The problems of social isolation and loneliness among the UK’s refugee population were recently discussed at a consultative workshop run by the telephone charity, Community Network. The workshop brought together prominent community leaders and representatives from agencies working with the black and minority ethnic/refugee communities, to look at ways of minimising feelings of isolation which can cause physical and mental illness among these vulnerable and traumatised people.
Many refugees arrive in the UK having escaped from persecution, detention, torture and sexual violence in their homeland, only to find their new lives blighted by feelings of alienation and social exclusion. This can be caused by several factors including cultural, social and religious differences in addition to the language barrier. The problem is exacerbated by a policy of dispersal, resulting in refugees being relocated to parts of the UK where there are no other people from their ethnic group.
The keynote speaker was the distinguished human rights activist Helen Bamber OBE. She was supported Dr. Maknun Ashami, lecturer in International Development at London’s Birbeck College; the Director of the Evelyn Oldfield Unit, Tzeggai Yohannes Deres; and Dr. Solomon Bogale from the NAZ Project. All three speakers offered valuable insights in how social isolation affects refugees and proposed practical suggestions for combating the problem.
The workshop also heard how Community Network is in the process of using its expertise in teleconferencing to establish telephone social and befriending groups to alleviate social isolation among refugee communities in the UK. In the coming months Community Network’s Social Inclusion Team will be working closely with community-based organisations and other agencies to implement the workshop’s recommendations.
Organisations that participated in the workshop included: Eritrean Community in the UK, Ethiopia Community in the UK, Evelyn Oldfield Unit, Helen Bamber Foundation, The NAZ Project, The Latitude Care Network, Islington Somali Advice Centre and Praxis.
For further information call Community Network on 020 7923 5250
