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Online Resource Hub | Dissemination Conference – Resources for Professionals Caring for Asylum Seekers and Refugees
January 31, 2018 @ 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
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Online Resource Hub | Dissemination Conference – Resources for Professionals Caring for Asylum Seekers and Refugees
Key Information:
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Date: Wednesday 31st January 2018
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Times: 9.30am – 15.30pm
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Location: Crowne Plaza Liverpool (2 St Nicholas Place, Princes Dock, Liverpool, L3 1QW)
*Please see further travel and venue details including accessibility information below.
Event Description:
The Online Resource Hub project aims to provide accessible and up-to-date information on the rights and well-being of asylum seekers and refugees for health professionals and students.
Asylum seekers and refugees mostly come from other minority communities where there is abuse of human rights, war and conflict. Consequently, the majority of them suffer from physical and mental health problems. However, research has indicated that professionals often struggle to understand the needs of asylum seekers and refugees. This project addresses this gap by co-creating an online resource hub through action research. Empirical data was collected through focus groups and semi-structured interviews with professionals who were refugees or have extensive experience of working with asylum seekers and refugees.
Health Education England funded the project under the prestigious National Mary Seacole Leadership Award. Our proposal to the Mary Seacole Leadership Steering Committee is that the School of Nursing and Allied Health organise a dissemination conference soon after the project is completed. The dissemination conference is to promote the resources developed for the use of NHS professionals, students and professionals from other sectors supporting refugees and asylum seekers in UK.
The project is supported by LJMU’s Equality and Diversity Team.
This is an all-inclusive conference, open to everybody.
This online resource hub is designed to:
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Provide up-to-date, easily accessible information on the legal asylum-seeking process and role of professionals
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Provide information to promote health and well-being, and share information and good practice
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Increase students and professionals’ knowledge of specific health issues relevant to asylum seekers and refugees
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Develop a better understanding among students and professionals of the importance of cultural diversity and providing culturally responsive care
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Create the opportunities for inter-professional and inter-agency collaboration and learning between healthcare professionals and non-healthcare organisations such as education, employment and housing
The contents of this resource hub are organised as follows:
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Summary of the key challenges relating to particular aspects of care for asylum seekers and refugees
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Guidance based on the literature, practice experience and knowledge of professionals including former refugees working with asylum seekers and refugees
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Selected resources that provide information on specific aspects of care services available to asylum seekers and refugees and the web links to those resources
Programme:
09:30 – 10:00 Registration & refreshments
10:00 – 10:30 Welcome – Professor Raphaela Kane (Chair & Interim Executive Dean and Director of Nursing and Allied Health, Faculty of Education, Health and Community, Liverpool John Moores University)
10:40 – 11:00 Online resource demo & group tasks – Ms Philomène Uwamaliya (Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Health and Community, Liverpool John Moores University)
11:00 – 11:20 Keynote address #1 – Dr Peter Gough (Doctors of the World UK, Médecins du Monde network) Providing access to healthcare for Asylum Seekers and refugees arriving in the UK
11:20 – 11:25 Q&A
11:25 – 11:45 Keynote address #2 – Dr Angela Burnett (Lead doctor and Responsible Officer, Freedom from Torture, London centre) Working with asylum seekers and refugees who have experienced trauma
11:45 – 11:50 Q&A
11:50 – 12:20 Keynote address #3 – Mr Ewan Roberts (Centre Manager, Asylum Link Merseyside) Challenges of supporting and empowering Asylum Seeker and Refugees in Merseyside & Mr Durani Rapozo (Complex Needs Coordinator, Asylum Link Merseyside) Challenges of supporting and empowering Asylum Seeker and Refugees in Merseyside
12.20 – 12:30 Q&A
