www.talkfirst.org
TalkFIRST
Family Mediation
*****
Roglsterod charlty no. 1162110
Annual Report
2025
TAKE TIME
TO TALK
Tou£an
1 Dept of Education “special Educational Needs in England” – Jan 2025
TalkFIRST was established as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) in June 2015 and was operational immediately. The CIO is a development of its predecessor Resolutions, a Community Interest Company, set up in 2012, operational from 2013.
All work; finances and staff were seamlessly transferred into the CIO. We are based in a central location in the borough, offering easy access from all areas.
Our trustees understand their legal obligations and are committed to ensuring solvency, and compliance under charity law. Our Trustee’s Code of Conduct reinforces all aspects of the constitution, our policies and practice which are subject to annual review.
Trustee board meetings have taken place monthly and all meetings minuted to ensure transparency and accountability.
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Mitesh Halai
Trustee
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Manager & Mediator Mediator Administrator
Taking Time To Talk/Tou-Can Taking Time To Talk/Tou-Can
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## **Our Vision, Our Mission and Our Charitable Objectives**
## **Our Vision is:**
To resolve conflict and inspire positive communication, recognising that healthy and supportive relationships are the cornerstone to aspire and achieve.
Achieve.
## **Our Mission Statement is:**
To empower individuals and families in all their forms to improve communication and build better family life.
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## **Our charitable objectives are:-**
To support children, young people and their families who are at risk of family conflict, anti-social behaviour, criminal activities or relationship breakdown, through the provision of family mediation, family support and group work activities.
**Our family mediation and relationship support services**
Guided by our Vision and our Mission Statement, we provide bespoke, future focused relationship services, working with families in all forms including inter-generational, non-blood, extended, stepfamilies, LGBTQ, carers, kinship and special guardians.
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- Family mediation provided through the Family Mediation Council (FMC) Accreditation programme enables separating or divorcing couples to work with an FMC Accredited Mediator to resolve child arrangements or address property and finance matters.
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- FMC Accredited Child Inclusive Mediation gives children a voice in an age-appropriate way that helps inform struggling parents about their thoughts, feelings and wishes.
- The Ministry of Justice Family Mediation Voucher Scheme supports families with access to financial help with the cost of mediating about children arrangements.
- Grant funding helps underpin our Tou-Can initiative supporting the perinatal and early years agenda, promoting attachment and child development. This year saw further expansion as we prepared to launch Tou-Can2 at a second community centre in the borough in collaboration with Wigan Borough Communities First.
- Our continued collaboration with the Brick-by-Brick project supports our Tou-Can and Take Time To Talk parents and carers by bringing, everyday essentials and consumer items to those that need them most and helping household budgets stretch a little further.
- Grant funding from the National Lottery Community Fund enabled us to develop our free Take Time to Talk service supporting struggling families who are experiencing conflict and relationship problems.
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TalkFIRST nationally and Locally
TalkFIRST across the Wlgan Borough"
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Highlights of our year 2024-2025
* LocaL businessman and entrepreneur, Mitesh Halal joined our Board
of Trustees, bringing with him a wealth of expertise and business
acumen.
* As our participation in the Wigan Mayoral year continued, we enjoyed
host of networking opportunities, increasing awareness of our
portfolio of services and our profile generally.
* With grant funding from Awards For All we launched our free Kinship
Mediation service, supporting families with special guardianship
arrangements to communicate and manage, often complex family
relationships.
* As our Building Better Relationships initiative was superseded byTake
Time to Talk with the help of National Lottery Community Fund, we
added a dedicated children's worker to our offering, providing support
to enabLe and facilitate the child's voice within Take Time To Talk
conversations.
* Through collaboration with Wigan Borough Communities First we laid
plans for expansion of our Tou-can project, to a second venue in the
borough where we'll be able to increase the reach of our support to
parents and carers about attachment and child development in the
perinatal and early years stages.
* Connect 5 delivery of mental health training in collaboration with
Wigan Public Health Services continued as we normalised the
conversation on mental health and upskilled the general population to
better understand and talk about mental health and wellbeing.
* Supported by the Family Mediation Voucher Scheme, our Accredited
Family Mediation Service, continued to grow, generating increased
sustainability.
* We joined Radio M29 in a podcast interview about how TalkFIRST
came about and our family and relationship support services.
* Strategic support from the Cranfield trust created an opportunity to
take stock and plan ahead as we created a three year pLan for
TalkFIRST's direction and development.
* Fundraising opportunities came thick and fast as we switched focus
thisyearto supportingthe Mayoralyearevents and those of Wigan and
Leigh Hospice {with whom we shared Mayor's nominated charity
status). Our highlights included:
Mayor's Canal Cruise
Wigan Pride Celebration
Mayor's Charity BaLI
Wigan and Leigh Hospice Easter and Christmas Fairs
* As the mayoral year concluded in May 2025, we embarked on capital
investment plans to upgrade TalkFIRST's case management systems
and refurbish our mediation rooms, achieving greater administrative
efficiencies and creating a more welcoming mediation space.
