Leslie C. Lewis
Leslie C. Lewis is a partner with 3 Stories Consulting, LLC specializing in strategic planning and organizational development, and is also a published writer and playwright. She infuses her consulting work with the knowledge and skills gained through her extensive background in conflict resolution, mediation, and restorative justice, and utilizes an interdisciplinary, collaborative approach to address complex and rapidly shifting environments of workplace settings. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies, non-profit agencies, universities, the judiciary, police, sports teams, religious institutions, community groups, youth, and families to increase cohesiveness and productivity through the creation of imaginative work structures and the expansion of effective dialogue. Prior to moving to Colorado, she served as the Executive Director of the Dispute Settlement Center located in Norwalk, Connecticut, where she pioneered the use of restorative justice programs in the state criminal court system and initiated alternative dispute resolution programs for persons with developmental disabilities and mental health needs and their caregivers. As an Associate with the Duke University Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation, she assists with strategic design and planning, and is a racial healing practitioner. Leslie thrives in an atmosphere of innovation and risk-taking, and has a proven track record of bringing partnering entities together to implement new programs.
Leslie’s plays have been performed across the United States, and she has authored non-fiction essays and articles for the academic and popular press, receiving awards for subject matter on the environment and contemporary culture. She is a co-founder, co-producer and emcee of Rough Draught Playwrights, a live performance venue presenting Colorado playwrights’ works-in-progress, and was a founding member of Dirtyfish Theater, a playwrights collective that created and produced original work in Denver. Radio credits include a series of essays addressing contemporary social issues which she wrote and broadcast for Connecticut Public Radio.
Deb Witzel
Deb inspires individuals, agencies, and audiences of all sizes to reach for connection, compassion and action. Skilled in community building, program and organizational development, conflict resolution, and culture change, Deb brings versatility and an improvisational flair into her work. She holds the restorative values of relationship, respect, responsibility and reciprocity as her guiding light. Through her consulting, trainings, and facilitation, Deb weaves the threads of individual stories, collective impact, and shared vision. Through her decades of improvisational theater work with Playback Theatre West, and more recently with Motus Theater’s Power Playback, she creates a “Yes And” approach that moves people toward change and a sense of collaborative progress. Her capacity to listen deeply to the needs of those she works with generates a sense of safety that supports common ground and resolution.
She currently holds a vision for a wholistic and restorative response to intimate violence (i.e. domestic violence and sexual assault) that begins to heal the harm impacting so many families. As a result of this vision, she launched The Restorative Approach to Intimate Violence (RAIV) project in 2022 with Colorado’s 20th JD Probation Department.
Deb co-produces and hosts The Restorative Justice Chronicles Podcast which lifts up the voices of people who have lived experience in restorative justice processes. She also mentors restorative justice practitioners and provides restorative justice services and training.
In 2013, she became the first Colorado Coordinator for Restorative Justice in the State Court Administrator’s Office. Prior to that, in 2008 Deb began serving the Colorado Coordinating Council on Restorative Justice as their manager. She was Executive Director of the Longmont Community Justice Partnership (LCJP) from 2008 – 2013 where she supervised an amazing team and worked in partnership with law enforcement, schools, and the justice system to support the use of restorative practices in service to people who have experienced harm as well as the people who caused them harm.
Deb has been a restorative justice practitioner, trainer, and consultant since 2004, facilitating hundreds of successful restorative processes and trainings in the justice system, schools and communities. Her passion is inspiring others to become restorative practitioners and supporters toward a healthier paradigm for justice.