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 13:50 Keynote address #4 – Alison Crawshaw (Migrant Health Scientist, Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control, Public Health England) Migrant Health
13:55 – 14:15 Keynote address #5 – Mr Maurice Wren (Chief Executive Refugee Council, London Influencing policies related to Asylum Seekers and Refugees in UK
14:15 – 14:35 Keynote address #6 – Dr Julia Nelki (Family Refugee Support Project, Liverpool) Mental Health of Refugee Children
14:35 – 14:45 Q&A
14:30 – 14:40 Break
14:45 – 15:05 Keynote address #7 – Ms Jill Summers (Head of Safer and Stronger Communities, Liverpool City Council) The Integration of Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Merseyside, Community Safety Partnership (CSP)
15:05 – 15:10 Q&A
15:10 – 15:20 “Where do we go from here?” – Mr Gary Graham (Deputy Chief Executive, Organisational Enhancement, Liverpool John Moores University)
15:20 – 15:30 Closing statement (Giving Thanks) Professor Raphaela Kane (Interim Executive Dean and Director of Nursing and Allied Health, Faculty of Education, Health and Community, Liverpool John Moores University)
Biographies
Professor Raphaela Kane
Interim Executive Dean and Director of Nursing and Allied Health
Faculty of Education, Health and Community
Liverpool John Moores University
Professor Raphaela Kane is the Director of the School of Nursing and Allied Health since 2014 and has, since October 2017 held the position of Interim Dean of the Faculty of Education Health and Community. Raphaela has a background specialising in Accident and Emergency Nursing in both the UK and Ireland. Following an extensive clinical and senior management career in the NHS in London, Professor Kane has enjoyed a variety of roles in higher education, including a number of joint appointments. She values the importance of the relationship between education, practice and research for the benefit of patient care and ensures that it is central to the work of the School and Faculty and in her work with the NHS. Raphaela was conferred with a Professorship at LJMU in 2016 in recognition of the impact she has demonstrated in healthcare and academic leadership.
Ms Philomène Uwamaliya
Senior Lecturer
Faculty of Education, Health and Community
Liverpool John Moores University
Philomene has been a registered mental health nurse since 2006 and holds an MSc in Public Health and International Development. She began teaching in 2011 at Liverpool John Moores University in the school of Nursing and Allied Health. She also has experience of working in public health with specific programmes aimed at increasing life expectancy. She has also worked on the different programmes aimed to redesign care pathways, with a greater focus on prevention, early intervention, health promotion and reduction of health inequalities, especially people with mental health problems, and asylum seekers and refugees.
In October 2016, Philomene won a prestigious Mary Seacole Leadership Award to develop the Online Resource Hub for professionals caring for asylum seekers and refugees.
The Mary Seacole Awards were created in her honour and provide the opportunity for individuals to undertake a specific health care project, or an educational or development activity that benefits and improves the health outcomes of people from BME communities. The awards are funded by Health Education England and are awarded in association with the Royal College of Midwives, the Royal College of Nursing, Unison and Unite, with support from NHS employers.
As a refugee herself, Philomene recognises the challenges professionals face whilst caring for asylum seekers and refugees. She is highly committed to ensuring that support services and commissioners provide the appropriate care to asylum seekers and refugees. As an educator, Philomene takes her role seriously in educating health and social care students and staff, and she shares her expertise with anyone she has the privilege of working with. She also works very closely with voluntary services, and collaborates with national and international organisations to influence policy related to asylum seekers and refugees, as well as acting as an advocate for asylum seekers and refugees.
Dr Peter Gough
Doctors of the World UK (part of the Médecins du Monde network)
Peter has been an NHS Family Doctor for nearly 34 years; for the past 17 he has been involved with communities in Rajasthan, India addressing issues of migration, health, education and the lack of opportunities for girls and women. Three years ago, Peter joined Doctors of the World as a volunteer GP and regularly works in their clinics in East London serving undocumented migrants, refugees and the homeless. Many of the people seen in these clinics have suffered from psychological and physical trauma, even torture. To enable him to improve his knowledge and skills in dealing with these challenges, he recently took sabbatical leave from NHS practice to study Psychotherapy and Counselling at Regent’s University, London. He remains passionate about Family Medicine and the contribution it can make to the rebuilding of lives.
