Resolve West (previously Bristol Mediation) are an independent charity based in Bristol working with communities and individuals to resolve conflict and repair harm

About Us

Our Mission  –  Resolve West provides and promotes services which empower people to resolve conflicts and to repair harm.

Our Values  –  Six core values underpin our work and therse will guide our decision making as we develop our culture, policies and practice:

• Communication  We believe that accessible, clear and simple communication between people is necessary for communiteis to thrive.
• Empowerment  We believe that people can speak for themselves, think for themselves, and decide for themselves.
• Equality  We believe that discrimination is unfair and should be confronted in ourselves and in others.
• Inclusion We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to access our services without restrictions or limitations.
• Quality  We believe in bringing about the best in others and ourselves.
• Accountability and openness   We believe in working openly with our clients, each other and our partners so that we can learn from one another.

Resolve West is based in Easton, Bristol and currently has a team of 14 staff and 86 volunteers.  This includes  volunteer mediators, volunteer restorative justice practitioners and volunteer Trustees, who oversee the governance and strategic developments of Resolve West.

We work closely with Local Authorities, Avon & Somerset Police, the Criminal Justice Agencies as well as others including housing providers, support agencies, other statutory and voluntary agencies and in the year to 31st March 2019 we worked on 635 cases with over 1264 direct beneficiaries people across Avon & Somerset.

History

Resolve West was founded in 1987 in direct response to rising social tensions in the city.  We became a registered charity in 1991, and sought funding to train mediators and to raise awareness of mediation as a non-violent and highly effective means of resolving conflict without the need for legal action. Our aim was to encourage and enable others to explore ways of coping with, and resolving, conflicts in their own lives and in the life of the community.

Since our inception, we have undertaken various projects which promote conflict resolution in different areas.   This has included:

• Working in schools and producing a peer mediation manual
• Restorative Justice for young offenders and victims and looked after children,
• Neighbourhood/community mediation
• Working with young people who are involved in street conflict, gang crime and Anti Social Behaviour including providing conflict resolution services to enable greater communication between the young person and their families
• Working with young people and adults at risk of homelessness
• Providing Restorative Justice service to victim and offenders
• Providing recognised and accredited training in Restorative Justice and Mediation

Our current core work is:

• within neighbourhoods and communities working with people experiencing conflict/ASB
• Restorative Approaches Avon & Somerset- providing and leading Restorative Justice services across Avon & Somerset in partnership with Avon & Somerset Police,
• Bristol Hate Crime & Discrimination Service – working in partnership with SARI, Bristol MIND, Brandon Trust, Bristol Law Centre providing a range of restorative interventions to victims of hate/discrimination.
• Take 5 – Leading and working in partnership with other victim services to provide early intervention work in a rural community in Somerset to prevent victimisation and revictimisation and to redeuce criminal activity and ASB.
• Providing conflict resolution services in Bristol to migrants and landlords to prevent homelessness.