Fatima ( false name to preserve identity) is a Kurdish refugee. She, like many of our clients has suffered traumas and difficulties before, during and after migration. She is here not from choice but had to leave all she knew and seek refuge here. She has benefited from the support of Refugee Resource and now wishes to give back to the organisation that helped her on her path to recovery and integration into the community of Oxford. She wants others like herself to have the help she had.

Please help her to raise enough to fund the equivalent of 30 counselling sessions ( note money will be used where most needed to maintain our support services)

Refugee Resource is 20 years old this October. It is an Oxford based charity that works with refugees, asylum seekers and vulnerable migrants who have suffered trauma and/or multiple loss due to experiences in the countries they came from, the journey here or in the UK (e.g. modern slavery, domestic servitude, trafficking etc). Refugee Resource provides counselling, psychotherapy and other therapeutic and practical support to help them recover and build new lives as part of Oxfordshires diverse community.

Last year Refugee Resource worked with over 350 people from over 43 different countries providing both one-to-one and group counselling, mentoring, services for women and men (to help them meet others, gain peer support and learn about matters that help them integrate into the UK ), advice and advocacy support, a hardship fund and a small bursary fund. Our support includes dedicated programmes for young people including unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

If you hardly speak English and are a stranger in a foreign culture, its like being blind and deaf when you want to talk to someone. I felt powerless and invisible before they helped me. Now I have a voice and I can help others like me.. (RR client)

Many clients are referred to us having suffered multiple traumas including conflict, loss/separation (e.g. death of family members), violence and exploitation. They exhibit symptoms of emotional distress, grief, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and a sense of lost identity. Once in the UK their ordeal is not over as they face the complexities of having their case recognised plus building new lives in the UK. The asylum process is often experienced as re-traumatising (past events must be recounted via questioning), and the temporary nature of their status means asylum seekers carry an additional burden of fear, poverty and uncertainty, which can make it difficult for them to cope and feel part of society. Once our clients gain refugee status they continue to face multiple disadvantages and crisis, related to their health, income and housing, as well as stigma and discrimination.

Ive seen significant changes in clients mental health. If Refugee Resource wasnt there offering nurturing, holistic support, I cant think of any other resource that could take it up It doesnt even bear thinking about.(RR partner) *

Before I talked, I wanted to kill myself. I got angry. I dont know whats happened to me. Now I feel calm and peace.(RR client) *

I think the impact on clients is massive. If Refugee Resource wasnt there, I think that clients, a couple of people weve been working with there is no doubt that it would have been very serious, with possibly people committing suicide. The impact is as serious as that. (RR partner)*

*Butterfly Consultancy From Alienation to Inclusion, an Evaluation of Refugee Resources Activities, 2018