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We're not an expensive project to run and I think we definitely give value for money
You see a lot of people coming through the door
and we couldn't work without our volunteers.
Everybody benefits in different ways...
Some come here because they've been displaced in places without any friends
Some are destitute without anything going on
and they come here to have hot meals, coffee, tea
All those things require money to be put in place.
Here at Manchester we were approached a couple of years ago by a psychotherapy service
who said we know and research shows that refugees and asylum seekers
experience high levels of stress and anxiety
so why aren't they approaching our service?
What are your thoughts?
Our thoughts were that there are a raft of reasons
from taboo around mental health to not understanding what is mental health,
But there's also really practical stuff
like, if I get an appointment for counselling who watches my kids?
or, I don't have any money, I'm on vouchers
or how do I get to the project?
or I'm homeless so I don't have an address for you to send me an appointment letter
So we asked the psychotherapy service if they would
have a go coming out to deliver therapeutic one-to-one sessions
to people who'd expressed their worries to us.
And we started a pilot more than two years ago
and it works very well.
You can have a nice office in a specialist centre
but if your client can't get there because they haven't got the bus fare
or there's nobody to watch their children, pointless
Please, please do listen, value and invest