Webinar: Restorative Circles for Health – RJ as an Approach to Health Justice

Join Ivelyse Andino and Jason Walsh for a discussion on the use of restorative practices to achieve health justice for marginalized communities. Andino, the CEO of Radical Health, and Walsh, who facilitated "Circle of Knowledge," are on the cutting edge of this burgeoning application of RJ.

Radical Health uses indigenous restorative circle practice to create space for a new kind of dialogue between clinicians, healthcare providers, researchers, service providers, and community members. Restorative Health Circles bring these stakeholders together on an equal playing field to learn from one another and to create relationships that lead to transformative health care delivery. These conversations create a social foundation from which to pursue common goals and address common problems. Our circles elicit a deeper, multifaceted collaborative approach to health, addressing the social, emotional, and environmental aspects of health that often go unaddressed.
 
Circle of Knowledge was a program created with an innovations grant from Alameda County Behavioral Health Services. The goal was to design a re-entry program that promoted and maintained primary and mental health continuity of care for African-American men returning home from prison. Utilizing circle process both in prison and after release in the community, "Circle of Knowledge" prioritized the collective experience, strategies, and wisdom of the participants while also streamlining access to system resources. The goal of the initiative was to maintain health and freedom following a period of incarceration by fostering dignity and relationship.

Guest Bios

Ivelyse Andino is an Afro-Latina health equity innovator born and raised in The Bronx, and the founder and CEO of Radical Health. Ivelyse enjoyed a fledgling career in health tech, pioneering some of its first digital health solutions, including bringing the first mobile app prescribing platform to market and working with global clients such as National Health Service (NHS London) and Kaiser Permanente. While she routinely trained oncologists on new drugs, she found herself unprepared when her mother was diagnosed with cancer. This forced her to directly and intimately confront the systemic healthcare disparities she knew that existed. In founding Radical Health — the first Latina-owned and operated Benefit Corp in NYC — she has sought to combine her expertise in healthcare and her passion as a community organizer. Coming from an historically marginalized community herself, it was important for Ivelyse to initially build Radical Health by bringing together her neighbors around her kitchen table and hearing first-hand from voices — including the undocumented, women of color, elderly, young people, and LGBTQ — who are otherwise (figuratively and) literally never given a seat at the table to have a say in their own healthcare destiny. Through Radical Health, Ivelyse is committed to the task of transforming healthcare by facilitating health literacy and self-advocacy, as well as forging a relationship between meaningful face-to-face conversations and cutting-edge technology.

Jason Walsh, RN, FNP, has a thirty year commitment to nonprofit work. Through adult literacy, neighborhood economic empowerment, post-incarceration reentry work, and youth restorative justice diversion, Jason fosters compassion and collectivity through restorative practices. He initiated “Circle of Knowledge,” which promoted and maintained primary and mental health continuity of care for African-American men returning home from prison. A recent graduate of the University of California San Francisco’s Family Nurse Practitioner Program, Jason looks forward to applying restorative principles and community building in the medical field through group medical visits and co-facilitating with formerly incarcerated community health workers. He lives in Berkeley, CA with his wife sujatha and their child, Sathya.