lrmn 2011-12 annual report

7/30/2019 LRMN 2011-12 Annual Report

1/23

30thNovember

2012

Lewisham

Refugee and

MigrantNetwork

(LRMN)

Annual Report2011/12

Linking Communities Together


2/23

2

LRMN Mission Statement pg 3

Chairs Message pg 4

Treasurers Report pg 4

Directors Report - pg 5

Staff Report pg 6-15

Case Studies 16-18

Client Ethnicity Breakdown - pg 19

Our Partners pg 20 - 21

Our Funders pg 22

Our Volunteers pg 23

Our Details pg 22- 23

Contents


3/23

3

Empowering refugees, asylum seekers and migrants to improve theirquality of life by providing culturally sensitive support, advocacy andcapacity development to individuals and organisations.

1. Develop a Marketing and Communications strategy to improve LRMNs image and

promote its positive work in Lewisham and the surrounding boroughs.

2. Develop a Finance/Fundraising Strategy.

3. Develop LRMNs campaign and lobbying work.4. Develop a strong network of refugee and migrant organisations in Lewisham, working

together to promote the positive image of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants and

address their issues and concerns.

5. Develop partnerships and work collaboratively with organisations tackling sexual based

violence against refugee, asylum seeking and migrant women and girls.

6. To put in place a system to monitor and evaluate the impact of LRMNs work.

7. Work collaboratively with organisations in and around Lewisham to strengthen and/or

develop new projects/services for LRMN clients.

1. Strengthen LRMNs organisational infrastructure; ensuring that proper systems and

policies are in place and all requirements for Advice quality standard, OISC and other

relevant regulatory bodies are adhered to.

2. Offer and continually improve specialist immigration and welfare benefits advice and

work closely with advice providers.

3. Strengthen LRMNs human resources power including its staff, trustees andvolunteers.

Strategic Objectives 2013-16

Mission Statement

Operational Plan 2013-14


4/23

4

I will keep it short and sweet. Basically I am deeply happy that despite the economic gloom

and the difficulty of raising funds, we are still here, still standing and believe it or not, thriving!

Our funding sources have grown, reflecting the various services we provide to our clients. As

a response to the challenge of time, we work in partnership with other organisations more

than ever before. We continually improve our services and always looking for ways of

responding to the needs of our clients. I would like to encourage our clients and service users

to keep tapping into our available services because without them LRMN will have no reason

to exist. I am thankful to all our funders and supporters for letting us carry on the work we do.

I am particularly grateful to Lewisham Council and NHS Lewisham for their continuous

financial and moral support over the years, without which LRMN would not be here today. I

also would like to say a big thank you to all the LRMN staff and volunteers, without them, our

valuable services would have been impossible to continue. And lastly, I want to say thank you

to all the trustees, who like me, despite having a lot on their plate, still manage to offer theirtime and commitment to LRMN.

I would like to encourage our staff, volunteers and the trustees to keep working hard and keep

up the good work and I look forward to another fruitful year.

I look forward to seeing you all again next year and I am optimistic that the report will be

another positive one.

Lydia Abu

Chair

With the ongoing economic difficulty and recession, LRMN I would say is doing very well. This

year, our trading figures for 2011-12 show an excess of income over expenditure of 51,227.

Our total income was 268,602 and expenditure was 217,375.

Full accounts are submitted to Companies House and the Charity Commission. Copies are

available on request. Thank you

Amina Ismail

Treasurer

Chairs Messa e

Treasurers Report


5/23

5

Leading LRMN has been and still is the biggest challenge of my career. I am glad to let you

know that the sleepless nights, the long working hours and working at weekends have all paid

off. This year has been very good! We have secured funding from the Comic Relief and Trust

for London to continue our very successful Womens project. The London Borough of

Lewisham (LBL) and NHS Lewisham, our long term funders have both given us enough

resources to continue our good work. New funders have also come in for small scale projects

and these included a grant from Awards for All to replace our server and computers, from

Clothworkers Foundation to set up an ICT Resource Centre, Nominet Trust to pay for an ICT

Tutor and Volunteers, from LBL Community Sector Unit to set up AIMS Database and

celebrate Refugee Week, from Lewisham Service Providers Forum (LSPF) to upskill our staff

and volunteers on welfare benefit advice provision, from Lewisham Health Care NHS Trust to

set up a project for men over 35 to tackle isolation and from London Churches to provide

nappies for children.

Over 50 destitute clients have regularly received the food parcel we provided in partnershipwith Lewisham Churches for Asylum Seekers (LEWCAS) and Perry Rise Baptist Church. Ourdestitute clients (and LRMN staff and volunteers) have enjoyed the lovely hot meal BrockleyCommunity Church has provided every Wednesday.

