Michelle Jackett (PACS 2011): On Repairing Harm Within Complex Systems
In the grand scheme of our complex world, it is challenging to decide where you, as an individual, can make the greatest impact. For Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS) alumni Michelle Jackett (‘11), making a difference meant finding her niche, building her expertise, and going all-in.
Michelle received her PACS degree in 2011. After graduation, she completed her MA in Conflict Transformation specializing in Restorative Justice from Eastern Mennonite University. Upon returning to Kitchener-Waterloo, she worked for 8 years with the Kindred Centre for Peace Advancement (CPA), and as a sessional PACS instructor for PACS 329: Restorative Justice. Today, Michelle works as a restorative justice (RJ) practitioner and consultant with Just Outcomes Consulting.
Before arriving at Grebel and studying PACS, Michelle was a student at an Arts high school who spent all her spare time singing in choir. In the search for post-secondary education, she was torn between taking an undergraduate degree in Music or PACS. She ultimately chose the latter.
Initially, Michelle felt as though she had turned her back on music when she chose to focus her academic journey on PACS. However, she recently realized the profound connection that the two disciplines share:
[Both music and PACS are] about deep listening and alignment; creating sacred spaces of being together in ways that bring us into right relationship and harmony.
The experience of performing in a choir, she says, is not so different from the principles and practices of restorative justice. This is why, in her third year of university, Michelle connected so deeply to the idea. PACS Professor Johonna McCants-Turner describes restorative justice as a philosophy that “emphasizes healing and accountability to repair harm and injury, build healthy relationships, and create thriving communities”. Michelle’s introduction to the concept came at a time when she was struggling to deal with an overwhelming reality:
As a PACS student, it felt like every day there was a new crisis or a new painful reality in the world to confront. I remember, in my third year, having a night where I just thought, ‘it’s too much, I can't make a difference if every day I'm passionate about a new issue … I don't know how to fix all of this.’
For Michelle, her understanding of restorative justice was the answer to the internal conflict she was experiencing. She would focus on understanding this newfound concept, nurture her passion, and commit to it . Since then, restorative justice has remained a central part of her life. But while RJ has been her focus, she is also grateful for the interdisciplinary nature of PACS and her exposure to many forms of peacebuilding. It was this exposure that led her to join the team at the Centre for Peace Advancement in 2014 as its inaugural Coordinator.
The CPA captured her heart with its interdisciplinary approach to peace and justice and its commitment to bringing together a group of like-minded entrepreneurs, artists and peacebuilders uplifting and supporting each other’s work.
We [must] see that our approach is one small piece that needs to be connected to everything else [for] meaningful change to happen. The CPA brought this to life, and it was cool that it was happening at Grebel, [where PACS is taught].
In 2022, Michelle began working as a Senior Consultant with Just Outcomes Consulting. Just Outcomes supports communities and organizations in re-imagining just responses to harm and its causes, moving the needle towards more restorative, trauma-informed approaches. Michelle finds fulfillment in helping other people come to the same realizations that she herself has experienced:
They knew that this [restorative approach] was always how they wanted to show up in the world, but they didn’t have the language to put it into words … it's about giving people a framework and a worldview to approach all of life with.
These skills and practices are valuable as a leader, as a friend, or even as a parent; Michelle personally takes them with her into every aspect of her life. As a practitioner, she also regularly takes time to reflect, just as she did as a student during her PACS undergraduate degree. She notes that asking yourself how your work connects to your values and identity is critical for students and working professionals alike:
Stopping to check in about how I was feeling and how I was being impacted instead of going through the motions has been a crucial part of my journey. I am still asking those questions 15 years later, and they are part of my commitment to being a reflective practitioner.
These reflections about her work speak to how happy Michelle is with her career journey thus far. She hopes to help people move toward greater connection and resilience through tending to relationships, utilizing the passions and teachings that she first discovered through the PACS program.
By Alivia Schill