What we do
Survivors of trafficking and torture have experienced substantial violence and pain. Our therapy team help you integrate your experiences and memories so that you can achieve stability and lives full of meaning and creativity.
WHY IS THERAPY Important?
The trauma that survivors have experienced can present severe challenges. Sometimes you experience symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD, depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, disturbing thoughts and feelings, painful flashbacks, nightmares, intense feelings of sadness, fear and anger as well as feelings of shame and hatred. As a result of your experiences, you can feel cut off from yourself, your feelings and other people. You may struggle to access NHS mental health services. You may feel, and sometimes are, vulnerable and alone, often in unsafe situations.
WHAT’S OUR SOLUTION?
The Helen Bamber Foundation’s therapy is individual, adaptable and responsive. We help you to manage your acute symptoms, we offer therapeutic interventions to help you come to terms with your traumatic experiences, we help you to find and develop new communities and have confidence to rediscover existing communities. We only deliver treatments that are proven to work. We are flexible and work with you as your needs change and develop, prioritising the challenges you identify.
We aim to reduce psychological pain and trauma and enable you to recover your best self. We value your independence and agency.
OUR THERAPY IS KIND, RESPONSIVE AND EVIDENCE-BASED
We offer a wide range of therapies to support you at each stage of recovery including: psycho-education, symptom management, Trauma-focussed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Narrative Exposure Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, relational psychotherapy and behavioural activation. We use therapies that are proven to work. We tailor your therapy to suit you.
- We help to manage your acute symptoms such as flashbacks, low mood and anxiety; we provide practical support to ensure that your material needs are met.
- We offer therapeutic interventions that support you come to terms with traumatic experiences
- We welcome you to our – and our partners’ - community spaces
Our therapy is informed by detailed assessments and reviews. We also ask you to complete some questionnaires to help us understand and demonstrate that our treatments are working.
The therapy team are also advocates, supporting services with expert, clinical input to ensure that the right support and care is delivered to you, not only by the Helen Bamber Foundation, but by other statutory and voluntary services.
The work of the Helen Bamber Foundation’s therapy is pioneering. When we started, very few services were dedicated to delivering wraparound support for people seeking asylum. We have tailored interventions and support specifically for you. Unlike many other services, we don’t believe that treatment should wait until you have secure immigration status and stable accommodation. You should not have to wait for the treatment you urgently need. Our dedication to research and evaluation means we can evidence the positive impact of our approach.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” – James Baldwin.
SOME FACTS ABOUT OUR THERAPEUTIC RESULTS
In 2023, of clients who had completed therapy:
- 77% recorded a clinically significant improvement in their PTSD symptoms,
- 72% reported a clinically significant improvement in their depression symptoms,
- 67% had a reliable improvement in their overall functioning.