We need to go get our students. But first, we need to go get ourselves.
Education Liberation is a restorative justice practice led by Ottawa/Gatineau-based educator, Abby Karos. She offers small group coaching and consulting services designed to help individuals and learning communities lay the groundwork for total system transformation.
Education Liberation is for teachers and school leadership who are seeking tools to transform schools from the inside, out.
Are you passionate about your role in education transformation?
Restorative Justice—a growing movement with decades of best-practice implementation in schools—can help steer us through these waters of swift societal change.
Based on global Indigenous teachings, Restorative Justice is a framework that reconnects us to ourselves, each other, and our world.
Together we can create learning environments where people exhale upon entering.
Offerings for Schools
Workshops for Staff
Restorative practices
in the classroom
Training for staff, teachers, and school leadership that includes:
Implementing circles
Asking the right questions
Exploring your “Why”
Working toward non-coercive classrooms
Youth Empowerment
Valuable skills for
young people
An approach to relationships and conflict resolution that emphasizes:
Building community
Repairing relationships
Fostering accountability
Dialoguing across differences
Restorative Schools
A holistic offering that addresses the entire school system and promotes:
Staff wellbeing and retention
Improved social and emotional skills among youth
A greater sense of belonging for all
Whole school implementation
We’re not here to cancel anyone—especially ourselves. The goal is liberation for all.
Why would it be anything less?
This is why we do the work collectively.
Abby Karos
I am a connector and playful disruptor at the leading edge of what schools can be. I create carefully curated experiences based on these beliefs:
There is no neutral.
We are either allowing love or we are restricting and calling forth fear (shout-out to reverend angel kyodo williams). We are bound up in each other’s collective liberation.
The true self in everyone is good, wise, and powerful.
This is the first core assumption of Restorative Justice and helps us align our behaviour in the world with our truer, deeper selves.
The world is profoundly interconnected. This belief, the second core assumption of Restorative Justice, reminds us that there are no throw-away kids or people. “I am because we are”, or “ubuntu”, means we are each fundamentally a part of the whole.
What People Are Saying
"Working with Chuck and Abby has helped to knit our school community closer together. After our first year of working together in partnership, staff have reported feeling more energized, hopeful, and connected. Most importantly, we have emerged with a plan of action that puts the voices of students and staff at the forefront and incorporates support from the community. It is truly an intergenerational effort. Principals can contact me any time for a review."
— Debbie Picard, Directrice/Principal
École Secondaire St. Michael’s / St. Michael’s High School
"The unconventional approach that Abby takes with some meditation, poetry, a thoughtful theme and deeply honest sharing with every member took me quite by surprise. I feel that the group reaches a level of honesty and vulnerability that fosters growth and a profound level of introspection. I would highly recommend this course to teachers of all levels of experience - had I done a course like Abby's earlier in my career, I think it would have made me a much better listener and more compassionate 'authority.'"
— Sean E., Teacher
“I recently completed Abby’s Education Liberation “Restorative Justice” course–a beautiful experience that guided me on roads that I did not know I even needed to travel.
We examined our own hurts, biases, expectations, and truths within the context of a small circle of fellow educational changemakers and deep thinkers. It gave us the opportunity to critically examine what we wanted to change –and what we can realistically tackle–in our individual work settings. Important learning and sharing took place. Abby, wise and soulful, held this all with grace and experience.
— Syd Apel, School Psychologist
“Abby brings a centered and joyful energy to everything to which she gives her attention. ”
— Nina Otaza, Teacher
"Over the course of the year when Abby and Chuck introduced RJE concepts and practices into the school with students, staff, parents, and community elders, I observed a shift from despair to hope. Very grateful to Abby and Chuck, and to the principal for her willingness to be vulnerable and explore - characteristics of meaningful leadership and vision."
— Danielle Schami, parent
“ Like a newcomer to a foreign woods, I didn't know where this course was going. But Abby guided us down a magical—and masterly curated—path, each week taking us to a new enchanted place. Asking us to dig deep into ourselves. Step by step, week by week, she wove a beautiful tapestry—leading us to reconnect with ourselves so that we can offer a space for students to truly be themselves and hold space for each other.
— Rosalind McCanny, Outdoor Education Teacher
“This course is both life-changing and life-affirming. The weekly program helps me remember myself.”
— Paula K., Education Entrepreneur
“ Education Liberation is so rich in ideas and medicine for body, mind, and soul. “
— Bonnie Harnden, Professor, Drama Therapy Program, Concordia University
BOOK CLUB
Reading RJ
This isn’t your typical book club. Rather, we are learning about restorative practices by doing them. We start each session with a guided meditation and a few passes around the circle before diving into themes. Each chapter is a short read, perfect for busy teachers, school leaders, and other members of the school community!
Reading RJ is useful for individuals and schools who are curious about restorative justice and want to slowly build relational practices within a dedicated core group before introducing staff training.
Little Book of Restorative Justice in Education: Fostering Responsibility, Healing, and Hope in Schools
By Katherine Evans & Dorothy Vaandering, 2022
What we’re reading next:
