Mary Montague

Mary Montague is the Operational Director of TIDES. Mary has an established reputation in inter-community work across many of the most contentious interfaces in Northern Ireland. Through her career she has worked for Quaker Cottage, the Corrymeela Community and in 2000 she helped co-found TIDES Training. Through her work as Training Director she has been responsible for helping design and deliver a new and innovative range of accredited training in Conflict Management and Good Relations etc. Mary has been key in both devising and piloting the Trainer of Trainers Programme with TIDES under the support of the CRC European Learning 
Fund. She is a founding member of Women Waging Peace global network at the John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University,  Boston, USA. As an experienced mentor, she advises groups in strategic development projects. She offers coaching to many individuals on a one to one basis to further develop their skills in community development, mediation and mediative interventions. Mary is the author of Relationships to Reconciliation a practice manual that outlines the staged process towards engagement.   She firmly believes in building up the skill base for Community Relations and Conflict Management Training within 
Northern Ireland. Internationally Mary has developed and delivered training programmes in areas such as the Balkans, Afghanistan Pakistan region and Sudan.

Colin Craig is the Development Director of TIDES. Colin has been involved in working for reconciliation in Northern Ireland for over 35 years. Over his career he has worked professionally as a Youth Worker, a Director of a Juvenile Justice Project, a Principal Officer and Regional Consultant for a National Charity. In 1990 he became Centre and Programme Director for the Corrymeela Community, which is recognised internationally for its pioneering work for reconciliation in Northern Ireland. In 2000 he co-founded TIDES. His major interest is in the development of the new leadership necessary to bring communities through post-conflict resolution through to interdependence and reconciliation. His work involves building training programmes both locally and internationally on Conflict Management and Diversity. In recent years he has trained extensively in Europe, Africa, Canada, USA and South East Asia. He has lectured and trained internationally on the themes of reconciliation, equality and diversity, and conflict management.

Shona Bell

Shona Bell is an Assistant Director in TIDES Training. Shona is a qualified teacher and previously worked for Corrymeela as the Schools Community Relations worker. She is a highly experienced trainer in Conflict Management, Mediation, Group Work, Facilitation and Diversity Training with many agencies in Northern Ireland. Shona has also been proactive in developing curriculum for ‘e-learning’ diversity training programmes for the Civil Service, Disability Action and Queens University. Shona works internationally as a ‘Coach Trainer’ with Dialogue for Peaceful Change, and with a range of other agencies including Concern and OSCE, in the Balkans, Georgia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, India and the USA.

Liza Wilkinson

Liza Wilkinson is an Assistant Director in TIDES Training. Liza previously worked with Corrymeela as a family and community worker before joining TIDES. Liza is an experienced trainer in Diversity and Conflict Management programmes and carries a specialist responsibility for the management of the bric programme. Liza has worked with young adults on a wide range of Community Relations based topics and with a wide range of groups. She has worked internationally in Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Sweden, Italy, Zimbabwe and San Francisco.

Alan Ruddock

Alan Ruddock is the Manager of Mediation Services for TIDES Training. He previously worked for twenty three years as a Scientific Officer for the Department of Agriculture and more recently for six years as an Associate with Tides training and ten years as an Associate with Mediation Northern Ireland.  He has ten years’ experience practising mediation and delivering training in Conflict Management.  He has vast mediation experience in neighbour/ neighbour disputes, work place disputes and has particular experience and expertise working with statutory agencies and communities and mediating in inter and intra community conflicts within NI.  He has particular interest in assisting those individuals and groups who have been involved in politically motivated violence to re–habilitate, re-engage and re-integrate with their local and wider communities and society.

Gary Carpendale

Gary Carpendale is the  Office Manager and Company Secretary for TIDES Training. Gary has worked with a number of Statutory and Public Service Bodies both in Northern Ireland and in the Republic. He is responsible for managing the financial and administrative functions within TIDES. In addition as Company Secretary he ensures that TIDES fulfils its statutory and legal requirements as a limited company. Gary has a business degree, holds a management qualification from Queen’s University Belfast and is currently studying management accountancy.