Our services to the most vulnerable members of our society are growing from strength tostrength. Nearly 900 clients accessed our services this year, of which majority are women.Many of our clients are from ages 26-49 and many come from Africa, Caribbean, Sri Lanka,

Afghanistan, Vietnamese and China. Most live in Lewisham, but we also had clients from

Bromley, Southwark, Greenwich, Croydon, Lambeth, Hackney, Islington and Newham. Adviceon immigration has been the most sought service, followed by welfare benefits, counseling forwomen who suffered from domestic and sexual based violence and homelessness/housingfor destitute clients. We have also started using AIMS database system this year, which madea big improvement in monitoring and reporting our casework. We continue providing crchesupport for CTDNs English classes as well as run our own English classes four times a week.The IT, sewing and knitting classes are still very popular amongst our clients and they attendnot just to acquire skills but also to socialise. Our Advisers helped 5 destitute clients appliedfor individual grants and raised 1150 in total. Furthermore, LRMN continues to facilitate theLewisham Refugee Forum and lead the celebration of Refugee Week. This year, the RefugeeWeek was held at the Civic Suite, and Joan Ruddock, Lewisham Deptford MP opened the

event. Over 200 people attended the celebration which showcased talents from differentrefugee communities.

LRMN values working in partnerships with different organisations, and this year is not anexemption. LRMN has been actively involved in the Local Strategic Partnership, StrongerCommunities Partnerships Board, Health and Social Care Forum, Homelessness Forum,Voluntary Sector Strategy Group, Lewisham Advice Providers Forum, Lewisham AdviceProviders Consortium and Black and Ethnic Minority Advice Network to name a few.

Directors Report


6/23

6

Our achievements wont be made possible without the support of our past and existing

volunteers. A big Thank You to all of them! Thank you to Bea and Arezu too; our crche

workers and the crche children for their bright smiles in the morning! I am also grateful to

our funders, supporters and partners for believing in us, to my staff for their dedication and

commitment and the trustees who put their trust on me.

Rosario Mincher

Director

Information and Advice Nur Jahan Mazumder

Since coming to LRMN in April 2011, the Information and Advice project developed andthrived forward to provide specialist advice to asylum seekers, refugees and migrants; givingadvice and representation in the areas of Immigration and Asylum, Nationality, Welfarebenefits, Asylum support (NASS), Housing and Homelessness and Debt.

The Immigration and Asylum part of the project advises and assists clients on all aspects ofasylum and immigration rights including appeal matters on pro bono basis. In summer 2011,LRMN was officially registered with the OISC (Office of the Immigration ServicesCommissioner) to provide advice and representation at Level 3 for the first time, which meantthat LRMN has been able to help with all areas of:

Asylum;Applications for Entry Clearance or Leave to Remain;Nationality and Citizenship;EU Residence Application; andRepresentation at appeal level (where applicable).

Since April 2011 to March 2012, we have assisted clients in relation to their asylumapplications; spousal and domestic violence applications; applications for settlement;applications forchildrens and applications on the grounds of human rights. In addition, wehelped with applications for family members of European nationals. We have also provided

assistance to clients regarding travel documents, citizenships and immigration bail matters.

The projects main achievements for the last year would have to be the successful registrationfor OISC level 3. Since becoming OISC level 3, we have efficiently represented many clientsfor their Immigration and Asylum matters no matter the complexity of their case with manylate night and weekend work, and sleepless nights. What is more, we have representedappeals at the Immigration and Asylum Tribunal; and have provided several advices onappeal rights and right to appeal to the Upper Tribunal.

Staff Re ort


7/23

7

Other achievements of the project are

Around 70 % of our clients received specialist Immigration and Asylum advice because

they are either unable to obtain legal aid immigration advise, they have been merit

failed or their advice providers closed down.

The immigration and asylum part of the project had over 600 contacts and over 800

hours of work with new and existing clients. As per welfare benefit, we have had over

200 contacts with new and existing clients.

We have also made a number of partnerships with local organisations including local

Citizen Advice Bureau, the Southwark Law Centre and Action for Refugees in

Lewisham (AFRIL). This also led to outreach sessions being conducted at AFRIL for

Immigration and Asylum Advice.

The implementation of AIMS database for the organisation and providing initial

trainings for the LRMN team members including volunteers.

Issues/Cases Presented

Majority of our immigration clients sought advice for leave to remain on the basis of asylum,

Human Rights, European regulations and the Immigration Rules. Examples of cases are:

initial asylum claims, settlement as refugees, settlement as spouse, entry as an adopted child,

unaccompanied minors.

