WHO WE ARE
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About Restorative Way
Restorative Way was founded 20 years ago by Dr. Will Bledsoe, Ph.D., to advance and expand restorative communication practices and programming that help people move through traumatic stress, destructive and entrenched conflict and broken relationships in a way that is noble, honest, heart-full, and reintegrative.Â
Since that time, RWay practices and programming have been implemented in the justice system, K–12 schools, universities, hospitals, families, family businesses, organizations and workplaces.  Â
“To be a restorative practitioner requires being willing to step into the middle of conflict and contempt with courage, empathy, humility, and a ferocious commitment to the well-being of others. Restorative Way is committed to helping people build relationship-centric cultures and communities.”
About Will
Will is currently an Associate Professor of Communication in the Isaacson School for Communication, Arts, and Media at Colorado Mountain College where he teaches Interpersonal Communication, Intercultural Communication, Rhetoric and Pop Culture, and Conflict Management. He holds a doctorate in communication from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a master’s degree in religious studies, also from CU. While at the university he taught courses in conflict management, group communication, peace & conflict studies, the rhetoric of presidential campaigns and social movements, restorative justice, and advanced research writing. He has facilitated over 1000 restorative conflict mediation encounters using a range of models including - victim/offender dialogue, family-group conferences, community-group conferences, and peacemaking circles for various municipal and district courts involving both misdemeanor and felony violations. For the past fifteen years he has consulted k12 educators and administrators, and workplaces implement restorative conflict and conduct practices and programming. He is the author of The Restorative Way: Harnessing the Power of Restorative Communication to Mend Relationships, Heal Trauma, and Reclaim Civility One Conversation at a Time (2024).
Panels, Papers, Publications and Presentations
➢ In 1999 he was invited to present his M.A. thesis “The function of pain in Penitente devotional practices: Body of Christ/Body of Man” at the Rocky Mountain-Great Plains District Conference of the American Academy of Religion.
➢ In 1999 he was awarded Outstanding Scholarship Recognition by the National Honor Society of Religious Studies/Theology
➢ In 2004 he was an invited guest presenter on gender bias at the International Conference on Restorative Practices in Vancouver, Canada.
➢ From 2004-2008 he sat on both C.U.’s Standing Committee on Substance Abuse and Office of Discrimination and Sexual Harassment case review board.
➢ In 2004 he created one of the nation’s first University-based programs to process student crimes occurring off-campus and in the Boulder community. He trained 50+ facilitators, and increased the program’s caseload from 12 per year to over 400 per year with less than 1% recidivism.
➢ In 2008 he was recognized by C.U.’s Institute for Ethical Civic Engagement for his development of the University’s Restorative Justice Program which received national acclaim as “an exemplary university justice program.”
➢ In 2011 he provided expert testimony for the Colorado State House of Representatives in support of legislation formalizing the practice of restorative mediation in civil cases.
➢ In 2012 he was the keynote speaker at the Boulder County Community Practice Project charged with unifying correctional and clinical practices for mental health patients.
➢ In 2016 he was a guest presenter at the Colorado Conference on Restorative Practices – “Building Restorative Organizational Cultures: Intention, Interaction, and Narrative.”
➢ In 2017 he was invited to consult with the Advisory & Planning Committee for Colorado Dept. of Education: Trauma Responsive Schools Theory of Change Action Plan
➢ In 2018 he published a series of articles in Mountain Parent Magazine.
✓ “Building a Bridge While Navigating Family Conflict: A Restorative Way to Create Connection”
✓ “Building a Bridge by Forming a Circle: A Restorative Way Through Bullying”
✓ “Building a Bridge When a Child Seems Unreachable: Looking Through a Restorative Lens to See Beyond a Label”
➢ 2019: “Restorative School Discipline: It’s about Engagement, not Enforcement”, Connections Quarterly: Vol. XXXIX – Issue 2. The Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education (CSEE)
➢ He has a chapter in an upcoming book “Stories of Restoration” to be published by The New Press.
