Jack Knight interviews Anna Hamilton, Associate Director of Restorative Justice for the Diocese of San Bernardino. Anna spends some of her time visiting those in prison, as well as working with their families. There are ten people in her department with about 100 volunteers for each office. In juvenile hall the children range from 8 to 17 years old. They give the children a chance to tell their story and help reveal the reason why they ended up in jail. Resources are available to help them.

Another area of concern is suicide. In 2016 there were 45,000 suicides and in 2019 about 120,000. Some of the victims are children; some, as we know, are veterans.

The Diocese has a Suicide Task Force to help parishes to respond when a situation arises. Then there is ASIST – Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training which gives workshops to help those involved. Then Anna talked about recognizing that every person is a child of God and loved by God. She also has lots of hints of how to relieve pressure when the situation becomes tense.