2012 is starting to look like another record year. To-date we have received 116 referrals between the

School District and the Abbotsford Police. Of these files, 65 are from Abbotsford schools.

Program Highlights

Inside this issue:Inside this issue:Inside this issue:Inside this issue:

Volunteer Highlight 2

Suggested Summer

Activities

2

Managing Behaviour 3

Congrats New Volunteers! 3

Appreciation Date 3

Support ARJAA 4

ABBOTSFORD RESTORATIVE JUSTICE & ADVOCACY ASSOCIATION

THE ARJAA VOICETHE ARJAA VOICETHE ARJAA VOICETHE ARJAA VOICE

Newsletter created by: Newsletter created by: Newsletter created by: Newsletter created by:

♦ Lorraine Schmidt

♦ Julie Czeck

JUNE 2012JUNE 2012JUNE 2012JUNE 2012 VOLUME 10 ISSUE 10

Upcoming Events Please note the following events that are

taking place this Spring and Summer:

1) Volunteer Appreciation Day—June 23rd

2) Toolbox Training—July 7th

3) 3-day Free Mentoring Training

Workshop July 16-18 in RJ Grand Fork

(ARJAA staff will be attending. For more

info contact julie@arjaa.org).

ABBOTSFORD RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IS EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE OUR

ADOPT-A-CASE PROJECT ARJAA is excited to announce it's newest initiative: "Adopt-a-Case". By

supporting ARJAA with a donation of $500 your business will help strengthen our community through combined efforts to decrease crime in Abbotsford. Your financial support will also help educate youth on the

impacts of crime and will attempt to prevent criminal behaviour from becoming a lifestyle. While respecting confidentiality, sponsors will receive general information, including the outcome of the case selected for the sponsorship. Your business will also receive a certificate of appreciation and recognition on our website and newsletter. For more information please contact Tony deWaal: 604-309-8750 or tony@arjaa.org

Special Thanks to our FIRST 2 donors: KINDER MORGAN AND ALGRA BROTHERS!

Our mentoring program is

also seeing record matches

with 15 long-term matches.

Of these 15 matches, 10 are

youth from police files and 5

are students from our schools

program. We also have 7

target matches and 1 victim

mentoring match.

5) Watch a movie with a

mentoring theme and

discuss it (ie. Finding

Forrester, The Lion King,

Mulan, The Blindside)

6) Make a dinner together

7) Bake cookies for the

Warm Zone (women’s

shelter)

1) Work on a resume and

hand it out to various

organizations

2) Find a free outdoor

concert

3) Go outside and take

pictures together

4) Go to Canada Day

fireworks

Volunteer Highlight: ARJAA Mentor Justin Hohne!

Summer Activities Ideas with Mentees

SUMMER ACTIVITES IN

ABBOTSFORD

JUSTIN WITH HIS ARJAA MENTEE

Page 2 THE ARJAA VOICE

“Being a mentor “Being a mentor “Being a mentor “Being a mentor

has been a great has been a great has been a great has been a great

experience for experience for experience for experience for

me and I am very me and I am very me and I am very me and I am very

glad I decided to glad I decided to glad I decided to glad I decided to

do this.”do this.”do this.”do this.”

My experience with Abbotsford Restorative Justice has

been amazing so far. I am a fairly new addition to the

ARJAA team, being accepted in January 2012, but since

then I have met some great people and made new friends.

Since I started at ARJAA I have had the privilege of being

the mentor to two great youth (one being a long term

match and the other a target match). I have been with my

long term mentee for three months now and we have

developed a great relationship and have had a lot of fun.

Around the beginning of my mentoring match I decided

that it would be a cool idea for us to create a list of

activities to do while we are matched together and our

goal is to finish all of them before our match comes to an

end. So far we have been able to complete about half the

list, but there are still many more fun activities in our

future. I have also had the privilege of being able to go to

my mentee’s school to spend time with him (and

sometimes a friend or two joins). It is always great going

to my mentee’s school because the students are all so

friendly and I have even had a couple students come to

me asking how they too could get a mentor, which is so

cool. Being a mentor has been a great experience for me

and I am very glad I decided to do this. I feel that I am

committed to helping youth because I believe that they all

have the potential to become great pro-social community

members so long as they receive the support and

encouragement they need, which is what I try to provide.

