The Joe Brummer Podcast

Ep 7: Margaret Thorsborne- The Decades of Restorative Practice

Some guests you invite onto your show. Some guests helped shape who you are. Margaret Thorsborne is one of the world's foremost experts on restorative practice. For decades she has helped schools, workplaces, and communities across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the UK, the US, and beyond transform the way they respond to wrongdoing, conflict, and harm. She is a founding director of Restorative Practices International, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management, and the recipient of the Order of Australia Medal for her services to education. She is also Joe's co-author on Becoming a Trauma-Informed Restorative Educator. In this episode, Joe and Margaret explore: * What restorative practice actually is — and why it works where punishment doesn't * How neuroscience and biology inform a restorative approach * What schools and workplaces around the world have in common when it comes to harm and healing * What brought a practitioner from Queensland and an educator from the US together to write a book This is a conversation between collaborators, colleagues, and friends — about the work they both love and the world they are both trying to help build. Her Website: https://www.thorsborne.com.au [https://www.thorsborne.com.au]

Ep6: Latoya Fernandez - Lessons From Sankofa

This week's guest, Latoya Fernandez, is a restorative justice leader. Her work in Sankofa Circles, teaching RJ, and youth diversion is groundbreaking. In this Episode, we'll talk about restorative justice in a variety of different contexts, including Connecticut's new Diversion First Model. We'll talk about Ghana and the lessons she brought back to her daily life. She also shares her roots as a struggling kid on probation and how peer mediation taught her the skills to be who she wanted to be. Her Website: https://www.latoyafernandez.com [https://www.latoyafernandez.com]

Ep5: Guy Stephens-If We Can Do Better, We Must!

Every year, children are restrained and secluded in schools across America. Many of them are neurodivergent. Many of them are already carrying trauma. And most people have no idea it's happening. Guy Stephens did. And he couldn't look away. What started as a father advocating for his own neurodivergent son became one of the most powerful advocacy movements in education today. In 2019, Guy founded the Alliance Against Seclusion and Restraint — a national nonprofit now 30,000 members strong — dedicated to ending punitive and exclusionary discipline and the school-to-prison pipeline. He has testified before state legislatures across the country. He spoke to the House Committee on Education and Labor of Congress. He helped develop the Reframing Behavior training program with the Crisis Prevention Institute. And he hosts the AASR Live podcast. In this episode, Joe and Guy explore: * What restraint and seclusion actually are — and how widespread they remain in American schools * What the research tells us about what these practices do to children * What trauma-informed, neurodiversity-affirming alternatives actually look like * How one father's love for his son became a national movement This is a conversation about children, about systems, and about what it means to refuse to accept that this is just how things are. Alliance Against Seclusion & Restraint [https://endseclusion.org] Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference [https://attachmenttraumanetwork.org/conference/]

Ep4: Randy Scobey-From PTSD to EMDR to HAPPY

What happens when the very system meant to save you becomes the source of your deepest wound? What does it take to dismantle a lie you've lived for decades — especially when that lie was built in the name of faith? And what does it really mean to thrive when you've spent years simply surviving? Randy Scobey is a survivor, author, and advocate whose story sits at the intersection of religious trauma, identity, and healing. As the former Executive Vice President of Exodus International — the largest ex-gay ministry in the world — Randy spent years as a public face of conversion therapy before helping to shut the organization down in 2013. His journey from abuse survivor to unwilling spokesperson to free and authentic man has been featured in the award-winning documentaries Pray Away and For They Know Not What They Do. His memoir, WHY, chronicles what it means to survive abuse, live a lie, and finally learn to thrive as your true self. In this episode, Joe and Randy talk about being diagnosed with PTSD, healing through therapy, and EMDR. The signs you're on the right path to being authentically yourself. This episode is brave, courageous, and radically honest. Randy's Blog [https://randyscobey.com]

Ep3: Jesse Kohler - From Tragic Grief to Change Maker

In this episode, we sit down with Jesse Kohler, founder and president of The Change Campaign, a national nonprofit based in Washington DC. Jesse shares the remarkable journey of building an organization that began as a college senior project at Oberlin and grew into a meaningful force for change. He reflects on his years working in the nonprofit sector in Philadelphia, his experience serving as the founding executive director of CTIPP, and what it took to incorporate it as a standalone nonprofit to sustain that work long term. Jesse also opens up about balancing his personal and professional lives, pursuing two master's degrees while leading mission-driven organizations, and what fuels his commitment to environmental sustainability and a more equitable future. Whether you're a nonprofit professional, an aspiring changemaker, or simply someone who believes the world can be better — this conversation is for you. www.changecampaign.org [https://www.thechangecampaign.org] Joe Brummer's Website: www.joebrummer.com [https://joebrummer.com] Creating Trauma-Sensitive Schools Conference (LINK [https://attachmenttraumanetwork.org/conference/])