Challenges

The sheer volume of demand for immigration advice and representation proved to be very

challenging with fewer organisations/solicitors firms having capacity to provide immigrationand asylum advice. And with the legal aid cuts, its becoming harder for individual to obtain

legal advice. From next year April 2013, the Government has announced there will be no

legal aid matter for majority of immigration cases. This effectively means, there will be less

immigration advisers providing specialist immigration advice for matters like spousal

applications, Human Rights applications and applications from family members of an EEA

national. So our main aim is to see as many people as possible even if it is to give them free

advice about their case and the next steps when we are not able to take on the case or refer

them to other organisations.

Thank You

From April 2011 to March 2012, the project has received support from many generalvolunteers, immigration advice volunteer and individual on work experience. The projectwould not be this effective if not for the support of the volunteers by collecting calls, postingletters, photocopying documents, preparing bundles and researching specific matters. Thus, ahuge thank you to you all for the continuing support you have given to the project and not tomention my wonderful LRMN colleagues for their endless support and advice.


8/23

8

Womens Project (WP) - Emma Brech

2011-12 was both an exciting and challenging year for the Womens Project. With the endingof the three year Vulnerable Womens Project in July 2011, we had our work cut out to devisea follow-on project and obtain funding for continuation. Luckily, both Comic Relief and Trustfor London acknowledged the value of the work we had done in creating a safe space forrefugee and asylum-seeking women, and agreed to a further three years funding in order to

develop a specialist counselling project.

The new project, renamed The Womens Project @LRMN, looks to learn from theVulnerable Womens Project in responding to the need for a sensitive, holistic and cross-cultural service that acknowledges womens experience of gender-based violence and theeffects of trauma on them, giving them the knowledge and skills to begin a process ofempowerment and recovery. Key to the new project in the first year was an expansion of ourtherapy service, with 2 new placements created for a female counsellor and a female dance-movement psychotherapist, adding an essential mind-body perspective to our work withtrauma. Alongside this, recognizing the need for wrap-around support, we retained a socialwork student from Goldsmiths (addressing practical needs) and continued our womens

nurture group, now facilitated by a paid member of staff alongside our volunteers. Thisbrought the Womens Project team to a total of 10: 2 paid staff, 3 students on placements, 2volunteers and 3 mentors; creating a larger and more sustainable support network to meetthe needs of women attending the project. The project overview, aims and outcomes areoutlined below, together with the results of our evaluation towards the end of the first year. Insummary, we exceeded most of our targets, and are delighted with the success of the projectso far.

What is the project about?

The Womens Project @LRMN is a three year counselling/ therapeutic project, funded by

Comic Relief and Trust for London. The overall aim of the project is to improve the health andwellbeing of refugee and asylum-seeker women who have experienced gender-basedviolence and trauma. By gender-based violence, we mean any act committed against awoman because of her gender resulting in physical or psychological harm. Examples ofgender-based violence affecting refugee and asylum-seeker women include torture, rape,Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), trafficking, prostitution, forced marriage and domesticviolence. Violence committed against women in this way causes trauma, with resultant loss ofidentity, power, self-esteem and hope.

In providing services to refugee and asylum-seeker women, we aim:1. To enable women to cope with trauma through self-healing methods.

2. To reduce isolation and increase self-esteem/ self-advocacy.3. To increase knowledge in relation to womens health and human rights.

Linked to these aims, our 5 outcomes state that in benefitting from our services,refugee and asylum-seeker women will:

1. Have a greater sense of wellbeing and ability to cope with trauma.

2. Feel more confident in accessing support/ services.

3. Be better able to deal with chronic pain, stress and insomnia.


9/23

9

4. Have better knowledge about their health and wellbeing.

5. Be skilled to support new clients within the Nurture Group.

In helping women to recover from violence and trauma, The Womens Project @LRMNhas 4 main outputs or services:

1-1 counselling (min 5 women per week)

A weekly Womens Nurture Group (min 10 women per week)

1-1 massage for trauma sessions ( max 4 women per month) A mentor scheme for clients (min 4 women per year)

Achievements

2011-12 was a productive year for the Womens Project, both in terms of our outputs andoutcomes. The total number of unique beneficiaries (ie not counting those attending morethan one service) was 72. We found that women often engaged with one service first (egcounseling) and then moved through the different services, building up a sense of trust andbelonging as they did so. Anecdotally, women reported that The Womens Project makes mefeel safe; I feel listened to; I have somewhere to go that is like a family; the Project helped

me to win my asylum appeal and I am grateful. In statistical terms, we exceeded all of ourtargets except Massage for Trauma, which ended in February 2012 due to funding cuts to ourexternal provider.

