Who we are
Open Circle is a restorative justice service within the Centre for Innovative Justice (CIJ) at RMIT University, that was established in 2019.
Open Circle offers restorative justice processes in response to a wide range of harms, including institutional abuse, death and/or serious injury resulting from motor vehicle collisions, racism, sexual violence, and other forms of harm.
Open Circle is located in Melbourne and offers restorative justice processes throughout Victoria. We also engage in research, program design, and advocacy for increased access to restorative justice.
How We Work
Open Circle restorative justice processes all include a careful preparation phase with participants, leading to a restorative dialogue. The nature of the dialogue is flexible depending on the circumstances – for example, it may be a facilitated conversation or a letter exchange. Each process is co-facilitated by two experienced practitioners, and is carefully designed and structured to meet the justice needs and interests of the person harmed, and support the person responsible to take meaningful accountability. You can read a more detailed description of what a restorative justice processes looks like here.
Open Circle facilitators are therapeutically trained and experienced in responding to survivors of family and gender-based violence, as well as invitations to accountability and behaviour change for people responsible for harm.
We believe in people’s capacity to draw on their own resilience, wisdom and strength when they are faced with challenges. Open Circle’s restorative processes aim to respond to harm in ways that don’t make things worse. We recognise that harm occurs within a social and structural context. By bringing people together, Open Circle’s restorative processes can enable people to address the context of harm and work towards preventing future harm.
Our Team
Renee Handsaker
Manager of Restorative Services
Open Circle Practice Lead
Restorative Engagement Panel FacilitatorRenee is a highly skilled facilitator with extensive expertise in restorative justice and conflict transformation.As the Manager of Open Circle, she leads restorative justice processes addressing serious harms such as death, sexual assault, racism, and road traffic collisions. These processes emphasise healing and understanding between affected parties, as well as accountability and behaviour change, collaborative participation, and rebuilding trust and connection within the broader community.
Renee has been appointed as a restorative engagement facilitator to several Government panels, including the Commonwealth Ombudsman, the Stolen Generation Redress Scheme, and the National Redress Scheme. Through these appointments, Renee has facilitated over 100 restorative engagements between institutional leaders and survivors of institutional harm with the Australian Defence Force, various departments of the Australian and Victorian Governments, secondary schools, disability organisations and religious institutions.
Renee is particularly committed to creating pathways for community‑led healing and justice processes that provide safe and meaningful responses to harm, without relying on harmful systemic and punitive approaches. Renee’s foundational knowledge stems from her background in Social Work and Masters in Narrative Therapy and Community Work. Her approach is characterised by empathy, active listening, and a deep understanding of the psychological and emotional facets of trauma, enabling her to guide restorative processes towards resolution, healing and transforming peoples’ experience of harm.
Katie Christenson
Transport Accident Commission Restorative Justice Program Lead Facilitator
Open Circle Restorative Justice Facilitator
Restorative Engagement Panel FacilitatorKatie Christensen (She/Her) is a Wurundjeri Woman who has extensive experience working in the Domestic Violence sector – supporting Women who have experienced violence in crisis and long term case management and facilitating healing groups for women.Katie has also facilitated and contributed to the development of Making aMENds – a pilot program for fathers who had used violence in the family home.
Katie has also trained and worked as an Aboriginal Health Worker, and a Koori Maternity Support Worker where she worked alongside a midwife to provide support for expecting mothers in her local community and facilitated Kaalinya Inyanook – a Mums and Bubs group that focussed on well being and information for new mothers.
Katie has recently completed her Masters in Narrative Therapy and Community Work.
Phoebe Barton
Weaving Repair Restorative Justice Project Manager
Open Circle Restorative Justice Facilitator
Restorative Engagement Panel FacilitatorPhoebe is an experienced restorative justice facilitator and project manager. She currently manages Open Circle’s Weaving Repair program that responds to young people harmed by, and engaging in, harmful sexual behaviours. Weaving Repair uses a trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate, and systemic approach to respond to harm with a focus on healing and justice. Phoebe also facilitates adult restorative justice processes for community based sexual harm referrals.Phoebe is trained in Narrative Therapy, and is experienced in program establishment, systems design, and the development of practice frameworks and guidelines. She is also highly skilled in group facilitation, clinical supervision, critical reflective practice, and providing restorative and therapeutic support to survivors of gender-based violence.
Previously, Phoebe was the Clinical Practice Lead for the Safe, Thriving and Connected family violence therapeutic program at the Centre for Non-Violence. She also coordinated the Centre for the Human Rights of Imprisoned People project at Flat Out; focusing on decarceration and social change through research, community education, and systemic advocacy.
Phoebe is interested in the intersections between healing and justice, the application of restorative and transformative justice principles to respond to harm, and working in ways that honour people’s knowledge, dignity, and resistance.
Melanie Joosten
Senior Adviser, Policy and Advocacy
Transport Accident Commission Restorative Justice Program ManagerMelanie is a social worker, writer and researcher who supports the CIJ’s work in the area of restorative justice. She manages the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) Restorative Justice Program, which provides restorative justice for people who have experienced road trauma.Melanie also convenes the Oceania Community of Practice for Sexual Harm. This community of practice includes practitioners, academics and professionals from Australia and New Zealand, working to expand restorative justice as an option for victim survivors of sexual violence.
Prior to working at the CIJ, Melanie worked in the areas of family violence, elder abuse and ageing. Most recently, she was Senior Policy Officer at Seniors Rights Victoria, a community legal centre that works to prevent and address elder abuse as a form of family violence. Melanie has led projects including an analysis of elder abuse data in Victoria, research into intimate partner violence experienced by older women, submissions to numerous government inquiries and Royal Commissions, and the development of a series of discussion papers on issues related to elder abuse.
Melanie has worked as a researcher at the National Ageing Research Institute, contributing to projects on older people’s experience of ageing, with a focus on mental health, elder abuse, caring responsibilities and LGBTI communities. She continues to work as a consultant with Elder Abuse Action Australia on elder abuse policy.
Melanie is a writer of fiction and non-fiction, including the award-winning book A Long Time Coming: Essays on Old Age.
Stan Winford
Director, Centre for Innovative Justice
Restorative Engagement Panel Facilitator
Stan Winford helped to establish the Centre for Innovative Justice (CIJ) at RMIT University in 2012 and its restorative justice arm, Open Circle, in 2019. He is a lawyer, researcher and a facilitator with the National Redress Scheme, the Stolen Generations Redress Scheme and the Defence Restorative Engagement Program. Stan is also a Director of the Victorian Sentencing Advisory Council.
Stan has studied restorative justice in New Zealand and undertaken professional development and training in restorative justice, sexual harm and serious harm with the Canadian Community Justice Initiatives Centre, the European Forum for Restorative Justice and the Belgian restorative justice service Moderator. He has also completed convenor training with the Queensland Department of Youth Justice and group conferencing training accredited by the Australian Association for Restorative Justice.
His current research focuses on how restorative practices can contribute to improved outcomes for people who interact with statutory compensation schemes, as well as specialised models of restorative justice for responding to sexual violence and racism through truth-telling.
Email: open.circle@rmit.edu.au
Phone: 03 9925 7708
