Refugee Week 2025 takes place this year from 16-22nd June, and the theme is “Community as a Superpower”. This resonates with our values and our practice. Peppy Hills, our lead on Project Salam, explores how community is core to our work supporting refugee families in Birmingham through Theraplay®.
Better when we’re together
As human beings our brains are wired for connection. Research studies illustrate the significant positive impact that connecting with another person can have on our overall health (World Psychiatry Journal 2024). Connecting with others is number one of the NHS 5 steps to mental wellbeing.
What is community?
A community is a group of people who have a shared experience, focus or another factor e.g. geographic location. Refugee communities share many experiences including trauma linked to their journeys from their home countries to new countries and lives, loss of extended family and challenges within their resettlement process amongst many others.
Refugee parent attending a Project Salam Community Group
Refugee parent attending a Project Salam Community Group
PHOTO GALLERY: Project Salam ‘Make and Play’ event for Ukrainian families
The images below are from a Group Theraplay series of events supporting Ukrainian parents and children run as part of Project Salam. The ‘Make & Play’ event pictured was run in collaboration with Moseley For Ukraine and The Hive, Moseley, with generous funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. We also cater to Arabic, Pashto and Dari speaking families, helping parents and children make playful connections, enjoy shared play and feel part of a group.
Collective healing
Community can provide a space for collective healing. Sharing our concerns, ideas and achievements with another helps us feel supported, seen and heard.
Refugee parent attending a Project Salam Community Group
Refugee parent attending a Project Salam Community Group
By creating our own therapist facilitated events as part of Project Salam and delivering taster Theraplay® sessions and other creative therapeutic activities at events held by partner organisations, we hold space for human connections to be made within a therapeutic, community-based context which promote collective healing.
Community offers an empowering peer support network
Through our work with refugee families we have witnessed the healing power of community. We have seen families share experiences, hear each other and validate their associated feelings. Parents have exchanged phone numbers and built relationships therefore extending their support network.
We have seen children play together, seek each other’s company, create games and stories together initially with with few words until shyness lessens, smiles and attentive collaboration emerge.
“Meeting with friends today is a joy itself”
“Meeting with others helped me to forget my worries, problems and life difficulties”
Refugee parents attending a Project Salam Community Group
Community as a superpower
Knowing we have a community to reach out to for support and to contribute to gives us a sense of support and a sense of purpose and place in life. Social isolation is a key barrier to refugees’ wellbeing and their ability to thrive within their new lives (National Library of Medicine 2022). By working with refugees and other organisations supporting their resettlement, we co-create spaces for the refugee community to come together and share experiences, create a sense of belonging and experience felt safety within a culturally sensitive context.
Professional at a Project Salam Theraplay® taster event
Supercharging refugee family communities through relational play
By utilizing play and creative based therapies children, parents and professionals can engage in activities which support personal growth, soothe and refuel nervous systems and encourage collaboration and connections to form.
Refugee parent attending a Project Salam Community Group
In our professional and personal experience, community is a supercharged superpower that cannot be underestimated.
Celebrating Refugee Week 2025 – get involved
Celebrating Sanctuary’s annual World Music and Arts Festival.
During Refugee Week 2025 we will be joining with partner organisations, refugee families & children during the Midlands Art Centre Takeover on Saturday 21 June. Join us!
If you would like us to deliver a Theraplay® Taster session or host a Theraplay® Group in your school, Family Hub, Children’s Centre or community group, please contact Peppy Hills at peppy@beaconfamilyservices.org.uk.
Peppy Hills is a qualified play therapist who leads Project Salam at Beacon Family Services.
For more information about Beacon Family Service’s Project Salam, contact peppy@beaconservices.org.uk or 0121 270 0593.
Further support for parents
If you or someone you know is struggling with family relationships, Beacon Family Services can help. We provide a range of therapies and resources to support parents, children and families including our Connect For Kids Theraplay® group and parent workshops on a variety of topics, as well as access to peer support groups.
For further support, and to see our latest parent events and services, please visit the Families hub.
You can also explore our resources for instant support, including newsletters, online support groups, and much more. You can also read further insights and tips from qualified therapists and professionals on our blog.
We work with organisations, professionals, schools, and charities.
We provide training to use our resources with families and in schools. We partner with professionals, commissioners and organisations to provide in person and online support for families, professional development and training and support and supervision.