In 2014 as a semi-retired person I applied to be a volunteer at Freedom from Torture (FFT), a human rights charity based in London but with branches all over the UK. I was appointed to work with a ‘natural growth project’ (NGP, a therapeutic gardening project) run for the...
refugees
Three years ago, I volunteered as a visitor offering emotional support to people detained in Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre (IRC), Scotland. Most of the people I spoke to inside the IRC were dumbstruck as to why they were being held without time limit in an institution...
As Janneke and I are walking up the road, we pass two young women walking arm in arm. They are dressed fashionably and laughing as they look at their mobile phones, completely fitting into the bustling, international street life of the Netherlands, where my colleague and I...
In an ethnically diverse suburb of London, layered with rows of semi-detached bungalows and the odd corner shop, lay the massive comprehensive school that had invited us to collect some data. Having passed security checks, we wound our way through the long corridors to a...
Others is a collection of works considering ‘otherness’; what sets one apart. Otherness can be permanent, like disability, or contextual, like the father at a mother-and-baby group. Here, the authors write on the topic with powerful words (not on as the title suggests)....
"Migration has always been with us. Climate change, demographics, instability, growing inequalities, and aspirations for a better life, as well as unmet needs in labour markets, mean it is here to stay. The answer is effective international cooperation in managing migration...
Tackling the psychological effects of inequality involves more than good intentions: we must actually do good. Published guidelines articulate a shared vision of what ‘good’ looks like in practice, in this context, or in that service, or with these people. Guidelines...
In the aftermath of a slaughter like Christchurch, we are forced, once again, to confront that old question: how can people be marked for murder, not for anything they have done but simply for who they are? It is a question the killer asks himself in his so-called manifesto...
Two NGOs working with refugees in Greece have announced a project to extend their programmes of psychosocial support across the country. Baytna – which means ‘our home’ in Arabic – has been used as an approach by The Refugee Trauma Initiative and Help Refugees to provide...
We are experiencing an unprecedented migration crisis, with many millions of people leaving their homes to seek refuge from violent conflicts, natural disasters and human rights violations. Even when they arrive in their host country, refugees face many challenges and we need...