The Center for Justice Reform (CJR) at Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) provides one of the country’s leading graduate programs in restorative justice. Students complete their degrees with the skills needed to become agents for change, regardless of their chosen field. Coupled with meaningful experiential learning opportunities and a wide variety of practical courses in criminal law, victims’ rights, sexual and domestic violence, and police use of force, restorative justice prepares graduates for a wide variety of careers.
One graduate who exemplifies this mission is Stephanie Burns MARJ’23, who created Healing Courage as a means of providing training, facilitation, and consultation to serve survivors, communities, agencies, and institutions in transforming responses to sexual and intimate harm. The organization works to educate the broader community about the nonlinear journey toward healing.
By responding to survivors’ needs and offering alternative pathways to justice, Healing Courage keeps their experiences at the center of its work—an approach that Stephanie sees as essential to systemic change. She notes that while sexual and intimate violence affects people across all communities, Black and Indigenous women experience disproportionately high rates of harm and are often the least likely to be served by existing systems. For Stephanie, centering the experiences and wisdom of those most impacted is critical to creating more equitable, healing-centered responses. As she says, “we can’t transform what we don’t talk about.”
Her work with Healing Courage has been a long-term initiative, and one that has evolved. It began as an event designed to celebrate survivors called “Surviving and Thriving” in 2010. What was intended to be a one-off occurrence became an annual tradition for six years, before finally expanding into a fully-fledged nonprofit organization.
Stephanie’s journey with restorative justice is rooted in lived experience. As a survivor of sexual violence, she experienced the traditional justice system firsthand. When prompted by a defense attorney, she came to a powerful realization: she wanted to have a conversation with the person who had harmed her.
“What I was asking for was restorative justice, without knowing that it existed,” Stephanie said. Unfortunately, connecting with the individual wasn’t possible. “At that time and place, it wasn’t an accessible option, and people there didn’t even know about it. That experience with the criminal legal system became a part of my journey. It continues to shape my work with survivors and my belief that restorative pathways and community-based relationships are vital. Survivors deserve options that center their needs, authentic accountability, and healing.”
Through her training with the Center for Justice Reform while obtaining her Master of Arts in Restorative Justice (MARJ), her ongoing work with her community, and her own lived experience, Stephanie has created an organization that truly focuses on the needs of survivors. For prospective and current restorative justice students, Stephanie’s advice is simple: absorb as much as you can, both in class and out in the community.
“There is value in listening to those who have been in conversation about community issues for generations, decades, and lifetimes. Educating ourselves requires unlearning and relearning to understand the roots of restorative justice, relational cultures, and the criminal legal system,” she said. “Take classes and learn about restorative justice. Our legal system is based on laws that are broken, not humans who are harmed. Anything we can do to bring more human-centered, or survivor-centered focus can be life-changing and lifesaving.”
Stephanie’s journey illustrates the impact that restorative justice can have beyond the classroom. As she puts it, “There are multiple paths to a meaningful career, and there are many ways for us to create meaningful, impactful work. Restorative justice is one of those paths.”