Outputsa) Counselling: 453 sessions attended including assessments, drop-ins and ongoing

appointments.

b) Womens Nurture Group: 36 group sessions attendedc) 1-1 massage for trauma sessions: 22 massage sessions attended (Oct-Feb)d) Mentor scheme for clients: 10 sessions attended

OutcomesIn 2012, we conducted an evaluation including observations, evaluation charts,questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with a representative group of 30 women. Theevaluation covered womens experiences across all 4 outputs. The following statistics werecollected:

66% women reported a reduction in trauma symptoms

80% women showed improved communication of their past experiences and current

needs.

67% women reported an increase in resources and coping strategies

90% women reported feeling less isolated/ dependent on project.

93% women reported accessing further types of support.

86% women demonstrated improved self-advocacy skills.

42% women reported attending >2 massage sessions (affected by end of sessions Feb

2012)

70% women reported improved knowledge about health and wellbeing

70% women reported a link between knowledge and improved decision-making.

5 women were trained as mentors over 1 year.


10/23

10

100% RASW reported increased skills and use in group.


Casework during 2011-12 covered a wide range; from women who had been tortured and

raped in prison, to those who had been trafficked for the purposes of prostitution, to those

who have suffered gender-based violence such as FGM, witchcraft abuse or forced marriagebut have never thought to claim asylum: we have seen an increase in overstayers whose

cases fall into this category. A minority of cases dealt with domestic violence and No

Recourse to Public Funds.

Challenges

Counselling sessions: The delivery of ongoing counselling sessions was affected byattendance, which could be erratic depending on the degree of chaos and uncertaintyaffecting womens lives. In addition, we found that the need for bus fares exceeded our

budget, particularly for those women also attending the womens group. Our response to thiswas to maintain a drop-in service, timed to follow the womens group; to use social worksupport as a way of minimising disruption to counselling caused by practical challenges; to beflexible about counselling sessions and times during chaotic periods for clients; and todouble-up on appointments within the organisation so that women did not need to travelmore than twice in one week.

1-2-1 Massage Sessions: Our massage sessions were affected by cuts in funding andceased after 5 surgeries. Having discovered some erratic attendance and difficulties inengaging with the service, we decided that a monthly visit from an external agency did notbest suit our outcomes. We decided to focus on Dance Movement Psychotherapy (DMP) as

a pilot activity based at LRMN on a weekly basis, and having found it to suit the broader mind-body outcome, will be formalising it as an output for the second year of the project.

Mentoring Workshops: Mentoring workshops were affected by the busy schedules ofmentors attending the womens group, who found it hard to stay behind for training, or todecide on a common time for meeting together. We responded to this initially by meeting thementors 1-1 and encouraging them towards a drop-in, which meant staying for as long asthey could after the group without committing to a full hour. As Refugee Week drew near, thementors were incentivised to meet more regularly as a group and actively began to requestmeetings in order to make decisions about the womens group participation. This meant thatthe last few sessions were delivered successfully leading to renewed interest in the activity

for the second year of the project.

Thank You

I would like to thank all the members of the team Arianna, Jane, Matilda, Fiona, Janet,Denver, Clotilde, Philomina and Theepa for their immense dedication and hard work. Id alsolike to thank my fantastic LRMN colleagues for their support and sense of humour whichkeeps us all going in increasingly tough times.


11/23

11

Listen to Your Heart Project - Margot Lawrence

What is the project about?

The aim of the project is to reduce health inequalities suffered by refugees and asylumseekers, by identifying and addressing difficulties preventing their access to health services.To prevent social exclusion by ensuring that refugees and asylum seekers are able to

exercise their rights to health services, and are shown respect for their privacy, dignity andreligious and cultural beliefs. This has been achieved by offering one-to-one casework,practical advice, advocacy and well-being activities designed to improve the clients overallhealth and well-being, and enable them to overcome some of the effects of trauma, povertyand destitution.

In order to achieve these aims, the project offers the following services:1. Scheduled appointments and casework on health-related issues such as:

Helping clients find G.P.s

Referring clients to mental health agencies

Referring clients to specialist organisations for Post Traumatic StressDisorder

Arranging interpreters to attend GP and hospital appointments

Advocating on behalf of the client to relevant health and social care

agencies

Helping clients with applications for health-related welfare benefits.

2. Health promotion activities:

Weekly sewing and knitting classes

Community health checks

Health improvement programmes

Achievements

Casework288 advice and guidance appointments were given over the year. Some of the cases werecomplex and required referrals to several agencies. There was an increase in traumatisedclients with mental health problems, and more referrals to organisations like Freedom fromTorture and Project London.

Refugee Health TeamThe project set up a partnership with the Refugee Health Team (RHT). Our clients were seenby a nurse and a caseworker from the RHT. This gave our clients an opportunity to discussmedical problems and other issues.

Working with G.P.s.At the beginning of the project there were very few G.Ps directly referring patients forspecialist refugee service. In order to build on this the project has written regularly to G.P.s toinform them of our services and attended stakeholder meetings where G.P. attend.


