List of Services
ICN serves the refugee community by:
Refugee Community Team ( Support and Housing Related Advice)
Our Refugee Community Team provides regular drop-in advice at our Refugee Centre in the areas of: accommodation, employment, benefits, education, health, family, financial, and legal matters. For those who cannot drop-in we can make home visits. For those with protracted issues we provide ‘floating support’ and a regular key worker for a period of time, until independence is possible. These are Supporting People services. We particularly help the most vulnerable who are often destitute and have nowhere else to turn. We network closely with other agencies and partners in service delivery. We have a small food bank to support those with little means of supporting themselves.
We organise social activities available to the refugee community, such as trips to local attractions, the occasional party or short holiday breaks – especially for those who cannot normally enjoy such opportunities.
Women’s and Families Work
Many of the women we work with feel isolated, having moved from large and close extended families to our sometimes individualistic Western culture. We provide focused outreach work for them and their families, to help them break out of the cycle of isolation and alienation. We also have women’s groups operating from time to time.
Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC)
Since 2002 ICN has been looking after young men between the ages of 16 – 18, as well as providing Leaving Care (18+) services. This service is provided on behalf of a number of local councils. In particular, we have sought to give UASCs emotional and practical support after the trauma many experience in getting to the UK, compounded by uncertainty about their future – as many dread being sent back.
We have provided accommodation and care to about 150 young men since 2002 on behalf of the Social Services departments of half- a-dozen Local Councils in Southern England.
Life skills training, English language acquisition, and safe, comfortable accommodation have been central to our support.
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)
ICN initially ran English classes in 2003/4 and span off a local ESOL centre. Again, in 2011, we began running English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses at our centre in Bournemouth. We provide recognised ESOL classes in partnership with local adult education providers, as well as classes for those who cannot access adult education provision.
Classes are held at all levels and can lead to national ESOL qualifications. At lower levels learners can also gain an ESOL with Citizenship qualification.
Immigration and Asylum Advice
Since 2004 ICN has been providing immigration advice for members of the refugee and asylum seeking community, escaping oppressive and often life threatening situations in their home countries. We deal with cases up to OISC (Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner) level 2. We make referrals and support the work of solicitors when a case is above this level. Many cases can be complex and protracted and require multi-agency cooperation, and so ICN seeks to facilitate helpful networking.
Social Enterprise
In 2012 ICN began a project to help refugees into business, initially through a Business Start Up course, delivered in partnership with local businesses. According to Refugee Council research refugees encounter disproportionately large obstacles to finding full-time, properly paid, legal and permanent employment. These may be psychological (post-traumatic stress disorder, depression), cultural (different system, language and world view), educational (hard to transfer experience and qualification), or simply due to prejudice and racism.
We are currently working on extending our service in the area of Social Enterprise.
I do not think of ICN as an organisation, I think of it as part of my family.