Dr Angela Burnett
Lead Doctor and Responsible Officer
Freedom from Torture, London centre
Angela Burnett is Lead Doctor and Responsible Officer at Freedom from Torture, where she has worked since 1995. She writes extensively on the health of refugees and torture survivors, including a BMJ series and a resource pack for health workers. With Yohannes Fassil she wrote guidance for commissioning mental health services for vulnerable migrants. She delivers training, has mentored refugee doctors and has assisted in developing health services throughout the UK for refugees and torture survivors.
Until recently she worked as a GP at the Greenhouse Practice in Hackney, caring for homeless people, refugees, and other vulnerable populations. Previously she worked in Zambia with people affected by HIV/AIDS and researched collaboration between traditional healers and formal health workers. She evaluated education programmes for Macedonian doctors, worked with Oxfam in Ethiopia with people affected by drought and famine and delivered training on working with survivors of violence and torture for health workers in Brazil.
Mr Ewan Roberts
Centre Manager
Asylum Link Merseyside
Ewan began working with refugees in earnest in 2001, as an ESOL Teacher, later managing a small training programme. In 2002 his company were successful in a bid to the EU Equal Programme. This began the Liverpool Asylum Seeker and Refugee Partnership, the LASAR DP, a bespoke project developing practical approaches to refugee integration in the fields of health, education, information and language development.
In 2005 he became manager of Asylum Link Merseyside, a drop-in centre for asylum seekers and refugees. It provides direct advice and assistance to around 3000 people each year through casework, access to a social worker, destitution support and a range of social projects including breakfast and lunch for 200 people each day, football, bike repair walks, a women’s group and allotments.
Central to the ethos at Asylum Link Merseyside is the need to make the asylum system understandable, both for those in it and for the communities into which people are placed. Delivering information sessions, working with Schools of Sanctuary, providing EU integration projects and working with mainstream partners all help to make our community a safer and more cohesive place. To be happy, everyone has to feel useful and everyone has to belong somewhere.
Mr Durani Rapozo
Complex Needs Coordinator
Asylum Link Merseyside
Durani Rapozo specialises in complex cases in his role as Complex Needs Coordinator for Asylum Link Merseyside, the biggest charity in Liverpool supporting asylum seekers. He is also a qualified Immigration Adviser(OISC Accredited) and supervising social worker. He supervises the social work team at Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit who give independent specialist legal advice and provide representation to people seeking entry or leave to remain in the UK. He also supervises the social work team at Revive, a charity that supports refugees and asylum seekers in Manchester. He is a Practice Educator and a PhD candidate at Chester University where he carries out research on ageing, the asylum process and social work. Durani is a visiting lecturer at Edgehill University, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool University and Salford University. Durani has worked with refugees and asylum seekers in the UK for 17 years.
Durani is a refugee committed to ensuring services and commissioners provide the appropriate support to asylum seekers and refugees. Durani works very closely with the School of Nursing and Allied Health to share his expertise, ensuring that students are well informed on the changes to immigration policies.
Alison Crawshaw
Migrant Health Scientist
Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance and Control
Public Health England
Alison is a Senior Scientist in Migrant Health at Public Health England (PHE), where she contributes to policy development, research, advocacy and teaching about migrant health in the UK. She has an MSc in the Control of Infectious Diseases from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and an MA in Biology from Oxford University. Prior to joining PHE, Alison spent a number of years working in Myanmar and Thailand on malaria prevention and vector-borne disease control among mobile and migrant populations for international organisations and NGOs, including Malaria Consortium, IOM and WHO. Her professional interests include migrant and refugee health, health systems strengthening, infectious disease epidemiology, vector control and social and behaviour change communication, and she has authored or co-authored papers encompassing these topics. In her spare time, Alison is an avid tennis player, traveller, scuba diver and photographer and has visited over 50 countries.
