Pia Slögs

I hold a Masters degree in law from the University of Umeå in Sweden and a Masters degree in restorative justice from the University of Hull in the UK. I have passed the Finnish Bar Exam and participated in the Bar Associations mediation training.

I’ve been working with VOM for about 15 years. I have worked as the Managing Director of a VOM - office, been a practising facilitator and trainer. As a lawyer I have worked with family mediation and today I work as project manager for the Community Mediation Center in Finland. I have been a researcher at the Finnish Ministry of Justice 2014 - 2015 for the EU project on restorative justice in Domestic Violence in which the EFRJ also took part. I have been appointed secretary of the Advisory Board for Mediation in Criminal Cases in Finland 2010 - 2015 (Ministry of Social Affairs and Health). I have trained restorative justice for mediators, police officers, prosecutors and more. I have participated in and organised numerous Finnish and European seminars, workshops and other events. I have written articles in a book on different restorative justice or mediation practises in Finland. I am a Board member of the Finnish Forum for Mediation.

I am highly motivated to take part in EFRJ Board’s work. At this point I feel I have both the experience and the time to make a relevant contribution. I have 15 years of experience working for an NGO, managing staff and funds, doing financial reporting on funds to the Finnish government. I have experience in presenting restorative justice and VOM to new authorities, municipalities and companies and working with them to develop practices. I am also an experienced practitioner and trainer. I am willing to contribute to the Board with a variety of tasks, whatever is needed. I also have a selfish motivation for applying for a membership on the Board and that is expanding and deepening my thoughts and ideas, meeting new people as well as having the opportunity for co-operation across borders.

I propose Pia Slögs as a candidate for the Board since I have worked with her in a large European project on restorative justice in cases of intimate partner violence (2013-2015) and I got to see how experienced she is in this field and we stayed in contact.

She knows how to combine legal expertise with practice. She has been a practising lawyer, a mediator and restorative justice trainer for many years and is convinced in the possibilities of restorative justice. Currently she is running a mediation organisation.

She has good management skills and is a pleasant person to work with. Finland is a country that we can learn much from, the links with the Ministry of Justice have been good between the EFRJ and also with Pia there is a good link to maintain this cooperation.

It is with great pleasure that I support Pia Slog’s candidacy for the Board of EFRJ. In the early days of the victim-offender meditation service in Denmark we looked to Finland for learning and inspiration. Pia was already at that time an experienced facilitator and combined with her academic background her contribution was much appreciated. Years later I had the pleasure of working with Pia on an EU project on intimate partner violence. That became two years of enjoyable and industrious cooperation with Pia on a difficult subject. Pia has been connected to restorative justice for many years. She is part of the restorative justice history and a skilled and devoted person who now wants to use her time and energy as a Board member in EFRJ.  How lucky for the Forum. I fully support her candidacy.

Email: pia.slogs@icloud.com

Organisation, job title: project manager, Community Mediation Center, Finland