Dr. Deirdre Williams

Dr. Deirdre Williams, DSW, LCSW, SIFI holds a Doctor of Social Welfare with a concentration in Social Work from New York University. She is a skilled clinical and forensic social worker with a specialty in individual and family therapy with adolescents and court-involved individuals.

Many of the populations Deirdre has worked with have court-involvement, a history of homelessness, child welfare placements, and confinement through psychiatric hospitalizations, juvenile detention, jails, and prisons. Because many of the settings she's worked in are restrictive, she is dedicated to countering the narrative of learned helplessness. In her practice, Deirdre builds foundations to address disparaging gaps in systems and encourages people to have a sense of ownership of his/her own narrative. Deirdre employs a level of mindfulness, commitment, and respect to the treatment process to create settings that respect all identities. Her hands-on approach creates a space of building understanding, validating, and being curious of the narratives and lived truths of others that builds accountability and addresses patterns of internal and transgenerational discords.

In her work with the Restorative Center, Deirdre’s dedication to building foundations and addressing gaps in various systems centers around supporting the individual and/or uniting people to remain vulnerable and authentic. She has been honored to bestow her practical knowledge to traditional MSW students at Fordham University and New York University in traditional classrooms as well as in agency settings.

Anthony Posada, Esq.

Anthony Posada is a Supervising Attorney for the Community Justice Unit of the Legal Aid Society. Anthony graduated from CUNY School of Law at Queens College where he received his JD in 2012 with a specialization in Community Economic Development, Immigration and Deportation Defense. Anthony is also the son of a Colombian immigrant father, recently deported, who spend more than two decades incarcerated in the US prison system. Growing up fully aware of the disproportionate targeting of poor people and people of color by the US criminal justice system, Anthony early on turned his attention to seeking justice for those people systematically targeted and cast aside in the very country where they hoped to prosper.

Through his work in the Legal Aid Community Justice Unit, Anthony has provided legal services to members of “Cure Violence” Programs. Cure Violence focuses on gun violence as a national health issue. It works with likely victims to change social norms that have perpetuated the deaths of both individuals and communities. Anthony’s work does not stop with his job. As always he has been deeply engaged with struggling communities and has given his own time and talent to many efforts to seek social justice. In 2010 he started Project Attica: Community Through the Arts, a collective of lawyers, activists, community members, and artists dedicated to spreading the message of using art to empower underserved youth and communities. He currently serves on its board as Art Programs Director, and when he isn't busy helping young people get their activist messages onto T-shirts, he is posting calls to action on Twitter and occasionally adding his own drawings.

Marina Litvinskaya

Marina Litvinskaya is a visual artist born in the Soviet Union, raised in Brooklyn. She is investigating, experimenting, and showing up, for the purposes of finding a way through into an equitable present. In addition to being a TRC-trained Circle Keeper, Marina’s art is featured throughout the RJCP website.

Maria Jain

Born in Finland and currently living in Brooklyn, Maria is an international civil servant with over ten years of experience in partnerships, fundraising, and programs in organizations dedicated to human rights, development cooperation, and humanitarian response. Along the way, Maria has also had a home in Delhi, Mumbai, and Monrovia.

Maria found her way to TRC through her calling to be engaged in work on social justice, and practices for individual and collective transformation. As a TRC volunteer, Maria contributes as a Circle Keeper and Community Anchor in developing the Restorative Justice program for clemency and parole.

Maria holds a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences from the University of Helsinki. She is committed to contribute to creating spaces where we can see and be seen as fuller versions of ourselves and one another; spaces where we can explore and begin to articulate new narratives individually and collectively, so that we are not held hostage by the past.

Tecoria Jones

A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Tecoria Jones has been a parent advocate for over fifteen years. Her work in this field began as a Parent Peer Support provider for families with children who have mental health concerns. As a consultant, and a family and community advocate, she is actively involved in restorative practices in local, state and national systems change work.

Commitment to Circle Keeping and the Circle process is what brings Tecoria to TRC. Being connected to communities’ need for communication, tending Circle and the development and growth of CircleKeepers is vital.

Tecoria shares, “In my life, I have seen enough adversity to know that it affects all of us. That the adversities of people we may never even think of still finds its way into our lives. The process of Circle addresses and begins the process of finding our way back to what it means to be human, to be alive together, in this time. Keeping Circle is holding space for expressions of humanity.”

Tecoria’s proudest accomplishment to date is parenting her six children, ages 22 to 4. He has a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies: Social Studies, Criminology, Urban Geography, Politics, and International Studies. Tecoria approaches her work with an understanding of the effects of trauma and a reverence for the resiliency of hope.