Enda Young

Enda Young is a Project Coordinator and Trainer with TIDES.  Enda has been involved in Conflict Resolution and Community Relations work over the last ten years.  His roles in TIDES include project coordination, mediating disputes, social media and the delivery of TIDES accredited training courses across the Community, Public and Private sectors of Northern Ireland.  Enda has a specific interest in mediation and the use of experiential learning as a tool for conflict transformation.  He holds a MA in ‘Theory, Culture and Identity’ from the Queen’s University of Belfast and is a Rotary World Peace Fellow, a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow, an Accredited Practitioner of the Institute for Outdoor Learning and a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner.  Enda has also worked with a wide variety of groups both locally and internationally in South Africa, Canada, Thailand, and the United States.

Lisa Wilkinson

Lisa Wilkinson is a Trainer on the bric programme.  She delivers accredited OCN courses throughout NIHE – including staff at all levels and residents from across NI. Lisa’s responsibilities include programme design, delivery, and reflective practice. Lisa is a  mediation practitioner, trainer and community facilitator and has worked throughout N.I. and beyond. With a background in support work she has the skills to build capacity with programme participants. She has particular interest in the social issues which impact on individuals and communities. Lisa is a past participant of INCORE’s ‘Journeys Out’ project in which emerging leaders explored the legacy of the conflict in NI and  South Africa.

Denis Anderson

Denis Anderson is a Trainer on the bric programme. He delivers accredited OCN courses throughout NIHE – including staff at all levels and residents from across NI.  Denis previously worked with the Irish School of Ecumenics (Trinity College Dublin), on their Education for Reconciliation programme. He has wide experience of cross community and cross border teaching and facilitation and has also pioneered inter cultural training in NI and the border counties. He has also been a regular teacher on the Queen’s University of Belfast School of Education Open Learning Programme. Denis is committed to informal and participative methodologies of adult education, presented in a relaxed, safe and enjoyable atmosphere.

Ken Cathcart

Ken Cathcart is a part-time trainer on the bric programme; and part-time trainer in the North and North- West of NI. He is an experienced mediator who has worked in the areas of family mediation, disability conciliation and youth justice conferencing and has been employed by a range of organisations to assist with the resolution of community, neighbourhood and workplace conflicts. Ken has delivered training in the areas of conflict management and good relations.  Before becoming a self employed mediator and trainer, he worked in industry as an Administration Manager and Customer Service Manager.

Sean OBaoill

Sean O Baoill is a full time Mediator and Trainer for TIDES.  Sean studied Youth & Community Work at UUJ, graduating in 1992 and has been working in the field of conflict resolution ever since. He has been involved in Community Relations work for over twenty five years, working with Corrymeela, Peace People, Kilcranny House, Mediation Northern Ireland and various other peace and reconciliation groups.  In 1998 Sean completed a postgraduate Diploma in Peace Studies at UUM. He also has postgraduate certificates in Advanced Groupwork Skills, Community Relations, Mediation, Principled Negotiation, Facilitative Leadership, Restorative Justice and Family Group Conferencing. In the last ten years Sean has specialised in Mediation and Negotiation Skills as a freelance Community Relations Trainer, Consultant and Practitioner, providing mediation and training to individuals, statutory agencies and community and voluntary organisations

Kasturi Kada

Kasturi Kada is a part time receptionist and administrative assistant in TIDES. Kasturi looks after the administration for the Open College Network courses we deliver from registrations through to delivery of certificates.  She also helps in additional tasks that help with the smooth running of the office. Kasturi has a Degree in Maths and Physics and has also completed an ECDL computer course from Belfast Metropolitan College. She has previously worked in various public and private sector organisations.

Courtnae Dunn

Courtnae Dunn was a Global Education Trainer with TIDES.   She has recently left us to continue with her studies and we wish her all the best for her future.  Please contact Shona Bell if you require any information on projects that Courtnae was working on.