Joe Brummer

Joe Brummer is a trauma survivor. Having lived through early exposure to violence, child abuse and neglect, and two separate violent anti-LGBTQ hate crimes, he has turned his healing journey into a career in peacebuilding, restorative justice, and consulting in trauma-informed education. Joe supports schools and youth justice institutions internationally using a trauma-informed restorative lens to create supportive human-centered environments. Joe is an adjunct faculty member at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, teaching the Peacebuilding Skills: Dialogue, Trauma & Restorative Justice course. Joe has appeared on dozens of podcasts and webinars and presented at national and international conferences. Joe has completed the certification course in Dr. Bruce Perry’s Neurosequential Model in Education and is a member of the Attachment and Trauma Network’s Training Collaborative. Additionally, he partners with the Trauma-informed Educators Network. After years of working in the mental health training field, he was the associate director of a community mediation center, where he ran both adult and youth criminal mediation programs, community dialogue initiatives, and school-based peer mediation programs, along with training hundreds of people to become community mediators. He served seven years on the board of directors for the National Association for Community Mediation. His first book, Building a Trauma-informed Restorative School: Skills and Approaches for Improving Culture and Behavior (2020) is used by schools across the globe. His next book, Becoming a Trauma-Informed Restorative Educator: Practical Skills to Change Culture and Behavior, co-authored with restorative justice pioneer Margaret Thorsborne, will be released in June 2024.