What we Do

Care Link has a range of projects covering:

General Support

Under general Support heading, the following is a list of the activities that Carelink does on behalf of its target group:

• One to one support
• Advice, information and guidance
• Advocacy
• Help with benefit claims
• Assistance with the completion of forms and other paperwork
• Referral for legal advice
• Help in gaining access to other services
• Assistance in accessing health or other treatment service if needed
• Assistance in setting up support with other clients in similar position
• Life coaching
• Counselling and emotional support
• Advice on employment issues
• Assistance for clients to acquire advocacy skills
• Information on hardship grants, help with budgeting and advice on money matters
• Information on training college courses
• Housing accommodation advice

Mental Health Support / Healing Trauma

Refugee experience is essentially an experience involving a loss. Loss of what is obvious, tangible and external such as possessions i.e. a house, a work role, a status, a language, beloved members of the family or other closed relationships; also a loss which is less obvious, internal and subjective: loss of trust in oneself and others, loss of self-esteem, self-respect and personal identity. You are suddenly stripped off things which link you with your community. The absence of all these links brings on stress, anxiety, depression and disorientation.

 

The long waiting time to process an asylum application is very harmful for mental health. Refugees think they have gained freedom and then they realize that they still have to wait for it. They become passive, they lose their self-esteem, especially in cultures where the family welfare depends on the man.

 

Living in a center for a long time increases social isolation and inactivity.

 

In the UK asylum seekers have limited privileges, however after 6 months they are allowed to work while waiting for their application to be processed by the Home Office. They are also aware that the length of time spent on waiting for the application has no bearing on the ultimate decision. Unfavorable decision can result into deportation at any time. Therefore they live in a dilemma which causes concern and insecurity.

 

Roles change within the family: in the country of origin men are bread-winner, meanwhile in the host country women could find it easier to get a job (e.g. as housecleaner). The balance within the family cracks.

 

Split up of families: separation of families makes people nervous and paranoid.

 

Men come first to Europe leaving their families behind. But family reunion is a long-lasting procedure. So women left back home complain about men who did not do enough to bring them to Europe. This causes mental health problems to men.

Sometimes, when family members arrive, they have been many years without seeing each other; they no longer understand each other and even the cultural unit of the family breaks up.

 

The cultural shock is very severe from one country to another: the lifestyle changes, asylum seekers are not allowed to work. They remain isolated for a long time, passively waiting for a decision which will affect deeply their life. Their standard of living too decreases.

 

Minimizing mental health problems, even if minor ones, could be very harmful. There are long waiting list to be treated in specialized medical centers, sometimes up to two years. What is going to happen meanwhile?

 

Refugees frequently present symptoms such as headaches and tiredness which may be related to stress, financial pressures, language barriers, leading also to isolation and anxiety. Overcrowded council flats hides lone parenthood, especially for women who have lost or are separated from their husbands. Depression and loss of economic status for men make them feel powerless.

Refugee adult and children have specific experiences related to persecution, imprisonment, separation from their family and friends, uncertainty about their future. This causes anxiety and mental stress. There is a high level of psychological, post-traumatic stress disorder and psychiatric illness among refugees.

 

Cultural factors inhibit refugees from seeking help and treatment for fear of being labeled as mentally ill.

 

Doctors do not always know the different ways a trauma can be released (i.e. when people cannot sleep, are nervous, have high/low blood pressure, feel pain in their stomach etc). Therefore difficulties over diagnosis may occur if issues relating to traumatic experiences and cultural background are not fully recognized and investigated.

 

Doctors do not take these patients seriously, they do not want to go into deep as for the psychological area. They do not recognize stress. A holistic approach to health is missing.

 

Sometimes people are no longer able to speak: there is a wall of silence between them and doctors. Then medical doctors tend to minimize or even deny what happened to their patients, thus not providing them with the right treatment.

 

Carelink under this programme tries to bridge the above gaps through a range of activities like:

• Offering immediate psychotherapeutic help to traumatized refugees
• Setting up rehabilitation centers to help traumatized refugees to overcome their traumas
• Alleviate the cultural shock (i.e. organizing camps, festivals together with local people)
• Faster and more fair decision on the asylum application
• Making the reunion with family members possible
• Providing health education to refugees

• Carelink would like to work with these children with the help of their teachers to assign specialised homework that children enjoy and can complete successfully using an approach where their first language will be the support of education. Feedbacks from parents are welcome. Carelink would like to offer mentor programmes to offer extra support beyond what home and school can give. Mentor programmes will pair children with adult volunteers who will assist with the children’s special needs, such as maths, language arts, health, English, science, tutoring or career advice.

• Make connection between school work and Carelink to bring meaning and fun to children’s homework experience. • A willingness to take the time and make the effort to be involved in our children’s education.

• Help refugee children whose English is a second language to be in school ready to learn.

• Help year 3 to year 11 refugee children demonstrate competency over challenging subject matters including English, Mathematics, Arts, History, Geography, and Civics. Care Link will ensure that all these children using the club are able to increase their homework ability, learn to use their minds well, so they may be prepared for colleges and universities to become active and responsible citizens.

• Care Link teaching force will have access to programmes for continued improvement of their professional voluntary skills and the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to unstuck and prepare all French speaking African refugee students for the next century.

• African French speaking children will be among the first best students in Mathematics and Science achievements.

• Every child refugee attending the club will be literate and will possess the knowledge and skills necessary to compete in the labour market and exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

• Every child attending Saturday Homework Club sessions will be free of drugs, violence, and the unauthorised presence of firearms and alcohol and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.

• The programme (SHWC) promotes partnerships that increase parental involvement and participation in promoting the social, emotional, and academic growth of children.

• Every child matters activities

• The respect agenda (prevention and/or reduction of anti-social behaviour by children and young people, drug abuse/alcohol and gun culture.

• Teenage parents (deliver a message on preventive strategies targeting teenagers considered “at risk” of becoming teenager parents.

• Promoting social inclusion & integration in full of African refugee children regent arrivals (learn a little bit of English history, English mode of life, English culture, English economy/understanding currencies, English politics and governance; example king Dome Versus Republic, English education system, etc.