Smile are a registered charity and social enterprise, established in 1998 following a government initiative researching conflict in neighbourhood and communities and we have been helping people in neighbourhoods, communities and in the workplace to get the best outcomes from their conversations for 25 years this year. Our office is based in Burnley, Lancashire. We became a subsidiary of Resolve ASB in April 2023 and we now provide all of our services across the UK.

► Our Mission –  Empowering people of all ages and backgrounds to prevent, manage and resolve conflict and get the best outcomes  from their conversations.

► Our vision is to have communities and workplaces where relationships are good and healthy and where people feel happy, safe and able to prevent, manage and resolve conflict quickly and effectively for themselves.

► Our approach  is to bring about transformation through conversation and negotiation using a structured process and at the same time up-skilling individuals to embed new skills more widely. We provide specialist community and workplace mediation, family relationship mediation, coaching, group facilitation, negotiation,  qualifications, training, workshops, personal and group development opportunities and more.

Our Trustees

Chair of Trustees – Catherine Dobson

Following qualification in 1980 as a Clinical Psychologist, Catherine Dobson worked for over 30 years in the National Health Service in different parts of England. She developed specialist expertise in working with people with mental disorder (such as learning disability, mental health problems or acquired brain injury) and distress associated with pain. During this time, her approach to helping people cope with their personal difficulties and improve their life experience included attention to the person’s family, work and social circumstances. She believes that people benefit from focussing on their strengths rather than on their difficulties as a way of increasing their resilience to the problems they face. Her overarching aim has been to improve competences and capabilities of individuals, support systems and communities.
A key theme throughout her work as a Clinical Psychologist has been the recognition of and management of stress and distress in people with mental health conditions, family carers, care staff or communities in which people live and work. Catherine has conducted research (such as with family members of people with disabilities), contributed to staff training programmes and audited multidisciplinary team practice and behaviour.

Vice Chair of Trustees – Peter Kenyon

Peter graduated with a BDS degree from Edinburgh University in 1967.
Until 2006 he was a councillor on the Executive of Burnley Borough Council responsible for Finance and Personnel issues. From 1967 until 1999 a community dental officer (more commonly known as a school dentist) working first for the county council but transferred to the NHS in 1974. In that capacity he served as a staff side representative for several years.
He is a board member/Trustee of several other local organisations: Burnley & Pendle Citizen’s Advice Bureau, Burnley Pendle and Rossendale Council for Voluntary Service (BPRCVS), Mid Pennine Arts Association and Burnley Youth Theatre. He is also an active member of the local Labour Party.
When not being a board or party member has enjoyed walking the hills, in this country and trekking in Europe. He has completed 10 unsupported coast to coast crossings of the Highlands of Scotland from west to east, though sadly now his legs are not up to the effort. He still sings in a choir on a regular weekly basis, something he have been doing on and off since he was a church choirboy. His singing now is wholly secular!

Trustee – Carol Pike

Carol worked in the social housing sector for 15 years, both as a housing officer and latterly as a project manager, prior to that she worked for a long period as a legal executive.
Carol is involved in the Community as a voluntary Director of East Lancs YMCA, support of Building Bridges in Burnley, Chair of Governors for St Peter’s CE Primary School, Burnley, as well as a member of St Peter’s Church.
Carol is additionally heavily involved in Girlguiding within Lancashire East holding a variety of roles at County and Division level, including DBS checks and membership support and training for leaders, as well as leading 2 Units.
In her spare time, she sings with 3 choirs and follows Burnley Football Club.

Trustee – Alex Wrigley   

Alex has over 20 years’ experience working in the housing sector, with fifteen of those years dedicated to ASB and Community Safety. He is currently Director of Services for BACKUP North West based in Bolton – a charity providing housing and support to young people (16-25), who are either homeless or threatened with homelessness.
Alex is also the MD of Alex Wrigley Consultancy Limited; a social investment focussed consultancy that helps organisations in the sector empower communities and improve services. Alex is also on the board of Resolve ASB and held this position since late 2016.
Prior to setting up his consultancy business he has experience in both Local Authorities and Housing Associations across the country. Primarily based in London
throughout his career, moved back home to Greater Manchester in 2020.