12/23

12

Outcomes include: Direct connection with 5 G.P.s in local practices Far more direct referrals from G.P.s G.P.s more willing to write medical letters as supporting evidence G.P.s more ready to waive fees for writing letters G.P.s more willing to make emergency referrals to mental health agencies All our clients attending the project now have access to G.P.s and dentists.

Well-being activitiesThe sewing and knitting classes have been very popular with our clients, and very successfulin promoting well-being and community cohesion. There have been 44 knitting classes and 42sewing classes over the year. Each week new clients join and we now have 60 women on theregister. We continue to acquire a steady stream of donated fabrics and wool, and there are 8sewing machines. We have linked up with an international project called the Sewing MachineProject which started in 2005 after the tsunami in Southeast Asia. It now runs all over theworld to help communities that are in distress because of natural disasters or povertyconditions.

The classes have achieved the following outcomes:

The participants have learnt new skills, and the items they make are not only for the

benefit of their families, but also as a possible way of earning an income.

It has helped to alleviate loneliness and isolation among our client group, which in turn

has improved mental health.

There have been therapeutic benefits for example some people find having to

concentrate on knitting or sewing can take their minds off intrusive, painful memories.

Health Forum - Maternity services improvement programme.The project has been working in partnership with the Maternity Service Liaison Committee(MSLC) in Lewisham to improve maternity services for our clients. We set up a discussion

forum attended by 10 women who had recently had babies to provide a platform for thewomen to describe their experiences of being pregnant and having a baby. The views of thewomen were used to improve maternity services in Lewisham. We have also contributed tothe provision of a dedicated Safeguarding Midwife at Lewisham Hospital for refugee womenand women who have experienced domestic violence, to help them through all stages ofpregnancy care and childbirth, and to ensure they understand all the information given tothem. And interpreters are now provided for every woman who has English as a secondlanguage. Some of the women had had difficult experiences so meetings were set up withthe hospital post-natal matron, LRMN and the clients for them to talk through what happened.This helped them understand their experience better.The women who participated in theproject found it very helpful to talk about their experiences and find out where they can get

help and information. Refugee women particularly feel marginalised because of notunderstanding information, due to language barriers and cultural differences in pregnancy andbirth procedures.

Community health checksThe project worked in partnership with the North Lewisham Primary Care Trust, andparticipated in 17 community health checks (measuring blood pressure, cholesterol, height,weight) in the street and shopping centres. 510 people attended the health checks and 340


13/23

13

were from refugee or ethnic minority backgrounds. Of those, 12% of those checked wereshown to have significant untreated high blood pressure and referred to GP surgeries. 20%had other health conditions that were identified and referred for treatment. All were givenadvice about maintaining a healthy lifestyle through healthy eating and exercise.

Food parcelsThe project attends the Lewisham Homelessness Forum and over Christmas they gave us 40food hampers for our destitute clients.

In addition to working with partner organisations, the project has attended the followingforums to promote the project: Healthy Communities Collaborative Lewisham LINk Lewisham Health and Social Care Forum Lewisham Homelessness Forum

Outreach work - Events attendedThere have been a number of events over the year where the work of the project has beenshowcased to other stakeholders, organisations and members of the public. These include: Southbank seminar on Women and Health Afghan Community Organisation of London New Year event Volunteer Fayre Goldsmiths College Health and Education Event Community 2000 African Health Forum Event Homelessness Forum Ten Year celebration Health and Well-being event Downham Health Centre Investing for a Healthier South Central event Pfizer Lewisham Service Providers Forum Lewisham Mental Health and Well-being Day Civic Centre North Lewisham Health Improvement Plan Stakeholder Event Long-term Conditions Affecting Health and Well-being Event


Thehealth conditions that are commonly presented at appointments include:

Mental and physical injuries from past torture

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Ongoing mental health problems

Chronic pain

Immobility/disability

Cardio-vascular Disease Obesity

Diabetes

Rheumatoid arthritis, Osteo-arthritis, Vitamin D deficiency


14/23


15/23

15

Health Access Project Shepherd Ziko

The broad aim of the project is to address health inequalities in Lewisham, and to ensure thatmarginalized groups such as refugees and asylum seekers have access to the healthcarethey need. Most of the asylum seekers, refugees and migrants that come through our door,sometimes for something else, are already suffering ill health. This is often exacerbated byexperiences before or after they come to this country and which may cause traumas. This

causes them to present with significant and advanced post-traumatic stress disorder. Butwhat compounds the physical and mental health problems they bring with them is whathappens to them here. The uncertainty of their situation in terms of housing and immigrationexacerbates their health problems especially as there are no timescales with the HomeOffice.

