Restorative justice programmes aim to help rebuild relationships between the offender, the victim, their family and the community at large. Such programmes attempt to improve the experience for the victim, as well as encouraging the offender to take responsibility for their crime. Different techniques are used in order to help bring about restorative justice, including face-to-face meetings between the offender and victim; direct mediation (a meeting between the offender and victim, but accompanied by a trained mediator to help manage their discussions and offer support); and indirect mediation (the offender and victim do not meet face-to-face, but their communication is passed to each other via a mediator).