System Facilitation
The “Lived Experience” project is a research collaboration between The Sherwood Foundation and TerraLuna Collaborative. In all aspects of our work, we center the lived experience and voice of youth and families that the juvenile justice system has impacted.
How We Do Our Research
- We partner with community-based organizations
- We facilitate group conversations with system-impacted persons
- Our interview and facilitation teams include system-impacted persons
- We conduct qualitative interviews with oversight from an independent Institutional Review Board (IRB)
- We collect system-generated data and documents to supplement and add context to our qualitative data
How We Use Our Research
- We analyze data by looking for themes, patterns, and powerful stories
- We offer data-informed trainings to juvenile justice institutions which focus on cultivating:
- Staff solidary and empathic connection with youth and families
- Staff awareness, knowledge, and understanding of the system impacted persons
- Positive narratives and discourse of system impacted youth and families
- Restorative and transformative justice values, attitudes, and beliefs
- Youth informed, restorative, and transformative justice capacities, practices, and policies
What This Means For Your Institution
- We work with you to set up learning opportunities for staff (through either half or full-day opportunities)
- We guide your staff through engaging with our qualitative data and making meaning
- We explore how youth experiences can inform practices and approaches
- We follow up within four months
- We can provide ongoing coaching and support
If you have questions about our facilitated sessions, please contact facilitator Andrew Aleman.