Accreditation Renewals A guide to renewing your accreditation Restorative Justice Resolution Institute Accreditation
Contents About Restorative Justice Accreditation Renewals... 3 Criteria for Renewal... 3 Continuing Professional Development (CPD)... 3 Informal and Formal CPD... 3 Relevant CPD... 4 Practice... 4 Recording CPD and Practice... 4 Report Writing... 5 How to Renew... 6 Checking your accreditations... 6 Renewing Specialist Endorsements... 6 Expired accreditations... 7 Criteria for renewal professional conversation assessment... 7 Renewal professional conversation criteria... 9 Frequently asked questions... 10 Resolut ion I ns ti t ut e D e cem be r 2 01 6 Page 2
About Restorative Justice Accreditation Renewals All restorative justice accreditations expire after 3 years and need to be renewed. This is to ensure that restorative justice skills are maintained and developed. Skills are built through a combination of practice (experience) and professional development (learning), so these are the key requirements for accreditation renewal. Criteria for Renewal To renew a restorative justice facilitator accreditation, facilitators must: Have facilitated a minimum of 15 restorative justice conferences over the last three years; and Completed a minimum of 30 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) over the last three years. Additional requirements apply for those who also hold specialist accreditations see Page 5. To renew your accreditation you will need to: Complete an online renewal application including: 1. Information about your CPD see below; and 2. Information about your practice see below; and 3. A personal declaration; and 4. An authorisation from your Provider Manager; and 5. One conference report you have written for a case you facilitated, along with the Summary of Facts for the case. The conference needs to have been held in the past 12 months. Report writing is now a criteria for restorative justice facilitator accreditation so report writing will be assessed. This includes assessing both report writing and the content of the report, which must follow restorative justice processes. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Informal and Formal CPD There are a wide variety of ways to undertake CPD and a mix of professional development is the best approach. We would expect to see that at least 15 of the 30 hours of CPD over a three year period are formal learning. The table on the next page gives some examples of what we might consider formal and informal CPD. Resolut ion I ns ti t ut e D e cem be r 2 01 6 Page 3
Formal Study at a tertiary institution Attending training such as seminars, courses or workshops Conferences Group sessions where an expert delivers or facilitates on a relevant topic Participating in webinars We would expect that if requested you could provide evidence of this CPD a certificate or attendance confirmation Informal Participating in professional supervision (not management supervision)* Providing professional development delivering presentations, training, assessment, coaching or mentoring of restorative justice facilitators Practice or discussion groups Self-directed learning such as reading articles, books or viewing podcasts etc *Professional supervision is a requirement for those with specialist accreditations/endorsements so will not also be counted as CPD. Relevant CPD Professional development for restorative justice facilitators can cover a wide variety of topics. The key question to ask yourself is Will this professional development assist me to be a better facilitator? As with formal and informal CPD, a mix is best. We would expect to see a mix of CPD with some directly focused on restorative justice and some on other relevant areas. The table below gives you an indication of other areas that are likely to be considered relevant CPD. Likely to be considered relevant CPD A seminar on understanding how the brain responds to stress A workshop on communication skills A te reo Māori course to assist in working with Māori participants Mediation training Legal topics which are relevant to restorative justice Less likely to be considered relevant CPD (may still be valuable for other reasons!) Completing a first aid course Spanish night classes A seminar on commercial law Practice To renew accreditation facilitators are required to have facilitated a minimum of 15 restorative justice conferences over the last three years. In some situations other relevant practice may be able to be considered to contribute to meeting this requirement. For example mediation practice, supervising/mentoring/assessing others facilitating cases. Recording CPD and Practice CPD tracker You can use our online CPD tracker to record your CPD activities and practice as you complete them this makes it much easier than trying to remember what you have done over the last three years when your renewal is due! Resolut ion I ns ti t ut e D e cem be r 2 01 6 Page 4
You can access the CPD tracker anytime on www.resolution.institute/cpd-tracker. You will need to login to our Member s area. CPD and Practice Form If you prefer not to use the CPD tracker you can record your CPD and practice on the CPD form. The form will be available on our website and a link to this will be provided in the renewal reminder emails you are sent. Report Writing As noted above, if you were originally accredited by the Ministry of Justice you will need to provide a conference report you have written, along with the Summary of Facts for the case, for your first Resolution Institute renewal. Reports will be assessed against the standards below. Standard Report writing The report includes: Identification details A report body A summary of outcomes Information is clear and concise Information is factual (what was said, what was observed) and opinion is avoided All information included is relevant to the conference Events are reported in a logical order and the offence events that took place are clear to the reader The summary of outcomes section contains information to be taken into account at sentencing including any of: Statement of apology The offence victim response to apology SMART agreements Grammar and spelling are correct Standard Facilitation process Information is complete offender s story, victim s story, impacts, outcomes Agreement/s in the summary of outcomes are SMART The process for monitoring agreement completion is documented Resolut ion I ns ti t ut e D e cem be r 2 01 6 Page 5
How to Renew You will receive an email from our computer system two months before the accreditation expiry date, letting you know that you need to renew your accreditation. You will need to complete an application form available on our website http://www.resolution.institute/accreditation/rj-accreditation. The link and instructions will be in the email you receive. Checking your accreditations You can check the status of your accreditations and when they are due to expire anytime. To check when your accreditation is due to expire go to http://www.resolution.institute/membership/mymemberships. You will see your accreditations and the date they are due to expire. Renewing Specialist Endorsements Where possible your specialist endorsement expiry date(s) will be aligned with your Restorative Justice Facilitator accreditation expiry date so that all your accreditations can be renewed at the same time. If you have different expiry dates we will renew all your accreditations when the first expires and then align the expiry dates. To renew a specialist endorsement, facilitators must: Have facilitated 9 restorative justice conferences in the specialist area over the last three years; and Have completed 12 hours of CPD relevant to the specialist area over the last three years; and Have participated in regular* professional supervision with an experienced professional supervisor with relevant expertise, and have ongoing professional supervision in place. A Case Report, Safety Plan and Risk Assessment may also be required for specialist endorsement assessment. This is currently being reviewed. * Regular professional supervision will vary according to the frequency of facilitation. A general guideline is that we would expect most facilitators to have monthly professional supervision. If you are applying to renew a restorative justice facilitator accreditation at the same time as a specialist endorsement you can include the specialist practice and CPD in your facilitator accreditation practice and CPD. This means you must: Have completed a total of 15 conferences in the last three years, 9 of which must be in the specialist area Have completed a total of 30 hours of CPD in the last three years, 12 of which must be relevant to the specialist area; and Have participated in regular professional supervision with an experienced professional supervisor with relevant expertise, and have ongoing professional supervision in place. A Case Report, Safety Plan and Risk Assessment may also be required for specialist renewal assessment. This is currently being reviewed. Resolut ion I ns ti t ut e D e cem be r 2 01 6 Page 6
To renew an endorsement for working with sexual offending, specialists who are not facilitators must: 1. Have participated as a specialist in 15 restorative justice conferences* over the last three years 2. Completed 30 hours of CPD relevant to the specialist area over the last three years 3. Have participated in regular professional supervision with an experienced professional supervisor with relevant expertise and have ongoing professional supervision in place (usually monthly) *other relevant experience may be considered to contribute to the practice requirement Changing to the new system: Facilitators holding specialist accreditations under the Ministry of Justice system will need to be assessed for specialist endorsement when the current accreditation expires to transition to the new system so this will be treated as an application for specialist endorsement rather than a renewal. Expired accreditations To maintain your accreditation you need to renew it before it expires. In some circumstances people may let an accreditation lapse (when no longer doing restorative justice work) and then want to renew it a later date. If it is within 12 months of the accreditation expiry Renewal application Between 1 and 3 years since the accreditation Renewal application and a professional expiry More than 3 years since the accreditation expiry conversation assessment A new application for accreditation and a full assessment Changing to the new system: A number of Ministry of Justice