Barbara Walshe is the current Chairperson of Facing Forward and the research coordinator of Facing Forward’s current research project. Barbara has a background and experience in community development, mediation, dialogue, facilitation, peace building, research and broadcasting. She has a Masters in Reconciliation and Conflict Studies (Trinity College, Dublin), BA English and Sociology (NUI, Galway); Masters in Community Development (NUI, Galway) and a range of other qualifications in education, housing and project management. She researched and presented Picking up the Pieces, a series of six radio programmes broadcast on Radio RTE Radio 1 on the challenges of peace building at community level on the border and in Northern Ireland. She also made a documentary on her time in Bethlehem as a human rights observer called, Witness at Checkpoint 300. She currently works as a restorative justice facilitator. She is Chair of the Board at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation.
Catherine O’Connell is a long-time member of Facing Forward. She has a huge interest in developing Restorative Practices in our society, communities, families and organisations. Catherine is the founder of Blossom Development. She is an accredited Mediator with the Mediators Institute of Ireland, a conflict management coach, coach mentor and trainer in CINERGY™ Conflict Management Coaching. Catherine develops training in conflict resolution, personal development and communications skills. She is a trainer, mediator, conflict management coach and mentor for Mediation Northside. She is a member of the international Association of Conflict Resolution. Catherine has an M.A in Mediation and Conflict Resolution and a B.Sc in Psychology.
Geoffrey Corry is a founding member of Facing Forward. He is a family and workplace mediator with case experience extending over 20 years, particularly with the state-run Family Mediation Service. He is a visiting lecturer at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute at NUI Maynooth and teaches basic mediation training at UCD Adult Education. He served as Chairperson of the Mediators Institute Ireland from 1999-2002. He facilitated over 50 political dialogue workshops at the Glencree Centre for Reconciliation during the years of the peace process. He founded Tallaght Community Mediation in 1991 and actively supports community dispute resolution in Ballymun, Coolock, the Border Counties and Castlebar.
Jacinta De Paor is a long-time member of Facing Forward. She is a Psychologist and the owner of NextPhases: Conflict Exploration, Facilitation & Training. She developed the programme: ‘Making Disagreements Work: A Positive Approach to Conflict’. She also created ’A Question of Conflict: dialogue model for Intractable Conflicts’. She managed a Programme for Dialogue between Combatants and Victims at Glencree Centre for Peace & Reconciliation. She has also worked with Young Offenders. She advised on Conflict & Trauma with the Basque Government, Geneva and Louvaine Universities. She has presented her work at the US Association for Conflict Resolution (ACR); European Conference on Trauma; & Quinnapiac University.
Margaret Quigley has recently joined Facing Forward as she believes in the benefits that restorative justice can have for both Victims and Offenders. She has been supporting people affected by crime since 2004. Margaret is currently the Chairperson of Support after Homicide. She holds an honours degree in Counselling and Psychotherapy from Middlesex University.
Margaret Weymes qualified in 2007 with a BSc in Counselling & Psychotherapy from Middlesex University. She went on to further qualify in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Neuro Linguistic Programming (and Mediation. She works in Counselling private practice. .She first heard of Restorative Justice through mediation and believes that there is a great need to develop this practice further and make people aware of its existence and value.
Marie Williams has been a Management Committee member of Facing Forward since 2008. She is the current secretary and a member of the research subcommittee. She has a background in community development and project management in the area of intercultural integration, human rights and anti-racism. She has edited shadow reports on behalf of a network of Irish NGOs for UN Human Rights bodies. Marie also coordinated a research project on migration and citizenship in the Geary Institute, UCD. She recently completed a Masters in Mediation and Conflict Intervention (NUI, Maynooth). Marie is currently on sabbatical from the Management Committee.
Mary Curtin’s career in broadcasting included fourteen years as a producer in the Religious Programmes department in RTÉ Radio 1, as well as periods in Education, Features and Current Affairs. In 2005 she became Secretary of the RTÉ Trade Union Group and, up to her retirement in 2012, was involved in protracted negotiations on new pension, pay and working conditions, in the context of the economic crisis and its effects on the finances of the organisation. She subsequently trained as a mediator and is a volunteer with Community Law and Mediation in Coolock, Dublin 17. Her work experience as well as her mediation training led to a particular interest in the area of Restorative Justice. Mary is also a board member of the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation.
Nadette Foley is the Facing Forward Treasurer and a member of the research subcommittee. Nadette was formerly Director of the Irish Refugee Council and the Multicultural Resource Centre Northern Ireland and has worked in the area of human rights, asylum advocacy, cultural diversity, anti-racism, intercultural integration and community development. She has extensive experience working with those who have survived the trauma of human rights violations including forced migration, torture, and racist and sexual violence. Nadette is an MII accredited community and family mediator with Mediation Ballymun and she is also an intercultural research and evaluation consultant.
Niall Counihan has been a member of Facing Forward management committee since 2009. He has been actively involved in many aspects of community development for the past twenty years. He is currently employed as the co-ordinator of the Cabra Community Policing Forum, and is particularly interested in the use of Restorative Practices in resolution of community antisocial behaviour and associated issues. Niall is currently a member of the Mediation Institute of Ireland and is a mediation practitioner. He also has a NUI diploma in Youth Justice.
P.J. McGowan has been interested in Restorative Justice since 1996 when he served as Director of the Garda National Juvenile Office. Victim Offender Mediation was then introduced as a part of the Garda Juvenile Diversion Programme. He holds a BA in Police Management and since retirement has obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution from Trinity College Dublin. He holds a Practising Certificate with the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland and is a voluntary mediator with South Dublin Mediation Services. He has completed four overseas Peace Keeping Missions with the United Nations.
Tim Coughlan is a former secondary-school teacher and self-employed businessman. He is a member of the Mediators’ Institute of Ireland and currently works as a mediator both in private practice and as a volunteer with South Dublin Mediation Services. Tim is also a trained facilitator with the Alternatives to Violence Project and holds a postgraduate Diploma in Mediation and Conflict Intervention from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute at Maynooth University. He became a member of Facing Forward in 2015.