Welcome Sessions for Asylum Seekers and New Refugees
The second of our new monthly Welcome Sessions at Cross Street Chapel was a success! These sessions are intended to introduce new asylum seekers and refugees to Manchester City of Sanctuary. Organised by our volunteer Stephen, this session brought a few new arrivals and involved some fun and relaxing ice breakers by the wonderful Whitworth artist in residence, Ibukun Jesusanmi.
At this session we discussed details of how City of Sanctuary has positively impacted some of our current and former sanctuary seekers. We were thrilled to hear that members of our community felt like they had a strong sense of family and care when they attended events hosted by City of Sanctuary. We hope to carry on working with sanctuary seekers and non-sanctuary seekers across Manchester to create a sense of inclusion and cohesiveness across the city.
During the welcome session we also introduced our new Health and Wellbeing Pass, which follows guidelines set by the NHS surrounding 5 steps to better health and mental wellbeing: to Connect with others, to Be Active, to Keep Learning, to Give to others and to Be Mindful. We hope that this scheme will be a positive step in improving the physical and mental wellbeing of our sanctuary seekers.
Michael Carter & Kechen Lui, Placement Students from Manchester Uni