The Health Access Officer (HAO) offers generic support to clients according to individualneeds and through this, the HAO identifies any health needs for clients.

Achievements

The number of clients seen by the HAO has been more than 25 per month which is in linewith expectations. The HAO has also been working with the Mens group successfully. Thisproject has been running for 6 months now and is increasing in popularity. The HAO willcontinue to publicise the project in order to reach out to more men in Lewisham.

The HAO attended the Inaugural Annual Lewisham Public Health to create networks anddisseminate information to other organisations and the public at large and also attended theRefugee Week celebrations in Lewisham to interact and engage with clients. The HAOcontinues to partner with other organisations and liaise accordingly to improve the provision ofthe Health Access Project.


Access to GPs and NHS services, DLA, Rent Arrears, Homelessness, Welfare benefits and

Debt

Challenges

One of the major problems has been the lack of Housing Options, bureaucracy involved in

trying to help a homeless person. Another problem has been the lack of Travel funds for

clients to attend activities and external appointments.

Thank you

I would like to say thank you to Sian and John who have provided a lot of support to theMens Group in particular. Thank you too to NHS Lewisham PCT and the Health ImprovementTeam.


16/23

16

(Please note the names and backgrounds of the clients have been editedto protect their identity)

Asylum

Ms Maya (Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) national) was first referred to the project byLewisham College for advice and assistance due to the closure of her former advisers andthe imminent expiry of her Refugee Status. Ms Maya had been raped, tortured, witnessed thedeath of her family and was being forced to domestic work. In order to escape, she had toarrange travel through an agent to come to the UK to seek protection. Since coming to theUK, through her former adviser she obtained Refugee Status for 5 years and had beenworking to build her life in the UK and away from her past. However, as the Refugee Statuswas approaching the end dates, Ms Maya was becoming agitated, worried and stressed thatshe might be forced to return to her country where she will face further torture, destitution andhardships. After she was referred to the project, I worked with Ms Maya on a weekly basis in

order to prepare her application to the UKBA for settlement while also referring her to theWomens Project. I worked with her to build her knowledge of the system and providereassurance that she would not be automatically removed when her Refugee Status came toan end and that the UKBA would have to consider her application for settlement. Sincereferral, we spent sessions after sessions working toward her settlement applications in orderfor the application to be submitted to the UKBA before her current Refugee Status expired.Since meeting with the client, we helped to obtain her file from the former adviser through theLegal Service Commissioner (as the organisation closed down), drafting witness statements,collecting medical reports, support letters from friends and obtaining objective evidence aboutthe country.

After 3 months of hard work and over 40 hours of work, we submitted the application to theUKBA and continued to assist the client emotionally and practically wherever possible whilereassuring her about the application. Eventually, after waiting 2 months we received adecision from the UKBA and Ms Maya received her Indefinite Leave to Remain. Ms Maya isnow working toward improving her health and thinking about starting a family of her own.

Immigration

Mrs Tina (Nigerian national) first came to LRMN after her previous legal representative, IAS,went into administration just before her case was refused and given appeal right with shortdeadline. She obtained our details from the OISC website. She came to us for assistance with

her application as a family member of European nationals (husband and children). She waspreviously given residence card for 5 years; however, once it expired she was not able toobtain further residence card from the UKBA due to incorrect advice given by other advisersand the UKBAs continuous refusals to accept her as a family member of a qualified personexercising Treaty Rights since 2008.

Since contacting LRMN via telephone and receiving advice with regard to her appeal shemanaged to lodge the appeal form in time. Thereafter, it was arranged for her to come and

Case Studies


17/23

17

see me for face to face advice and assistance. When Mrs Tina first came to LRMN, she wasin tears about her situation, being unable to work as a qualified nurse, unable to support hergrowing family and her husband. After the long initial meeting it was agreed that we wouldrepresent her at the appeal hearing on pro bono basis.

Since taking on the case, we helped to prepare her appeal by collecting evidence; contactingrelevant third parties; chasing a number of organisations including the UKBA. While alsosupporting her emotionally via telephone or face to face contact to consider the positiveaspects, and looking forward to the future. At the end of the evidence collection, we managedto submit the appeal bundle containing over 150 pages of evidence, case laws andlegislations. In October 2011, Mrs Tinas appeal hearing took place with further evidence andsubmission sent to the Tribunal in November 2011 where LRMN represented the client andher family.

After months of stress, worries, sleepless nights and emotional strain for the adviser and theclient, the client found out in January 2012 that her case was allowed on all grounds by theTribunal. Since then, she obtained her residence card and is positive about life and her family.She is now working as a qualified nurse and is supporting her family.

