Peer support for young migrants and refugees
Charlotte Goddard
Tuesday, November 30, 2021
Young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds are equipped with the training they need to support newly arrived peers to improve their lives in the UK.
PROJECT
Young Citizens
PURPOSE
To help newly arrived migrants and refugees aged 16 to 25 build positive lives in the UK
FUNDING
£89,571 from the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund and £90,000 from John Lyon’s Charity. Both lots of funding are for three years up to the end of September 2022
BACKGROUND
In February 2017, charity Coram launched a three-year ambassador programme for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds with the aim of challenging perceptions. Young people involved in the project wanted to provide more direct peer-to-peer support so the Young Citizens programme was developed.
After consulting young people about the key issues facing young migrants and refugees, Coram worked with them to create four workshops – Your Life in the UK; Tree of Life; Understanding the Asylum Process; and Your Rights as a Care Leaver. These were delivered during a pilot event. The organisation went on to obtain funding to roll the programme out across nine London boroughs.
ACTION
The programme recruits and trains young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds from local colleges and youth groups to become Young Citizens Trainers (YCTs). Between July 2019 and March 2021, 41 young people attended training to equip them in their roles. “We look at how to put workshops together, deliver training around topics covered in the workshops like their rights in the care system, develop public speaking skills and look at how they are going to share their experiences to inspire other young people,” says Young Citizens programme manager Amy Spiller. The YCTs co-designed the workshops alongside a range of Coram experts and have also been involved in developing resources such as films.
Feedback from the pilot event showed two of the workshops, Tree of Life and Your Life in the UK, were not as effective as they could have been. For example, the Tree of Life workshop was designed around an existing therapeutic approach and the young trainers felt there was not enough flexibility to allow them to use their own skills and expertise. Two replacement workshops were developed in collaboration with the young people. These were Skills for Wellbeing, focusing on building resilience through recognising skills young people have used in the past to overcome challenges, and Building Your Support Network, aiming to develop skills and confidence to overcome practical and emotional barriers to accessing support. The content of the other two workshops was also revised based on input from young people.
The YCTs co-deliver the workshops in colleges, youth groups and local authorities to other newly arrived young migrants and refugees. Each workshop features two paid YCTs. Coram has developed a separate voluntary role for those who are not confident enough to deliver a workshop on their own or for asylum seekers who are not allowed to take paid work. “We created a specific role for volunteers because you can’t work if you are seeking asylum,” says Spiller. “We have to keep the roles distinct – you can’t have someone doing what should be a paid role on a voluntary basis.”
Groups usually comprise around 12 young people with workshops tending to last one and a half hours. Some groups receive all four but the workshops can also be delivered separately. Workshops are designed to be engaging and interactive, using videos, games and role play, and draw on the experience of the YCTs. Over the pandemic the workshops were delivered online but Coram has now gone back to face-to-face delivery with an online option.
“In the Understanding the Asylum Process workshop, young people attending can hear from others who got through it and are on the other side and how they managed that time and kept motivated,” says Spiller. “We focus on managing the emotional impact of going through the process and young people learn about their rights so they can advocate for themselves.”
The programme draws on the expertise of solicitors working for Coram’s Migrant Children Project based in the Coram Legal Centre. “A solicitor comes to the final session to answer questions and offer follow up support to anyone who wants them to look at their individual case,” says Spiller. “We also have Coram Voice who have an advocacy service, so we signpost and link into that.”
The success of the programme lies in the fact it is youth-led and co-created with young people, says Spiller. “Young people who come here often lack trust in authority. They feel like everyone is the Home Office so having young people who are just like them allows them to build trust,” she says. “One of the young people said she felt ashamed of her experiences but by sharing them she found she was not the only one and felt less alone. The trainers are able to turn a negative experience into a positive one because they are using it to benefit other people.”
The YCTs gain employability skills through the programme. “A big part is support for them to go on to further their personal goals,” says Spiller. “Lots have gone on to university while some have gone on to other work experience.”
Abdullahi Yussuf, 21, is currently seeking asylum and supports delivery of the workshops as a volunteer. “I got involved via Hackney Migrant Centre in February this year,” he says. “I think the workshops have a significant benefit to the young people who access them. It is inspiring to see how passionate the young people are. They really want to learn English and improve themselves and it helps me as well. I get to work with young people going through similar situations to me.”
As a care leaver and someone who has been through the asylum process, Sukurat Akinbiyi, aged 25, is pleased to be able to deliver workshops to young people in care. “I’m able to encourage other young people and use my experience to explain to them ‘this is what I did, this is what I would have done’,” she says. “Being an asylum seeker can be quite stressful so being able to tell other people about what I went through and my experiences gives them confidence. I wish I had that when I was going through the process because you’re always worried about what’s going on.” Akinbiyi is applying to be a social worker through the Frontline training programme.
OUTCOME
An interim evaluation published by Coram in July 2021 found 97 per cent of young people taking part in Young Citizens felt more informed about their rights and entitlements. After nine months, 98 per cent of Young Citizens Trainers felt prepared to run training and workshops for other young people, 97 per cent felt their confidence to achieve future goals had increased and the same proportion felt they had developed skills to help them with future goals.
Of the young people participating in the workshops, 90 per cent felt more positive about the future, 88 per cent felt close to other young people, 85 per cent felt they could deal with problems better, 84 per cent felt more aware of where to go for support and 92 per cent liked that the workshop trainers also were young people.
Feedback from professionals who attended the workshops found 93 per cent thought the workshops had more impact because they were led by young people with similar experiences to those attending and 94 per cent thought the workshops helped young people know where to go for support.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Current funding comes to an end in September 2022 and Coram is in the process of applying for future funding. “We will be using the learning from this programme to develop where we are going to take it next,” says Spiller. “It might be longer term support, rather than one-off workshops, and opening it up to other areas.”
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