Our Forum members bring valuable expertise, lived experience and professional insight to support victims and survivors across Northern Ireland. This section highlights the work they are leading within their communities to raise awareness, preserve important histories, influence change and strengthen understanding of the issues affecting those impacted by the conflict.

In this edition, we feature Forum member Mary Moreland, who recently completed her PhD, Lost Lives: An Exploration of the Long-Term Impact of Sudden Military Death of a Parent on Children Who Are Now Adults. Mary’s research, shaped by both personal experience and years of professional and voluntary service, contributes important new knowledge to an area of significant social and policy relevance. Her work deepens understanding of the lifelong impact of parental bereavement and highlights the importance of ensuring that lived experience informs future policy, practice and support services.

Forum member Terry Duffy is appealing for help with an important history project celebrating more than 35 years of the WAVE Trauma Centre. Terry is contributing to a publication that will capture the experiences, challenges and achievements of WAVE, from its beginnings in 1991 as a grassroots organisation founded by eight women bereaved during the Troubles/conflict to its development as Northern Ireland’s largest cross-community organisation supporting victims and survivors.

To ensure this history reflects the many people who have shaped WAVE’s journey, Terry is inviting anyone with memories or experiences of WAVE to get in touch. Whether you have been a service user, staff member, volunteer, partner organisation or supporter, your story can help build a richer and more inclusive record of WAVE’s history and its impact on individuals, families and communities.

Finally, Forum member Natasha Butler reflects on the significance of the recent inquest findings into the Springhill/Westrock Massacre, which confirmed the innocence of her grandfather, Patrick Butler, more than five decades after his death. Natasha shares the profound personal impact of her family’s decades-long search for truth and justice, and the importance of advocacy in ensuring victims and their families receive recognition, accountability and acknowledgment. She also reflects on the significance of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s formal apology to the families, marking an important step towards truth, recognition, healing and reconciliation.

Together, these contributions demonstrate the breadth of experience, research, advocacy and community leadership represented across the Forum. They reflect the valuable role Forum members continue to play in informing the Commission’s work, preserving important histories, advancing understanding and supporting victims and survivors across Northern Ireland.

These contributions provide a snapshot of the breadth of work being carried out by Forum members and the experience, expertise and insight they continue to bring to the Commission.

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