Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Working with Refugee Children Training April 2009
STAR members from all over the UK gathered together on 17-18th April to learn more about volunteering with refugee children, sharing ideas from the great work they currently do.
Despite only having a day and a half to cram in all the material, STAR staff and Aoife O’Higgins of The Children’s Society managed to pull off another successful training session on the 17th and 18th of April.
Sixteen people managed to make it down to the YHA Thameside Hostel in Canada Water. They represented ten STAR groups from around the country and were a healthy mix of both prospective project co-coordinators and some seasoned old hands, ready to pass on their advice.
From what members told us they wanted at our last national conference as well as from the Project Coordinators’ Training in Bristol, September 2008, the focus of this session was on the emotional wellbeing of refugee children.
As a project worker for The Children’s Society and an expert in the field of emotional support, Aoife explored the asylum process for young refugees, the emotional needs they might have, and the challenges facing volunteers who work closely with this group of people.’
Rather than overloading the volunteers with facts and figures, she kept the session interactive and lively. The students were able to engage in debate with each other and the training staff, share their own personal feelings on the subject and explore case studies.
The STAR staff also gave them all the information they needed on what the national team can do for them, including Kim’s (our Volunteer Support Officer) customised “Matchmaking Service” for helping set up agreements with partner organizations.
Of course the training session had to include a mini-social. Volunteers and the STAR staff kept the first day very informal with a few drinks in a local pub. It was a great chance for the volunteers to learn from each other, as some had already established some excellent projects working with refugee children.
For the fledgling volunteers with hopes of running a project with refugee children, the programme was invaluable.
If you missed out, not to worry, there will be many more training sessions coming up!
Posted by James Fisher on 22/04/2009 at 04:54 PM
in National STAR News
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