Womens Project

Client A initially self-referred to the Womens Project on the advice of a friend who hadreceived support here. Originally from Sri-Lanka, A had been detained, raped and tortured onsuspicion of being a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and had lost contactwith her husband following her flight to the UK. A left three children behind in Sri-Lanka.Initially very isolated, shy and nervous, A resisted counselling and did not want to be referredto the counsellor who was available. Instead, she simply wanted to talk with me on aweekly basis and we spent some sessions on assessment and psycho-educational workabout counselling. Having built some trust between us, A agreed to try counselling andsurprised herself by engaging with the sessions and the counsellor retaining a weeklycheck-in with me. After 3 sessions, A was able to attend counselling sessions without seeingme too. After 12 sessions, her case was discussed within our team meeting and we decidedto invite her to the Womens Group. A was paired with a Tamil mentor, with whom shebecame friends. She began to attend the group regularly, even when she also had to signwith the UKBA on the same day. Although she was very quiet in the group, the facilitatorsnoticed that she began to smile more and seemed to enjoy the activities, often looking visiblymore relaxed by the end of the session. During preparations for Refugee Week, A offered toscribe a Tamil song for the women to learn and assisted in teaching non-Tamils the words.

As her confidence grew, she then requested support in finding a solicitor and began to takepro-active steps in moving her case forward; this included an in-depth report written by theWomens Project, detailing her history, presenting symptoms and country information,together with an explicit statement of our support for her case. Having learned aboutFreedom from Torture from the Womens Group, A then requested that her counsellor referher there. The referral is now through, A is attending specialist trauma treatment there, andhas just been granted 3 years Refugee Status. A continues to take an active part in theWomens Group and is interested in training to become a mentor in 2012 -13.


18/23

18

Health

A family from Afghanistan was referred to the project by a GP. They were the father, Mr R,the mother, Mrs R and a seven year old boy, S. The family was deeply traumatised from theirexperiences in Afghanistan after they witnessed a colleague being shot, and the father R wasabducted and beaten up. They came here and had further stresses with immigration andhousing. Mrs R is suffering from severe depression caused by Post Traumatic Stress

Disorder. They had recently been struck off the register of their GP, as Mrs R gets very upsetwhen people are rude to her, and she had apparently shouted at the doctor. I managed to getthem registered with another GP, but the first appointment was only in a few days, and Mrs Rhad run out of anti-depressant medication. So I sent them with a letter to the nearest NHSWalk-in centre. The next day Mrs R collapsed in the street and missed her signingappointment at the immigration centre. To prevent them being put into a detention centre andthen deported, I obtained an urgent report from May Day hospital where Mrs R was taken andsent to the immigration centre. I also negotiated for the family to be able to sign monthly andnot weekly to minimise the stress. I referred them for counselling to Freedom from Torture,and they were given an urgent appointment, whereas it can often take months to get anappointment.

Ms R (Bangladesh national) was referred to us by a friend after failing to pay for herhealthcare and pharmacy bills. Ms R has a chronic chest condition and has to regularly visitthe doctors and then collect her medication from the pharmacy. She had been able to receivehealth care service until the hospital authorities started to ask for her immigration status. Shehas a pending application with the Home Office and is therefore legally entitled to receivehealthcare in the UK. The lack of financial support and failure to receive health care wouldhave had detrimental effects to Ms Rs medical condition. She became desperate hence thereferral by her friend who also provides her with accommodation as she has no recourse topublic funds. Her mood was very low and would have had other serious mental health issues.

After she was referred to us, and on realising that she potentially had no other source offunding I was left with one option. She was eligible to apply under the NHS Low IncomeScheme and I filled in an HC1 form for her assessment for healthcare costs. The assessmentis never straightforward and sometimes we get negative answers but after waiting for a fewweeks her answer came and it was positive. She received her certificate of authorisation toreceive NHS healthcare & medication and came in to advise me of such good news. She wasvery excited, felt happier and has been going out more often. Ms R was very grateful toLRMN for the support they gave her.


19/23

19

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Afghanistan

African

Asian/AsianBritish

Bangladeshi

Black/BlackBritish

Caribbean

English

Indian

Iraq/Iran

Pakistani

Somali

SouthAfrican/Zimbabwean

Tamil

Chinese

Vietnamese

WhiteBritish

WhiteandBlackAfrican

W

hiteandBlackCaribbean

Other

OtherAsian

OtherBlack

O

therWhite(NonBritish)

Series1

Client Ethnicity Breakdown


20/23

20

LRMN has worked with many partners in and around Lewisham and we would like to say

Thank You to all of them for their support and contribution to all our projects.

