{"id":31917,"date":"2026-07-22T12:17:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/?p=31917"},"modified":"2026-07-22T12:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T17:17:41","slug":"rebuilding-trust-one-story-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/law.marquette.edu\/facultyblog\/2026\/07\/rebuilding-trust-one-story-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebuilding Trust, One Story at a Time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Andrew<\/a>In response to the findings of the recent Marquette Law School Poll, <\/em>Marquette Law School Poll Finds a Steady Decline, by Age, in Trust in Other People<\/em><\/a>, Professors Mary Triggiano and Becca Donaldson, director and assistant director of Marquette Law School’s Andrew Center for Restorative Justice, offer reflections on how restorative practices can help rebuild trust\u2014one conversation and one story at a time.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Imagine walking into a room filled with people you have never met. You take a seat in a circle. At first, the conversation is cautious. A favorite childhood memory. Someone who influenced your life. A place where you feel at peace.<\/p>\n

Then, almost without noticing, something begins to shift.<\/p>\n

The stories become more personal. Someone speaks about loss. Another shares a fear they have never voiced aloud. Heads begin to nod. People who arrived as strangers start recognizing pieces of themselves in one another. By the time the circle ends, the room has changed. More accurately, the people in it have.<\/p>\n

That simple transformation feels increasingly rare. A recent national Marquette Law School Poll<\/a> revealed a troubling reality: trust in our country continues to decline, particularly among young people. At Marquette Law School\u2019s Andrew Center for Restorative Justice, we believe a restorative approach to difference and disagreement offers a path toward rebuilding that trust\u2014not only within our institutions, but in our everyday relationships. More importantly, it offers something each of us can begin practicing today.<\/p>\n

The Andrew Center works with young people in many different settings. Some are law students preparing for careers in the legal profession. Others are young people in our community, including those in prisons and youth detention facilities. Their circumstances are profoundly different, yet many share a common challenge: deciding how\u2014and whether\u2014to connect authentically with others in a world where vulnerability can feel risky and where so much of what is shared online can become part of a permanent public record.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the path they walk in life, we have seen young adults discover meaningful connection\u2014and build trust\u2014through restorative justice circles.<\/p>\n

Circles offer a unique opportunity to build trust. Guided by a neutral facilitator, participants enter a space grounded in confidentiality, respect, and shared humanity. The facilitator establishes the norms, creating an environment where participants feel safe enough to share stories from the heart. As Director Triggiano often reminds circle participants, stories stay, lessons leave.<\/em> Within that protected space, young people can speak honestly about what is on their minds and hearts without fearing criticism or judgment\u2014a stark contrast to what it often feels like to open up online, at home, or even in the classroom.<\/p>\n

Trust is not built all at once. It develops through an intentional, iterative process. Circle questions begin gently, allowing participants to build comfort before gradually inviting them into deeper conversations about their struggles, hopes, and triumphs. Often, participants find themselves sharing stories they have never spoken aloud before simply because someone finally asked the right question.<\/p>\n

As those stories unfold, something remarkable can happen. Participants begin to discover common ground. Differences that once seemed defining become less significant than the shared experiences of fear, hope, love, disappointment, and resilience that connect us all. People who entered the room as strangers often leave feeling deeply connected, sometimes describing one another as kindred spirits.<\/p>\n

While participants leave the stories behind in the circle, they carry the lessons with them. They leave with greater empathy, a deeper appreciation for one another, and often with fewer assumptions than they carried into the room. Trust begins to grow because they have had the opportunity to truly know another human being.<\/p>\n

One law student recently reflected on this experience in her final paper for the Restorative Justice Workshop (we share this anonymously but with permission):<\/p>\n

“I am also grateful for my classmates. This was not an easy class in the sense that it required vulnerability, honesty, and reflection in a way that most law school classes do not. But everyone showed up in that way, and that is what made the experience what it was. This class gave me perspective again. It gave me purpose again. And it reminded me that the kind of lawyer I want to be is not just someone who knows the law, but someone who understands people.”<\/p>\n

While participating in a restorative circle can be a powerful and transformative experience, the principles that make circles work are available to all of us every day.<\/p>\n

To begin, pause.<\/p>\n

Take a breath.<\/p>\n

Ask a thoughtful question of someone you may not otherwise intentionally engage\u2014a classmate, a neighbor, a colleague. Listen without preparing your response. Listen instead for the story beneath the words. Resist the urge to explain, persuade, shame, or debate. Give the other person’s words room to breathe. And if the moment invites it, share your own story\u2014not to convince, but to connect.<\/p>\n

Above all, hearing another person’s story invites us to extend grace. We begin to see people not as obstacles, opponents, or avatars on a screen, but as fellow human beings navigating their own complex journeys.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that is why the Marquette Law School Poll found that trust remains stronger in people with whom we have an ongoing relationship, and strongest in family and coworkers. The challenge before us is to extend that same willingness to listen and understand beyond the people we already know\u2014to those we might initially think of as “the other.”<\/p>\n

Restorative justice reminds us that even when we are not sitting together in a literal circle, we are still connected. Our stories are intertwined. Our choices affect one another. Our communities become stronger when we choose curiosity over certainty and understanding over assumption.<\/p>\n

In a world that often tells us to speak louder, restorative justice asks us to listen more deeply.<\/p>\n

Trust is rarely rebuilt by sweeping gestures or viral moments. It grows quietly\u2014when someone feels heard, when another feels understood, when a story is met with compassion instead of judgment.<\/p>\n

Every conversation offers that possibility.<\/p>\n

Every story is an invitation.<\/p>\n

And perhaps the work of rebuilding trust begins exactly where every restorative circle begins\u2014with one person willing to listen to another.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to the findings of the recent Marquette Law School Poll, Marquette Law School Poll Finds a Steady Decline, by Age, in Trust in Other People, Professors Mary Triggiano and Becca Donaldson, director and assistant director of Marquette Law School’s Andrew Center for Restorative Justice, offer reflections on how restorative practices can help rebuild 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