At City of Sanctuary Sheffield, we know that a resilient and hopeful staff and volunteer team is the foundation of our work. This team is the soil from which everything we do grows and as such it needs supporting and nurturing.
This is a challenge – policy twists and turns that have a direct impact on the ground, combined with a lack of services after years of cuts and the burnout culture that pervades small community organisations means that we are fighting an uphill battle.
Over the years, in response to this, we have developed the City of Sanctuary Sheffield Psychology Volunteer Team, spearheaded by a small group of clinical psychologists, to help us build and sustain a resilient staff and volunteer team, and a safe and hopeful organisational culture.
Therefore, the Psychology Volunteer Team are sharing some of the pioneering work they are doing. We are very grateful to have them and will continue to shout from the rooftops about the importance of this kind of work across the movement.
Tom, Director, City of Sanctuary Sheffield
We are a small group of qualified Clinical Psychologists who work voluntarily into City of Sanctuary Sheffield. We all have different roles within CoSS, and in addition come together to form a CoSS Psychology team. Our hope is that, through supporting the resilience of the team and the psychological mindedness of the organisational culture, we can support CoSS to be a safe and hopeful organisation and to sustain their incredible work with asylum seekers and refugees in the face of the hostile environment.
- Tina Ball was a Trustee at CoSS and is now volunteering with the advocacy and system change volunteer team
- Helen Wigglesworth is part of the CoSS Staff Team
- Jane Barton volunteers at CoSS’ weekly multi agency drop-in on the Health & Wellbeing desk
The asylum system and the charity sector can be challenging spaces to work. Therefore, we work to support confidence and resilience in City of Sanctuary Sheffield’s staff and volunteers, support other partner organisations to develop similar emotional reflective support and expand awareness and support for the mental health needs of refugees and people seeking asylum.
Thank you for reading. We will send out future updates about our work as we continue to support the wellbeing of City of Sanctuary Sheffield staff and volunteers, and advocate for access to mental health care for people seeking sanctuary.
Tina, Helen and Jane