First and foremost, we offer heart-centered listening and accompaniment to anyone who has been part of an instance of identity-based harm. We work with you to determine what you need and what your next steps forward towards repair might be. These can include: 

• Support, listening, and empowerment   
• Space for reflection and validation  
• Facilitation of a restorative conversation between parties  
• A sounding board to think through possible avenues of healing and justice   
• A team that can receive feedback about campus culture and help to weave preventative measures throughout campus life   

There may be instances of identity-based harm that people feel able to address directly with the other people involved, with the support of a faculty member or supervisor if appropriate. When that is not possible, or people need more support, the DIB Care Team is here as a resource. If you’re not sure whether you need our support, please reach out for an initial conversation – we are happy to help you discern. 

Absolutely. Restorative justice holds that no one is disposable, and that we all need strong support in order to be able to enter into a process of accountability, repair, and healing. The DIB Care Team is poised and trained to support you whether you’ve experienced harm, caused harm, or both.  

We are not a strictly confidential resource, but we are a private resource. We are committed to providing a strong container for your story and your process. We rely on the touchstone “Stories Stay, Lessons Go” in how we approach privacy and confidentiality.  

We will work in partnership with each other and with you, which means we will most often work in pairs with you, and we will utilize the full team as needed for additional guidance and support. We will not share the details or particulars of your story outside of the DIB Care Team unless we are required to as a mandated reporter on a Title IX issue or concerns of harm or safety for you or others.   

We can answer any questions you have about confidentiality and we want to hear about any needs you have related to privacy and confidentiality. 

1. Contact the DIB Care Team 
2. The DIB Care Team member you contacted connects with you to engage in initial conversation about your experience 
3. During this conversation, the DIB Care Team member will offer a space of support for you to be heard and to think through possible next steps  
4. Next steps will vary according to your particular needs, but may include problem-solving, healing and grief work, accompaniment, resource referral, and/or a restorative circle approach, as appropriate. 
5. If you need ongoing support or if a restorative circle approach is needed, a second member of the DIB Care Team will be brought in. Depending on the next steps you identify together, the team will stay with you as supports or facilitators. 

No. We are here to help support restorative processes in cases of DIB-related issues and to provide accompaniment in the healing process. If, as part of your process, you desire support in initiating a University process or formal complaint related to your experience, we can help connect you to the right parties, but reaching out to us does not initiate any University-related process. 

With their consent, yes. We’re available to help support you in supporting your friend, and here to help support them if they desire. 

The DIB Care Team offers a way of weaving restorative justice and healing throughout our HDS community. Restorative justice is a world view rooted in indigeneity that calls us to prioritize our humanity and our relationships with each other. It is a philosophy that holds our collective humanity at the center through principles and practices, including circle practices. Restorative justice invites people to step into courage, truth-telling, love, accountability, and repair. A community that embraces this approach seeks to repair harm and also to change the culture and conditions that created the harm.  

Restorative justice and restorative circles are rooted in the belief that no one is disposable, and that the circle holds us all. It’s an approach that is not punitive in seeking justice, but promotes accountability, repair, and healing.  

While the DIB Care Team might be responding to harm, especially initially, our vision is to shift HDS culture through a restorative approach. In this, we see our restorative approach as part of building a container where our community’s foundation can be one of trust and connection. This is the foundation for cultural and systemic transformation.    

Anna Anctil 

Position: HDS Director of Human Resources; Title IX Resource Coordinator for Faculty and Staff 

Email: aanctil@hds.harvard.edu 

Melissa Wood Bartholomew 

Position: HDS Associate Dean for Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DIB), and Lecturer on Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Email: mbartholomew@hds.harvard.edu 

Drema Bowers 

Position: Assistant Director for Student Support, Local Disability Coordinator  

Email: dbowers@hds.harvard.edu 

Ahmaad J. Jahi Edmund  

Position: HDS DIB Graduate Assistant and MDiv II 

Email: ahmaadedmund@hds.harvard.edu 

Janet Gyatso 

Position: Associate Dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs; Hershey Professor of Buddhist Studies 

Email: jgyatso@hds.harvard.edu 

David Frank Holland 

Position: John A. Bartlett Professor of New England Church History 

Email: dholland@hds.harvard.edu 

Sama Shah 

Position: HDS DIB Graduate Assistant and MTS I 

Email: samashah@hds.harvard.edu 

Steph Grayson Gauchel 

Position: HDS Assistant Dean of Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging; Title IX Resource Coordinator for Students; DIB Care Team Coordinator 

Email: sgauchel@hds.harvard.edu 

Emma Thomas 

Position: HDS DIB Graduate Assistant and MDiv II 

Email: ethomas@hds.harvard.edu 

Laura S. Tuach 

Position: Assistant Dean for Ministry Studies and Field Education 

Email: ltuach@hds.harvard.edu 

Timothy Whelsky 

Position: Associate Dean for Enrollment and Student Services; Title IX Resource Coordinator for Students 

Email: twhelsky@hds.harvard.edu 

• Be present as fully as possible, take care as needed. 
• What is offered in the circle is by invitation, not demand.  
• Practice decolonized time; move at the speed trust.
• Open what you can close, extend grace.
• We cannot know for certain until we are told. 
• Speak your truth in ways that respect other peoples’ truths.  
• Take space, make space. 
• Be mindful of the impulse to fix, save, advise, or correct each other.  
• Not about correction, but transformation. 
• Learn to respond to others with honest, open questions.  
• When the going gets rough, turn to wonder. 
• Attend to your own inner teacher. 
• Trust and learn from the silence. 
• Stories stay, lessons go. 
• Know that it’s possible. 

Explore our DIB Touchstones more fully.  

If you have questions or would like to talk to the DIB Care Team about a concern or experiences of DIB-related harm in the HDS community, please reach out to us in whatever of the following ways you prefer: 

• Connect directly with any DIB Care Team member via email, phone, or in person 

• Connect directly with the DIB Office via email, phone, or in person 

• Email us at dibcareteam@hds.harvard.edu (which goes directly to Steph Gauchel) 

• Fill out the intake form on our website  

If you aren’t sure where to start or who you want to talk to, we recommend connecting in person or via email, phone, or Zoom with our DIB Care Team Coordinator, Steph Gauchel.  

We understand that for some, filling out this form might help you process your experience and identify needs. We also understand that for others, filling out a form might not best meet your needs.  

• If you don’t know what you want or who you want to talk to, please feel free to email dibcareteam@hds.harvard.edu (which goes directly to Steph Gauchel); call the DIB Office, or come by the DIB Office. 

• You are also welcome to reach out to anyone on the DIB Care Team you feel comfortable reaching out to. Any member of the DIB Care Team can talk to you about your concern.