Her fervent belief in the healing potential of community connection, story-telling and restorative harm repair led her to receive her Masters in Restorative Justice from Vermont Law School in May 2022. Emma loves Maine for its abundant nature, where she surfs, bikes, gardens/farms, cooks and creates art.
![]() Hanlon had the pleasure of working at RJP for five years (2013–2018), first as the Volunteer Coordinator, then as the Waldo County Juvenile Program Coordinator and Training Coordinator. In 2018, she left the staff to seek adventure and to explore more deeply her purpose in the world. After a two-month adventure in Northern Minnesota focused on eating off the land, she returned to Maine and sought opportunities to learn, grow, and practice in the field of restorative justice, including facilitating restorative processes as an independent contractor and co-facilitating online councils. She added depth and nuance to her understanding of what it means to be restorative in both professional and personal life, and also on a cultural and societal level. She came to understand her life’s work to be transforming the cultural narratives that keep us in isolation, and nurturing instead the narratives of interconnection and mutual support. This led her right back to RJP, and she is delighted to have the opportunity to step into the role of Waldo County Community Justice Manager. Her other passions include gardening, birding, animal tracking, canoeing, and basketry.
![]() Heather is thrilled to have joined RJP Maine in July 2021. Years of visits and learning the restorative landscape in the area make being here a dream come true. Heather values the interconnectedness of all people and honors that as a circle keeper, conflict coach, mediator, restorative dialogue and restorative reflection facilitator, community dialogue facilitator, conferencing facilitator, and Certified Optimum Life Breathologist (C.O.L.B.). Heather invitationally shares her love of the work by awakening the ideas and concepts within others via trainings, presentations, and teaching courses about conflict and resolution and restorative justice. She served on the board and leadership circle of the Circle of Restorative Initiatives (CRI) for Maryland, helping to spread the awakening to restorative values and the processes that support them. Heather was fortunate to grow in the field with years of support, love, and encouragement from colleagues and collaborators at the Maryland Judiciary Mediation and Conflict Resolution Office (MACRO). Heather’s educational upbringing included studying psychology because she is fascinated by people and all the gifts each individual brings in the world. Her family includes her wonder-full science-fiction loving, cosmic space study exploring partner, Mike, along with a large number of furry and feathery friends. Her favorite experiences are being in connection with others in circle gatherings of all kinds, and you can be sure she carries a talking piece with her everywhere she goes.
![]() Joanna joined RJP Maine in June of 2022. She is responsible for managing and growing the team’s community-based restorative justice programming. Joanna has gained extensive nonprofit project and program development experience throughout her 15+ year career working with a variety of organizations including the United Way of Greater Portland, the Maine Association of Nonprofits, and the Maine Development Foundation. These roles and others have given her a deep appreciation for inclusive community and organizational capacity building, and she is thrilled to have found an opportunity to apply her skills in the RJ field. Joanna grew up in Bass Harbor and has also spent time living and learning in New Orleans, London, and New York City. She is blessed to now reside in beautiful Bremen with her much-adored cat, Basquiat, and many wonderful neighbors.
![]() 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.
![]() Margaret serves as the Director of the newly forming Community Justice Hubs across the four counties of the mid-coast. Margaret has experience partnering with the community, justice system, schools and organizations to incorporate restorative practices to build relationships, problem solve and resolve conflicts. Margaret is deeply committed to walking with individuals and systems to be intentional in trusting equitable relationships through circle practice and responding to harm and wrongdoing in ways that are healing. Margaret resides in Belfast and enjoys living on the coast.
![]() 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. At RJP Maine, Sarah focuses on training and capacity building with her team, serving k-12 schools, higher education institutions, and community organizations to build their own capacity to use restorative practices. The T&CB team uses a model that consists of training, group coaching and 1-1 coaching, stemming from Sarah's experience with restorative justice and mediation services in 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. 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. Through her time as an attorney, mediator, and now restorative practitioner, 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 with her family.
![]() On leave Spring of 2023... checking email intermittently.
Sarah Mattox Enterprise Support/ Special Projects Sarah@rjpmidcoast.org Mattox floated into Belfast Harbor in 2011 in a canoe unsure as to whether she had any professional qualifications besides instructing Voyageur Outward Bound students on the etiquette of backwoods canoe and dogsled travel. Happily, within a matter of weeks she noted the postage-stamp ad in the Free Press and, shortly thereafter, joined the warm and hard-working staff of RJP. At that time, Mattox was the only full time restorative conference coordinator and facilitator in the state. She has had the distinct privilege to witness and to participate in the significant growth of the restorative movement over the past decade - both within RJP as an organization and as the RJ landscape evolves in Maine. During that time, she has learned a tremendous amount about trauma and healing, about communication, collaboration, and the power of accompaniment and community, and about the needs and nuances of nonprofit work. In her off-the-clock time, Sarah delights in movement of many kinds -- whether rowing, skiing, paddling or yoga; she has an undying allegiance to coffee and baked goods, to dogs and good books, and is deeply grateful to spend time in the company of family and friends. She is a proud graduate of Earlham College and grew up in midcoast Maine. |
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! |