How to Manage a Relationship with 'The One who Caused Harm'

In this workshop, Elizabeth Clemants and Laurent Rappaport will pair up to discuss how family members can manage a relationship with those that have harmed them, in all the different ways family members harm each other. Elizabeth - as a GREEN Keeper, and Laurent - as a PURPLE Keeper will lead a circle to explore this important topic. Elizabeth Bio: Elizabeth is a social worker at heart. She has always been interested in the intersection of social issues and the law. She attended Columbia University School of Social Work where she graduated with a MSW and a Minor in Law. She immediately went to work in the field of conflict resolution and has been practicing alternative dispute resolution (ADR) since 1997. Elizabeth is the Executive Director of Hidden Water, a restorative justice response to childhood sexual abuse, a non-profit she founded in 2014. Elizabeth is also the Founder and Principal Trainer at Planning Change, whose mission it is to educate and empower individuals to affect meaningful change in the conflicts around them. In addition to those endeavors, Elizabeth has been an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School since 2005. She works as a professional mediator and speaks regularly at events and conferences. She lives with her husband and three children in Brooklyn. Laurent Bio: Laurent is excited to help build bridges within families that have been damaged from sexual harm, as he already works to build bridges as a construction worker in NYC. He is new to restorative justice practices but brings a wealth of experience from his personal life. He has been held accountable and takes responsibility for the harm he has caused and is eager to pass his knowledge along to others in Purple Circles as a Circle Keeper. Laurent believes that Circles allow people who have caused harm to come to terms with what they have done. From Laurent’s own experience in Circle, he has seen that people can hold themselves accountable and responsible and do the healing necessary to make the changes they need to prevent themselves from causing any more harm to others, allowing them to live a fuller and happier life with dignity. When Laurent isn’t building bridges at work or in Circle, he is either riding his motorcycle or taking care of his rescue dog, Steve.