Accredited Family Mediation
With the Family Court Service in England and
Wales actively encouraging parties to explore the
option of mediation before embarking on
litigation, and with increased visibility amongst
local law firms and social care agencies, our Accredited Family Mediation
Service which continued to grow.
As Property and Finance mediation for separating and divorcing couples
increased in tandem with enquiries for Children Arrangements mediation
our mix of services saw horizontal and vertical expansion.
With grant funding from Awards For All we launched our Kinship Mediation service, specifically curated to support family relationships where a child cannot live with their biological parent(s) and instead lives with a member of the extended family under a Special Guardianship Order.
Following feedback from our beneficiaries last year we learned that 80% of the young people we worked with had a diagnosis or were awaiting assessment for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), or Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
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Ever mindful of the uncertainty that flows from ever increasing pressures upon the grant funding industry, with prospects of success often standing at less than 5%
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Being a Trustee of TalkFIRST – why it matters to me
A while ago, I found myself going through one of ‘those’ chapters in life—the kind that tests your resilience and makes you re-evaluate what’s important. During that time, TalkFIRST was a quiet lifeline. Their support didn’t just help me—it shaped me. It gave me perspective, community, and a renewed sense of purpose.
Fast forward to today, and I’m proud to sit on the other side of the table—as a Trustee for the very charity that helped me through.
Giving back isn’t just a nice phrase we toss around—it’s powerful. It grounds you. Being a trustee isn’t just about meetings and governance (though, yes, there’s a bit of that too!). It’s about using your experience—personal and professional—to help steer a cause that genuinely makes a difference.
For me, it's about paying it forward. About ensuring that TalkFIRST can continue reaching others who might be in the same position I once was.
It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
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If you’ve ever thought about becoming a trustee—especially for a cause that means something to you—I’d highly recommend it. You bring more to the table than you think.
This year, we have received £147,067 in grants from: Groundwork, National Lottery Community Fund’s Reaching Communities, and Awards For All programmes, Trusthouse, Making a Difference Locally, Wigan Council and The Coalfield Regeneration Trust.
We thank our funders for their support; without it we could not provide the level of service to the families who need us.
In addition, we generated £45,807 unrestricted income through our mediation services and fundraising.
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Beneficiaries & outcomes
MEDIATION
We received 119 referrals for family mediation, many of
which came byway of recommendation.
Other routes to referral included family solicitors, social
care, schools and local VCFSE organisations. A total of 418
individuals benefitted from our service.
TAKE TIME TO TALK
54 families, comprising of 171 individuals benefited from our
new Take Time To Talk initiative, completing work with us.
TOUCAN
31 families, comprising 39 adults and 63 children, benefited
from Tou-can's perinatal and Early Years support.
A Taste of What We Do-Tou-Can Perinatal & Early Years
Support
Tou-can is a popularlocal resourcefor parents and their little ones. We offer
a chance to meet other mum, dads and caregivers, and take part in themed
activities and play. Our group facilitator, Bev is on hand for with a listening
ear, advice and guidance, where needed.
As well as being great fun, Tou-can supports the development of the all-
important parent-child bond, and the good mental health and wellness of
parents and children alike.
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With the benefit of the Ministry of Justice Family Mediation Voucher Scheme separated parents have been able to use the voucher to mediate with TalkFIRST, securing two cost-free mediation sessions in which they have navigated out how they can jointly meet the needs of their children, through mutual understanding and future-focussed, child-centred negotiations.
This initiative has been a genuine asset to the families TalkFIRST supports, enabling those parents to come to us without the financial pressures that otherwise might not have been able to afford our services.
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Family Mediation Feedback
"The thought of going to mediation was really daunting af ter a dif f icult
and emotional separation. Coming to TalkFIRST, I f elt heard and
validated. Tracy shared lots of helpf ul information. She took the time
to help me see through the chaos and f ocus on what mattered most: my
family and making sure we were all going to be ok. Thank youl"
Our Vision For 2025-2026
With increased mediation referrals and an ever-watchfuleye on local service
provision, we are looking ahead to sustain and shape our grant funded and
income-generating initiatives in line with changing needs.
Capitalising on existing partnerships and exploring new coLLaborations, we
Look ahead to 2026with hope and optimism about makingfamily Life happier
for everyone.
Reserves Policy
The reserve parameters identified aim to provide financial stability and the
means forthe development of our principal activities. To protect TalkFIRST
and its beneficiaries and employees, TaLkFIRST intends to establish and
maintain reserves at a level sufficient to cover approximately six months
running costs plus requisite redundancy considerations. Reserves will be
utilised in the following manner: 1. In the event of a drop in income. to
protect against short-term fluctuations 2. In the event of a drop in income
to make provision for necessary redundancy payments should the
organisation find it is unable to sustain staffing levels 3. To allowTalkFIRST
to take advantage of new opportunities aligned with its aims.
To achieve this, we will aim to put £5k per year into reserves from unrestricted (mediation) income until that level is achieved. Requisite reserve figures will be reviewed annually in accordance with current staffing and other relevant responsibilities to ensure that they are adequate to fulfil our continuing obligations.
## **Income £192,874 Expenditure £176,863**
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TALKFIRST
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