restorative justice facilitator accreditations have expired. As part of the transition to the Resolution Institute accreditation system you will be able to renew these so long as we have a record of your previous accreditation (or you are able to provide evidence of it) and your accreditation has not been expired for more than 6 years. If your accreditation has been expired for more than 12 months you will need to have a Professional Conversation as part of the renewal assessment. Criteria for renewal professional conversation assessment A professional conversation with an assessor will be required to renew restorative justice facilitator accreditations that have been expired for more than 12 months but not more than 3 years. The aim of a professional conversation is to provide evidence that you meet the criteria for accreditation. The assessor will ask you questions about each of the criteria and you need to have case studies/work situations and documents that you can use during the professional conversation to help you demonstrate the ways in which you meet the accreditation requirements. Looking at the criteria beforehand and preparing will assist with this. Think about examples of how you meet the criteria. This could be: Case studies/work situations Think about case studies/work situations which you can describe and refer to during the professional conversation. Resolut ion I ns ti t ut e D e cem be r 2 01 6 Page 7
Documents Collect documents to refer to during the professional conversation and show as appropriate to the assessor. Please remember to de-identify all documents. Document evidence may include case records, conference reports, safety plans, performance reviews, case notes, supervisor verification, peer reviews, self-reviews, work samples, client feedback, other direct feedback, evidence from training and other appropriate evidence. Resolut ion I ns ti t ut e D e cem be r 2 01 6 Page 8
Renewal professional conversation criteria You can use this worksheet to prepare for your professional conversation Criteria My examples, training etc. Makes sound judgements about acceptance of referrals Makes sound judgements relating to safety Makes sound judgements relating to involvement and safety of children in restorative justice Makes sound judgements relating to working across cultures Makes sound judgements relating to drug and alcohol issues Makes sound judgements relating to mental health issues Refers participants to specialist services Follows up on conference agreements Resolut ion I ns ti t ut e D e cem be r 2 01 6 Page 9
Frequently asked questions 1. How do I know when my accreditation is due to expire? You can login to the Resolution Institute website to see your record in our Member s area. 2. Am I a member of Resolution Institute? Some restorative justice facilitators are and we certainly welcome restorative justice facilitators as members. Holding a Resolution Institute restorative justice facilitator accreditation does not necessarily mean you are a member though. The contract we hold with the Ministry of Justice means that we provide accreditation and training services to restorative justice facilitators regardless of membership. It also means that you can access some information, such as your accreditation information, in the Member s area of our website. 3. My colleagues and I get together each month for a team meeting. Does this count as CPD? This would depend on the purpose of getting together and what you cover at the meetings. If you discuss practice issues and use it as an opportunity to share practice learning then it might be appropriate informal CPD. 4. My Ministry of Justice restorative justice facilitator accreditation expired several years ago. Can I renew it or do I have to reapply for accreditation? Yes you can renew it. You only need to have a full assessment for accreditation if your accreditation expired more than 6 years ago. If your accreditation expired more than 12 months ago we will ask you to have a professional conversation with one of our assessors, as well as providing the normal renewal information. 5. My provider is organising a discussion session on the impact of family violence on children. Can I count this as CPD? Yes. If it is a discussion and information sharing session it would be informal CPD. If an expert was coming in to present or run an interactive workshop it would be considered formal CPD. 6. I m no longer working with the Provider that I worked with when I was accredited. Am I able to renew my accreditation? If you don t intend to continue as a restorative justice facilitator then you don t have to renew. If you are working with another provider or thinking about this then you are able to (and should) renew your accreditation. 7. I haven t facilitated enough conferences to renew my accreditation. What do I do? You could talk to your Provider manager about getting more opportunities to facilitate conferences. You can also talk to us about other experience that is directly relevant that we could consider to be practice hours. For instance if you have been doing other restorative work, are an assessor and are involved in conferences that way, or you also mediate and gain relevant experience through mediation work. Resolut ion I ns ti t ut e D e cem be r 2 01 6 Page 10