Mr Maurice Wren
Chief Executive
Refugee Council, London
Maurice joined the Refugee Council as Chief Executive in March 2013, having previously worked in the homelessness and refugee protection fields with Shelter and Asylum Aid, where he was Director for 12 years. Maurice co-founded the groundbreaking Independent Asylum Commission in 2007 and Detention Forum in 2009, and is presently co-chair of the National Asylum Stakeholder Forum at the Home Office and chair of UK Refugee Week. He is a Trustee of Migrant Voice; Every Casualty Worldwide; and the European Network on Statelessness; and was made a Patron of Action Foundation in 2016. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Edinburgh in November 2017, in recognition of his humanitarian work with refugees in the UK.
Dr Julia Nelki
Family Refugee Support Project, Liverpool
Dr Julia Nelki is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who worked in community NHS mental health services in Liverpool for 30 years. In her retirement she continues to work with refugees and asylum seekers, an area of work she has always been interested in, partly because of the lack of specialist services for them but also because she is herself a child of refugees. Julia set up two services for refugee children and their families under the auspices of Alderhey NHS Trust. One, a gardening psychotherapy service for refugee families (www.familyrefugeesupportproject.org.uk) started in 1999 and is now a charity. The other, the Haven service, offered drama and art therapy to refugee children in schools. Julia also works for the charity Freedom from Torture and has in the past worked for a charity (MRANG) supporting mothers and their young children.
Ms Jill Summers
Head of Safer and Stronger Communities
Liverpool City Council
Jill is currently joint head of Safer and Stronger Communities at Liverpool City Council, having worked previously in the private sector and overseas. She has worked on issues of community cohesion and community safety for over 10 years, covering a wide spectrum of issues from anti-social behaviour and gun crime to domestic abuse. She is the chair of the Liverpool Asylum Seekers and Refugees Group and lead officer for the Syrian Resettlement Programme in Liverpool, working closely with colleagues from across the Liverpool City Region. She oversees work on the Prevent and Counter Extremism agendas and is currently co-ordinating Liverpool’s participation in an Oxford University learning exchange project called Inclusive Cities.
Mr. Gary Graham
Deputy Chief Executive, Organisational Enhancement
Liverpool John Moores University
Gary is responsible for implementing transformational change within the University. The teams within the Organisational Enhancement Division are:
- People and Organisational Development
- Corporate Communications and Stakeholder Relations
- Marketing
Gary has worked at the highest level in the NHS, as Chief Executive of the Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust and as the Managing Director (Mental Health Developments) at the Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust.
A specialist in organisational development, change and leadership, Gary was educated at Sandhurst and graduated from the Royal Military College of Science gaining an honours degree in Applied Science. He also holds a PGCE(FE) and a Masters in Training and Human Resource Management. Having served as a British Army Officer, Gary left the service to move into retail before holding a number of senior positions in the NHS.
*Travel / Venue Details:
Crowne Plaza Liverpool (2 St Nicholas Place, Princes Dock, Liverpool, L3 1QW | 0151 243 8000) is located near Liverpool’s Royal Liver Building (Pier Head) and is a short 6min walk from Liverpool James Street Train Station: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/dir/Liverpool+James+Street,+James+Street,+Liverpool/Crown+Plaza+Hotel+albert+dock/@53.4060206,-2.9965941,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x487b212dcdcb3333:0x319c1b443b497564!2m2!1d-2.9918507!2d53.4049082!1m5!1m1!1s0x487b212d47c4e92d:0xfe32c41e2f6ecfcb!2m2!1d-2.9969601!2d53.4074021!3e2
Further Venue Details & Accessibility Information:
The venue is fully accessible with elevators on each floor. Arrangements for private breastfeeding facilities have been put in place and guests are welcome to bring their dependants, as long as provisions for young children have been taken into consideration (parents/guardians must supervise their children at all times). Lip-speakers will also be in attendance.
Important Note(s):
Some photography and filming will occur during the day. If you do not wish for your image to be captured, we ask that you alert our media team upon your arrival.
Lunch will be provided for all attendees on the day and the following dietary requirements will be catered for; meat, vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options will be available.
If you have any other dietary and additional requirements, or simply wish to pose a query; please contact the Event Co-ordinators via email before Wednesday 17th January 2018: RefugeeHealth@ljmu.ac.uk – Please use the subject header “Refugee Health Matters”.