Action For Refugee In Lewisham (AFRIL) Lewisham NHS trust

Southwark Law Centre CLC Solicitors (north London)

Duncan Lewis (New Cross office) Rights of Women

UK Border Agency Public Law Project

Lewisham Social Services Lewisham CABs

Immigration and Asylum Tribunal Office of Immigration Services Commission

Immigration Law Practitioners' Association

(ILPA)

LASA

Family Services UK Refuge

IAPT Lewisham Lewisham College

Southall Black Sisters Greenwich Council

Lewisham Council (Children Referrals &Assessments/ Vulnerable Adults)

Family Pathways

CSEL Asylum Aid

National Domestic Violence Helpline Ashiana

170 Community Metropolitan Police

Immigration Solicitors Guys and St Thomas Well Women clinic

Poppy Project Refugee Council

London Churches Refugee Network WAST

Brockley Community Church Women for Refugee Women

Volunteer Centre Lewisham North Lewisham PCT Health Improvement

team

Our Partners


21/23

21

Lewisham Maternity Services Liaison

Committee

Lewisham, Lambeth, Southwark Refugee

Health Team

Health Communities Collaborative Voluntary Action Lewisham

Lewisham LINk Building Healthier Communities

Lewisham Health and Social Care Forum Voluntary Action Lewisham

GP surgeries Southwark Day centre for Asylum Seekers

Medicins du Monde Project London Freedom from Torture

Bench Outreach Kings Church

Age Concern Community Mental Health Team (Speedwell

and Northover)

Lewisham primary schools Health Improvement Team

The Sanctuary Family Mosaic

The Hyde Single Homeless Intervention and Prevention

Team (SHIP).

Lewisham Advice Providers Consortium Lewisham Advice Providers Forum

BAN Greenwich Action for Voluntary Service

Southwark Refugee Communities Forum Perry Rise Baptist Church

Lewisham Churches for Asylum Seekers Capital Training and Development Network

Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Forum Evelyn Oldfield Unit

Migrant Rights Network Deptford Reach

999 Red Cross

REETA Refugee Legal Advisors Group


22/23

22

Lydia Abu Chair

Alison Willis Vice Chair

Laurentina Risch SecretaryAmina Ismail Treasurer

Eddie Mark Mulumba Member

Lutfi Vata Member

Mo Obadina Member

Rita Buhanda Member

Jim Kanter Member

Rosario Mincher Director

Emma Brech Womens Project Manager

Arianna Rondos Womens Project Assistant

Margot Lawrence Welfare Benefits and Health Adviser

Nur Jahan Mazumder Immigration and Welfare Benefits Adviser

Shepherd Ziko Health Access Officer

Terry Adams Capacity Development Officer (joined July 2012)

Cristina Zorat ICT Development Project Officer (joined October 2012)

London Borough of Lewisham

Lewisham NHS

Comic Relief

Henry Smith FoundationTrust for London

Lewisham Health Care NHS Trust

Awards for All

Nominet Trust

Clothworkers Foundation

London Churches

Trustees

Staff

Funders


23/23

23

Sian Munkhai Active Pamela Moncrieffe Active

Janet Smith - Active Clotilde Ahouadja Active

Matilda Avorgbedor Left May 2012 Christopher Cullen Active

Eulicia Horne- Nguta Active Denver Garrison Active

Marilena Ricciardi Left March 2012 Clare Maclure Active

Shweta Sayed- Left January 2012 Shilpi Batura Active

Aisha Somni Gupta Left Sep 2012 Monica Wagner Left June 2012

Javad Sadeghi Active John Walker Active

Cophia Yau Left Sep 2012 Jane de Rome Active

Izhar Eissadi Left May 2012 Sian Tagg Left Oct 2012

Joseph Beale Active Dola Akinnibosun Active

Fiona Wood Active Aneta Kurasiak Active

Jeyda Hammad Active Mathilde Khaleff Active

Andreja Mesaric Active Anna Branthwaite Active

Calum Smith Left June 2012 Philomina Emeli - Active

Theepa Amalraj - Active Matilda Skans - Left

Jane Phillips Left July 2012 Monica Haubler Goschl - Active

Margot Rose Palmer Left June 2012 Ben Sanders left June 2012

Nimo Abdi Left September 2012 Charles Williams Active

Sinotu Lawal - Active Ella Howard Left September 2012

Marjorie Hawthorne - Active Ben Campbell - Active

Parker House

144 Evelyn Street SE8 5DD

Tel: 020 8694 0323Fax: 020 8694 6621

Email:[email protected]

Website:www.lrmn.org.uk

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LRMNetwork

Registered Charity Number: 1058631

Company Registered Number: 3252691

Volunteers and Students on Placement

Contact Us
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://www.lrmn.org.uk/http://www.lrmn.org.uk/http://www.lrmn.org.uk/http://www.lrmn.org.uk/mailto:[email protected]

lrmn 2011-12 annual report

Documents