Young Refugees Project Jess Mookherjee - Lewisham Public Health Lewisham PCT

Lewisham PCT and Young Refugees Young Refugees Project [HAZ] Parent to Parent [NRF] Information Market [NRF] Research into young refugee’s emotional needs and social capital [linked to Bridging the Gap]

Young Refugees Project The project was a three-year pilot supported by HAZ Innovation fund Managed by Lewisham Primary Care Trust (Child Health) The project’s overall goal was to improve young refugees’ access to social services, education, health, youth, leisure and other community services

Project Goals Empowerment of young refugees to access services (with the support of link workers) Develop inter-agency strategies and work to enable agencies to meet young refugees’ needs Raise staff awareness in the voluntary/ statutory/ refugee community organisation (RCO) sector Culturally-appropriate health promotion

The Project Team The team worked over 3 boroughs Co-ordinator Three Link workers Health Promotion Specialist part-time Information Officer part-time Training Officer part-time Social Development Worker Administrator

What they did….. Service Development Child to Child project (jointly with Child to Child and schools) Joint care planning pilot - (HAZ pilot for children with complex needs- across Health, Education and Social Services) Group counselling for Eritrean and Ethiopian young women, and Ugandan young women with HAZ young refugee mental health project and Southwark and Lambeth Asylum teams Duke of Edinburgh Awards for young refugees (joint project between Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme and Lewisham SS) Mental health support for young refugees (together with YRMHP)

Service Development in Education programme for children without school places at Stockwell Park school (jointly with EMAT) Pupil mobility project with North Southwark EAZ for four schools in Southwark Southwark Refugee Induction and Placement programme for secondary school age children Education Access Clinic in Southwark (with Southwark Day Centre for Asylum Seekers) Peer education programme for parent to parent with Southwark Refugee Project (fundraised) Family Info Mart - with RHT and Lewisham Asylum Team Health advocacy course for refugees and asylum seekers with Health First and TAIFA Groups run with Sure Start and other refugee organisations in Lewisham

Case Study - Grinling Gibbons / Evelyn Sure Start - improved information The Lewisham Linkworker focused on disabilities and special educational needs to compliment this, group work was developed based in community organisations a series of sessions with Vietnamese mothers and children, in conjunction with the Sure Start workers, also with the Somali community and Vietnamese teenagers

‘We have developed the services by identifying need. The discussions helped us identify need. I didn’t know about all the different services. We all learn from each other’ (Worker).

Quotes from the Evaluation ‘ They [YRP] are certainly adding value and raising the profile of this very vulnerable group of children and young people. They’ve identified the vast gaps in the mainstream in meeting their particular needs. They’re probably also highlighting the lack of responsiveness of the mainstream to offer an effective service to this group in a coordinated way. They’re helping to unpick and identify that here’s an area that we can’t ignore.’ (Statutory professional)

‘[It has] definitely influences my practice in that I consider the needs of young refugees in relation to areas such as access to sport and recreation.’ (Executive Group member)

‘It has helped to further illuminate the traumas these young people have gone through, and to highlight the need for consistency in terms of how we respond to young refugees, and clarified their many complex layers of need’. (Executive Group member)

Factors that Hinder Strategic and Practice Changes Obstacles to achieving change have included a lack of capacity within organisations (especially RCOs), and others having to first recognise the need for change Not being clear about what it has to offer and the lack of status attached to the Link worker role makes it hard to effect change

Factors that Help Strategic and Practice Changes Maintaining a flexible role is valuable It is important to work with senior staff and regular communication between agencies is vital The YRP found it easier to develop positive relationships with the voluntary sector than with the statutory sector

Neighbourhood Renewal Impact In 2002 Healthier Lewisham developmentally commissioned YRP 2 projects were set up Parent 2 Parent Information Market In addition Healthier Lewisham conducted a joint research project investigating social capital

Parent to Parent Goal: To enable parents to have support in coping with their children’s changing cultural needs -Parents were isolated due to language -Parents were confused and unsupported regarding discipline and culture - Parents felt they had to rely on their children for language and cultural support

Information Mart Open Access community development One Stop Shop for advice and information Language support and access to health services Support around explaining the health service

Research into Social Capital Collaboration with Teenage Pregnancy Strategy Focus Groups and Participatory Appraisal Arts based evaluation and research methods Empowering young people

Evaluation Outcomes: Advantages Helped raise the profile of this group of young people It identified gaps in mainstream services in meeting their needs It advised and supported the start up of a range of services It brought an outside, independent perspective

Advantages It offered a broad and up to date knowledge of local and national services and policy issues It provided the ability to work with and mediate between different agencies, including initiating partnerships The project was less defined by statutory requirements with fewer definitions placed on its role.

Some Problems…. Involving Senior Staff was difficult Communication between agencies was sometimes difficult Working with voluntary services needs more funding There was some duplication in service delivery

As a result of the YRP’s work… Some service change, though statutory sector was very hard to engage Health access has improved, there was some evidence of education and leisure access improvement but no improvement in social service was seen There was impact on the confidence of parents but young people were still finding access to services hard The partnership working took up a lot of time.