As well, when I see how excited my mentee is to see me it

further reinforces me to continue what I am doing.

In our line of work we may encounter situations with our clients where the distinction between being a friend and a counsellor are often blurry. It is important to remember that as mentors we are first and foremost advocates and not counsellors. Here are some tips in helping you when you are dealing with difficult behaviours with our clients. Try the following:

• Modeling behavior that is acceptable

• Paying attention to acceptable behavior and reinforcing it

• Ignoring unacceptable behavior (unless it’s illegal)

• Providing encouragement in your scheduled activities

• Avoid confrontation • Don’t use intimidation,

humiliation, threats and bribes

• Accept the youth “as is” • Demonstrating that

you trust them • Don’t hold grudges • Start each day

positively • Have fun (as long as it

is legal and safe!) • Talk about other

people positively • Show obvious respect

for parents, older people, pets and laws

• Communicate clear expectations

• Re-direct the energy generate by negative behavior to positive behavior. (Practice those reframing skills!)

We want to show our gratitude to our AMAZING volunteers, so we will be hosting an appreciation day on Saturday June 23rd from 1pm-5pm. Location will be at Lorraine Schmidt’s parents house (30220 Marshall Road). There is a pool on their large property, so feel free to bring your swimming attire. Please RSVP to Julie by or before June

10th so we know how much food to buy.

Managing Behaviour

Summer Volunteer Appreciation Day

Congratulations to newly trained ARJAA volunteers!

ARJAA has just completed another Victim-Offender Mediation training process this spring and we would like to congratulate our newly trained volunteers! Congratulations to: Ange Appenheimer, Rick Ball, Lois Brhelle, Liza Bitkova, Debora Cercel, Manmeet Chinna, Jas Dhaliwal, Pat Driediger, Rocio Duenas, Steve Hall, Justin Hohne, Kirsten Janzen, Sunil Kapoor, Rahul Lal, Rita Lal, Tracey Lawley, Sheila Neufeld, Shiroma Perera, Kim Riddel, Barbara Roberts, Keith Roberts, Joni Rolleman, Josh Togeretz, Jason Vandelft, Mitch Hardington. We look forward to working with all of you!!

Page 3 VOLUME 10 ISSUE 10

Congrats on Congrats on Congrats on Congrats on

our newly our newly our newly our newly

trained trained trained trained

volunteers!volunteers!volunteers!volunteers!

ARJAA is a non-profit organization that handles

referrals for first-time young offenders, to assist them in taking responsibility for their actions, and to repair harm

done to victims and other affected parties.

ARJAA also works in partnership with Abbotsford School District 34, to provide Restorative Action in local schools.

2011 Board Members Staff

Des McKay—Chair Tony deWaal—Executive Director

Christine Bomhof– Vice Chair Lorraine Schmidt—Office Manager

Greg Janz– Secretary Ben Braun-Kauffman—RJ Program Caseworker

John Pankratz– Treasurer Julie Czeck—Restorative Mentoring Program Coordinator

Bill Thiessen– HR Chair Susan Havinga—Restorative Action Program Director

Patricia Ross Marie Wormald—Restorative Action Caseworker

Inspector Tom Chesley Joni Rolleman—Restorative Action Caseworker

Bea Foulis

Joanne Field

Amanda Tirschman

Gerri Charles

Rick Rake

Stan Petersen

Kevin Boonstra

Christina Janzen

2012 BOARD OF DIRECTORS & STAFF

Yes, I want to help support the cause of Restorative

Justice in my community:

__ I would like support a case/cases with a one-time gift of $_________ __ I would like to provide food for young people with a one-time gift of $ ________ __ I would like to become a monthly donor for $ _______ per month. __ I have included ____ post-dated cheques __ I will mail in my pledged amount monthly

Name: _________________________________________________ Address: _________________________________________________ Phone Number: ______________________________________

Phone: (604) 864-4857 Fax: (604) 870-4150 E-mail: office@arjaa.org

ABBOTSFORD RESTORATIVE JUSTICE & ADVOCACY ASSOCIATION

Repair the harm...

Restore relationships…

Rebuild community…

We’re on the Web!

WWW.ARJAA.ORG

105-34194 MARSHALL ROAD ABBOTSFORD BC V2S 5E4