The Restorative Justice Symposium, on September 24-25, was an excellent opportunity to learn more about restorative justice, meet people who practice RJ from around the state and hear and share great stories about RJ.  YouthZone facilitators who attended were Russ Criswell, Annette Ferriole, Tish Filiss, Ray Limoges, along with Lisa Sobke, YouthZone's Restorative Justice Coordinator.  Yampah High School brought 8 students to the conference.    Thursday, September 24, began with Dr. Mark Umbreit's inspiring keynote address on "The Energy of Forgiveness" centered on his experiences surrounding the controversial word "forgiveness" and how forgiveness affects victims and survivors. Following Umbreit's speech, participants spent the rest of the day attending break-out groups on a variety of restorative justice topics.   On Friday, September 25, State Representative Pete Lee discussed restorative justice legislation in Colorado and his passion for bringing change and healing to those whose lives have been affected by violence. Following Lee, Patty Kiefer (see link to article in RJ in the News) and Andy Ulferts spoke about the powerful Victim/Offender Dialog, VOD, they participated in after Andy killed Patty's son ,Elijiah, in a drunk driving accident in 2011. In their emotional recount of the actions that led up to the incident and the VOD that followed, they spoke of the healing that occurred for both the victim and offender following their meeting.