By Sasha Moedt (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: February 8, 2012
UFV students are becoming more involved in the community as role models and mentors in the recently established Abbotsford Restorative Justice and Advocacy Association (ARJAA). Set up in 2000 by a group of citizens and community leaders, the ARJAA was incorporated as a non-profit society in 2001. The ARJAA serves as a Community Accountability Program under the BC Ministry of Public Safety and the Solicitor General. Their mentoring program was established in 2007.
“The goal of our program is to provide a balanced and timely response to crime for first time offenders,” said Julie Czeck, mentoring coordinator of ARJAA. “Restorative Justice views crime as harm done to people and relationships, rather than the breaking of laws.”
Czeck, said that part of her job is to “support the youth in the program as they take responsibility for the harm they have caused.”
Besides a mediation program, ARJAA also offers a mentoring program for youth. Most of the ARJAA youth referrals come from Abbotsford Police Department and School District 34.
“In 2007, ARJAA launched ‘Restorative Action through Mentoring,’ which was designed to provide follow-up support to young people being held responsible through restorative processes,” Czeck explains, “ARJAA’s mentoring program provides friendship, positive role models, and support to help ensure that the Restorative Justice mediated agreement is successfully fulfilled.”
Within the mentoring program, there are two types of mentoring: target and long term. Target generally lasts one to three months, wherein a mentor supports a youth and helps them fulfill his or her agreement to make amends for restorative justice. Long term, on the other hand, lasts longer as the mentor helps the youth with the agreement as well as establishes a year of a mentorship or friend relationship.
This is where UFV students come in, Czeck noted. Czeck has seen quite a few effective and empathetic UFV students working as mentors in the program.
Kirsten Janzen, a fourth year psychology student at UFV, began volunteering with ARJAA this past September to gain experience in the field of criminology and youth justice. “Being able to put what I have learned in the classroom into practice has been invaluable, and has highlighted just how successful the restorative process is,” Janzen stated.
Janzen met her mentee a week before the mediation process began, and supported her through the process. After the mediation, Janzen worked with her mentee on fulfilling the restitution agreement. “The two of us became involved in a local organization where we were able to work hands-on helping individuals in the community. Once a week for a couple months we put our hours in, and my mentee enjoyed the experience so much that she asked if we could continue volunteering even though she was no longer required to under her agreement.”
Janzen said that the most rewarding part of being involved with ARJAA is just spending time, “I am thrilled that our relationship has grown to continue beyond the legalities of the restorative procedure. What meant the most to me was seeing positive changes take place in my mentee.”
Kirsten Janzen’s mentee (who wished to remain anonymous) said, “This process would have been a lot harder without a mentor, because I would have had to do all the volunteering by myself. I would have felt alone in the process, without anyone to talk to. I liked having a mentor – it’s like having a big sister.”
“My favourite part of the process was getting to hang out with my mentor when we volunteered, and doing other things with her too. What meant the most to me through this process was being able to help others and work to correct what I did that was wrong.”
Julie Czeck said she has noticed UFV students tend to be successful in establishing mentor-mentee relationships. “Youth are very receptive to having a university big brother or big sister as a mentor. Often times the youth involved in the program are starting to think about the future and what they want to be when they grow up.”
All the questions that UFV students have already ploughed through—regarding schools, tuition, programs and life after graduation—are important questions they can provide answers to.
“Another reason that UFV students are effective is because they have flexible schedules that can allow them to spend time with youth at times that a ‘9-5 working person’ may not be able to commit to,” Czeck said, explaining that many of the youth in the mentoring program attend alternative schools, often giving them free afternoons to spend with a mentor.
Sasha Blaney is in second year at UFV, enrolled in the Criminology Program. “I heard about ARJAA during my Crim 103 class when Kim Polowek talked about it. One of the reasons that I wanted to join ARJAA was because I knew that it would look great on my resume for future jobs. I really love working with at-risk youth and my dream job is to be a youth probation officer.”
Balancing school and responsibilities involved in volunteering for this program can be a bit strenuous, Blaney admitted. The situations and cold realities of the mentee’s life can be hard to face, as well. “You can’t let it really affect you,” Blaney said. “You need to be able to be very empathetic to your mentee. Some of these kids have been through a lot in their life and they need to know that you really do feel for them. You also do need to have a bit of a tough skin to get through this program.”
Mentors are given extensive training for the situations you will be confronting, training which is ideal for a criminology student at UFV. “We provide 55 hours extensive victim-offender mediation training for all volunteers,” Julie Czeck explained, which includes mentors and mediators. “This training provides you with many skills and knowledge about restorative justice in the criminal justice context.”
Czeck mentioned the various topics of the training – volunteers and the law, the youth criminal justice act, mediation skills, negotiation skills, gender issues and the psychology of learning.
Additionally, Czeck said “you will also have the opportunity to practice these skills with the supervision of professional mediation coaches from the Justice Institute.”
UFV students looking into the field of criminal justice should consider this program as a foot in the door, and an involved, life-changing experience.
“I think UFV students have empathy for the youth they work with because it wasn’t all that long ago that they survived their own teenage years,” Czeck stated. “They have a positive role model that they can look up to.”