➢ He is currently working on a second book: “Restoration Matters: A Practitioner’s Journey of Rehumanization” [working title]
A bit more about Will
Prior to his career in education, Will was an actor in Los Angeles and a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Noteworthy films, movies, episodic television shows as lead, starring, guest-starring, and co-starring actor include: In the Heat of the Night (NBC), Matlock (NBC), Midnight Caller (NBC), Adam-12 (Universal Pictures/FOX), Alien Nation (Warner Bros./FOX), Boone (NBC), B. L. Stryker (ABC), Cover-Up (CBS), Dark Side of the Moon (Viacom), Fame (MGM), First and Ten (HBO), Return of the Six Million $ Man (NBC), Two Marriages (ABC), Up the Creek (Orion Pictures), Yellow Rose of Texas (NBC), Summer (CBS), Towheads (NBC), I Do* (Awarded the Nevada Film Festival Silver Screen Award in 2009).
Will strives to be a devoted father, loving son, and supportive friend. In his off time, he prefers to stand in a river and watch trout ignore his flies. Most important to Will is his relationship with an unconditionally loving resource he refers to as The Great Heartbeat.
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Logan Ward
He / him / his
Logan Ward is Restorative Way’s Content Editor and Designer, which includes the video editing of courses and advertisements, the design of graphics, copyediting, design consultation, and assistant to the social media and website departments. Logan has a BFA in Illustration from University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and an MA in Media Design from Emerson College. His documentary, Remarkable: Voices from the Trans Community, has received three awards, screened at three film festivals, and has been the subject of two public speaking engagements which Logan gave at Bethel College and, courtesy of Pride of Woodstock Vermont, the Woodstock Town Hall.
In 2024, as a fellow at the Salzburg Global Seminar, Logan became acquainted with Molly Rowan Leach, founder of Restorative Justice on the Rise, who soon after became Logan's mentor in restorative practice and introduced him to Will Bledsoe.
Logan's commitment to Restorative Way's mission stems from his community-oriented background growing up in small-town Vermont. Raised by a social worker and a marriage counselor, it is Logan's life mission to empower those who feel inadequately acknowledged, mitigate conflict, and hopefully bring joy to the people he meets along the way.Â
Tayler Denae
She / her / hers
Tayler runs her own creative studio and is a media specialist with a background in recording engineering and a focus on music for visuals, music production, and video creation. Her work has been featured by clients including Paramount+, Gatorade, and several major networks. Hard to define by a single title, Tayler works across the full creative spectrum—video, music, marketing, strategy, and graphic design—bringing a unified artistic vision to every project.Â
After years in the social media space, she recognized the need for real conversation and dignity in a world driven by shrinking attention spans. Whether through sound, visuals, or digital strategy, her work centers on creating authentic worlds that genuinely connect people to a brand.Â
At Restorative Way, she brings her passion for communication and how we show up in the world, using media to cultivate clarity, connection, and meaningful storytelling
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Eric Tauer
He / him / his
Eric Tauer is a Software Engineer and the owner of appLab, Ltd.
Eric’s role at Restorative Way is to collaborate with our team to design and build the restorativeway.com website infrastructure that you are currently viewing.
Eric has dedicated much of his heart and soul to his own personal development work, and to supporting others that are engaged in similarly meaningful work. Eric has spent many years applying himself through “Men’s Work” via the The Mankind Project (MKP) framework participating in the New Warrior Training Adventure (NWTA) and hosting his own local I-Group in Salida, Colorado.
Previously, Eric worked for a wide variety of organizations: dairy farm cooperative, bug shield manufacturer, defense contractor, computer sales/distributor, bicycle retailer, cloud-based ERP system, and others.
Eric is now cherishing deep gratitude in the opportunity to apply his efforts, skills, and abilities with Restorative Way; an organization whose mission has deep meaning to him.
