Unlikely Collaborators Supports Restorative Justice Processes With a Grant to The Mend Collaborative

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Unlikely Collaborators has given a grant of financial support to The Mend Collaborative for its Los Angeles-based programs. The Mend Collaborative provides opportunities for healing and transformation to victims and survivors of violence and incarcerated people by bringing together survivors of violence and those responsible for harm in restorative dialogues. Mend facilitates direct Victim Offender Dialogues (VODs) between the victim/survivor and the person responsible for harm, and if a survivor would like to have a dialogue but no one was identified as the person responsible, or the person responsible is not available or lacks capacity, Mend can facilitate a Surrogate Restorative Dialogue with incarcerated people who are responsible for similar harm, are working on their own accountability and are seeking to engage in dialogue to deepen their insight and empathy and provide this opportunity for a survivor.

Mend Collaborative meets the needs of survivors of harm in ways that the U.S. legal system was not designed to meet and recognizes that almost all incarcerated people are survivors too and should have access to healing for the violence they experienced before and during their incarceration.

These restorative justice programs offer powerful pathways to healing for survivors. Unfortunately, many survivors are unaware that they can request this free service through Mend or the Office of Victim and Survivor Rights and Services, California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation. To help ensure that survivors are aware of these restorative and healing processes and programs Mend conducts outreach and offers training to local and state government victim assistance and criminal justice agencies including District Attorneys Offices throughout California, and to nonprofit organizations that serve victims and survivors.

The Mend Collaborative's co-directors dedication to this work is grounded in their personal experiences and commitment to ending cycles of violence in families and communities.

Rebecca Weiker is dedicated to fostering transformation and healing for all those affected by violence, drawing from her personal experience after her sister Wendy's murder in 1992. With over thirty years of experience, she has supported high-risk youth, trauma-impacted families, and both survivors and incarcerated individuals. Over eight years as a Program Director for restorative justice organizations, she facilitated Victim Offender Dialogues, developed and led restorative justice and victim impact programs and community healing events. Weiker is a certified mediator and facilitator, with expertise in mindfulness, parenting education, and public health policy.

Miguel Quezada is dedicated to supporting individuals affected by violence, drawing from his own experiences growing up exposed to violence. Miguel is an experienced Victim Offender Dialogue facilitator and trainer with an extensive background and expertise in supporting survivors including certifications in rape and crisis counseling, batterer intervention, and has created victim impact curriculum and programs that remain viable and providing services at state prisons in California.

Unlikely Collaborators is a mission-driven non-profit organization committed to transforming the narratives that limit individuals, communities, and societies. The organization fosters profound self-awareness and mutual understanding by empowering people to gain insight into and agency over their Perception Box™—a concept developed by founder Elizabeth R. Koch. Perception Box represents the internal collection of beliefs, experiences, and biases that shape how individuals perceive the world and engage with others. Through its initiatives, Unlikely Collaborators seeks to inspire meaningful change by helping people untangle the stories that hold them back, clearing the way for greater self-acceptance and connection.

"Our current model of criminal justice often has little more than punishment to offer victims and survivors. At The Mend Collaborative, we believe that they deserve so much more: healing, safety, understanding, an apology, a path forward after trauma. Our organization is staffed entirely by survivors, some of whom are also formerly incarcerated. We have transformed our experiences into purpose, and are grateful to support others on their journeys of healing, accountability and transformation. We have found that those who we might have thought of as 'unlikely collaborators' are actually colleagues and partners in healing," said Weiker and Quezada.

"Mend Collaborative's mission powerfully embodies the essence of the Perception Box concept," said Koch. "That a victim of violence could engage in a dialogue with the perpetrator, or a surrogate of the perpetrator, ready to heal the emotional and psychological harm instigated by the event is central to Perception Box work. Equally, when the person responsible for violence engages in a conversation with the survivor (or surrogate), genuinely taking in their heartbreak, anger, and suffering … that's a healing circle of expanded Perception Boxes with reverberations that go well beyond the parties involved."

For more information about Mend Collaborative, please visit https://mendcollaborative.org/; and for more information about Unlikely Collaborators, please visit https://www.unlikelycollaborators.com/.

SOURCE Unlikely Collaborators