He was National Tenancy Enforcement Manager at The Guinness Partnership for 7 years. The Tenancy Enforcement Team at Guinness is one of the biggest specialised Housing Enforcement Teams in the country.
Alex also previously sat on the Home Office’s ASB, Crime and Policing Working Group that assisted with the development of the ASB, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Trustee – Ian Clark

Ian has worked in social housing for over 30 years, and is currently an Executive Director at a large northern housing association. He set up Smile (then called Mediation in Burnley) in 1997, and watched the company grow from one employee with a small amount of grant funding, to a  charity offering a wide range of mediation services. He stepped down as a trustee of Smile in 2016, but recently re-joined the charity to help oversee the merger with Resolve ASB.

Trustee – Joanne Swift

Our Office Team

CEO – Rebecca Bryant

Rebecca Bryant OBE, joined Resolve in October 2018 as their Chief Executive with over 15 years’ experience of working within Community Safety and having worked at Manchester City Council as the Head of Crime and Disorder.

Prior to becoming Chief Executive, Rebecca worked as a Senior Associate with Resolve for a number of years and is a well-respected Consultant within the industry possessing a broad and extensive knowledge around community safety and antisocial behaviour solutions

In April 2023 Rebecca became Smile’s CEO when they became a subsidiary of Resolve.

Head of Operations and Business Development – Sarah Griffin

At the tender age of 18 Sarah started a career in a busy bookmakers office in Colne, Lancashire. It wasn’t long before she progressed to management level and this was her career for 12 years. Sarah graduated from UCLAN in 2006 with a BA (hons) in Care, Communities and Citizenship. During her studying years, Sarah not only worked in the bookmakers but began her new career as part-time support worker for young homeless people at SafeSpace which is part of a larger charity – Positive Action in the Community. Shortly after graduating Sarah took on a 3 month temporary role as manager at SafeSpace which at the time consisted of one Supported Accommodation with 8 bedrooms. It wasn’t long (3 years) before 8 bedrooms became 19 fully furnished flats in Pendle and then another 14 in Rossendale in addition to the Homelessness Awareness, Prevention and Intervention Service which is first point of call for all 14 to 25 year olds across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. A little over 16 years after she began her career in homelessness, she joined Smile in November 2022 for her next chapter…. and ours!

Business and Finance Administrator – Angela Bryan

Mediation Coordinator – Cath Bradley

Apprentice Business Administrator – Ella Regan

Ella left Blessed Trinity Secondary School, Burnley in June 2022, with 8 GCSE’s Including a distinction* in Health and social care. At this stage she was uncertain about how to progress her education as she wasn’t sure about which career path to take. Ella opted for voluntary opportunities to enable her to get a taste the different possibiliites for her future career path. Having spent time volunteering in a veterinary practice and an estate agents she settled Smile as office volunteer from January to August 2023. Helping out with day to day tasks helped Ella to get a real grasp of the office environment and in August 2023 having enjoyed lots of aspects of working within our fabulous, friendly team and learning lots of new skills we were delighted to offer her a role as Business Administrator Apprentice we are all excited for what the future has to bring.

Smile Mediators

Aklima Begum   Alicia Coad   Alison Wilkins   Amber Linney   Angela Newman   Anjum Anwar   Ann Jarvis   Anu Massey   April Pearce   Bill Macharia   Carrie Ryan-Palmer   Chris Breedon   Claire Kirkpatrick   Claire Massey   David Ford   Denise Prior    Denzil Johnson   Diane Nicholson   Dominic Stanger   Eleanor Greenwood    Fran Setter   Gillian Beeley   Gillian Carmichael Lemaire   Gordon Murray   Hannah Ives   Hayley Mather   Heather Bryan   Helena Sims   Holly Bonfield   Jackie Flynn   Jasmin Kewal   Jennifer Yates   Joanne Remo   Julia Gawel   Kate Toutountzi   Laura Martin   Luke Charlton   Maeve Doody   Mariam Fakhir   Meena SV   Mick Tribley   Mitchell McPherson   Nicola King   Paul Bracewell   Pauline McKay   Remi Kehinde-Taiwo   Rochelle Graham   Sameera Reyani   Samina Ali   Sandra Cheeseman   Sofia Safdar   Steve Martin   Steven Mills   Susan Walmsley   Teshia Dyal-Glasgow   Tess Ash   Tia Day   Tim Mallorie   Yasmeen Suleman