Belfast Centre
Covering Greater Belfast, Antrim, Lisburn and Co. Down.
- 028 9077 9922
- email us
- 5 Chichester Park South, Belfast, BT15 5DW
WAVE Trauma Centre Belfast provides support services to individuals bereaved, injured and traumatised as a result of the Troubles/Conflict in Northern Ireland.
Services are provided on a cross community, fully inclusive basis to all people within the Belfast and Greater Belfast area. Services at the centre also extend to Counties Down and Antrim, with clients being supported in towns such as Newcastle, Moira, Antrim and Whitehead.
WAVE provides a holistic model of care, bespoke to each centre user. All new referrals are assigned an Outreach Caseworker who will support them throughout their time at WAVE.
It is the job of the Outreach Caseworker to ensure an appropriate care plan is being followed.
The care plan will often include other WAVE services, such as, Trauma Focused Counselling, Complementary Therapy, Welfare Advice, Advocacy, Health and Wellbeing, Peer Support/Creative courses and Open Learning, Queen’s University and OCN Accredited Trauma Courses.
In addition to these Physiotherapy can also be arranged in partnership with Belfast Back Care.
We delivered Hydrotherapy in August 2019. It was available to the physically injured clients via Coral Davidson in partnership with the La Mon House Country Club and Hotel.
Rhonda O'Neill
Belfast Project Manager
I joined WAVE Trauma Centre as Project Manager on 3rd January 2023. Prior to this I was working for Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council for 23 years, most recently as a Manager within the Communities Team. I have over 30 years’ experience of volunteering within localised community, voluntary and faith based organizations in a wide variety of roles. Additionally, I have obtained my Counselling Diploma and volunteered as a Counsellor within a local community based organisation in Belfast for 5 years.
The following support services are available from the Belfast WAVE Centre each week:
Campaigning and Projects
WAVE have invested time and resources into two major campaigning areas. Both campaigns are facilitated from the Belfast Centre;
Families of the Disappeared
Seventeen individuals were abducted, murdered and their bodies secretly buried during The Troubles. Sandra Peake leads the work with the Disappeared on behalf of WAVE. Sandra organises several events each year, including a Disappeared residential, Disappeared walk and vigil on the steps of Stormont on All Souls Day, and a special mass on Palm Sunday. Sandra also works closely with the Commission for the Location of Victims Remains. To date, fourteen bodies have been recovered with three remaining. The work with the Disappeared will continue until all the bodies are found.
Injured Group
A support group for individuals injured during the Troubles/Conflict has been meeting at WAVE since 2008. The group comprises of individuals who are double amputees, single amputees, blind, deaf, paraplegic and others with multiple psychological illnesses. For the past six years the group have been lobbying for a pension for those with severe physical or psychological injury. This has involved the group visiting Stormont, Westminster and the Dail. The Injured Group has ensured that the issue of the pension is on the political radar, and they continue to lobby until it becomes a reality.
Various projects run throughout the year, including ‘personal and social development courses’, ‘creative storytelling’ and ‘resiliency training’, amongst others. Some projects are ongoing, including;
Citizen Education / Witness
The Belfast Centre has trained over 40 Citizen Educators to work with Social Work and Nursing students from Queens University. The Citizen Educators go into the lecture halls to share their experiences of being impacted by The Troubles. This helps to build up the student knowledge base of conflict related trauma, which equips them for future careers in the caring professions.
Citizen Educators are also used in the Witness programme, bearing testimony of certain historic atrocities to groups visiting WAVE from other conflict zones overseas. To date, groups have come from the USA, South Africa, Rwanda, Israel, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Bosnia, Bahrain and the Korean Penninsula, amongst others.
Stories from Silence
Stories from Silence is an on-line oral history project featuring around 100 individuals who have lost a loved one through The Troubles. Unlike other oral history projects undertaken at WAVE, the voice of the person can be heard recounting the story of loss and/or trauma. The stories recorded have become an invaluable resource for families and friends who do not want their loved one’s murders to be forgotten.
Staff
Chief Executive Officer
Sandra Peake
Director of Corporate Services
Catherine Colohan
Head of Clinical Services
Norma Patterson
Head of Welfare
Sarah Kay
Trauma Education Project Coordinator
Denise McNaughton
Regional Human Resources Manager
Tracey Shirlow
Trauma Education Officers
Grainne McKenna
Paul Gallagher
Isobel Stewart
Christine Hughes
Tracy Adams
Health & Wellbeing Caseworkers
Ana El Assal
Aidan McNeill
Dave Harfitt
Advocacy Liaison Officer
Naomi Crawford
Welfare Rights Officers
Nathan Hughes
Mark Chapman
Terrie Orr
Connie Gamble-McBroom
Ciara Brook (Trainee)
Kelly O’Neill (Trainee)
Outreach Caseworkers
Leanne Bailie
Tanya Hutchman
Johanna Ozden
HIA Lead Caseworker
Rosie Smyth
HIA Caseworker
Seaneen Stilges
MBMLW Lead Caseworker
Sonja Tammen
HR Officer
Sarah Jane Scullion
Lead Administrator (HR & Finance)
Karen Shannon
Lead Administrator
Deborah Campbell
Administrators
Roise McCann
Margaret Lunn
Welfare Administrator
Kristen Hansen
Need Support?
Should you require support or service, please call us at the Belfast Centre on
028 9077 9922