A is 16 year old un-unaccompanied asylum seeker who came to placement with us in October 2020. He was forced to flee Afghanistan under threat of violence and has experienced extreme trauma in his past. Since he has been at Phoenix Independence, we have supported A with his asylum claim by connecting him to a local specialist law firm which has been running smoothly, we identified the need to support A to improve his English as it was challenging for him to communicate clearly with Professionals and in the local community.
We have supported A accessing full-time education on an ESOL course to help him improve his language skills and have worked with his social worker to gain access via Virtual Schools for A to have two hours a week with an English tutor at home.
A has also sadly, due to past trauma’s, began to suffer from some health issues linked to PTSD, accordingly, we have also supported him to attend healthcare appointments to explore the nature of these issues and find ways to help him moving forward. Between ourselves and the local authority, we have also identified the Importance for A to have an interpreter for every meeting that he needs to attend so that he is fully involved in decisions being made by professionals regarding his future.
It is very important to us here at Phoenix that each young person’s voice is heard, irrespective of their pasts, so that they can gain the necessary skills to grow in confidence and self-esteem so that they can become independent young adults.
