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Our Evolving Expertise

We strive to constantly evolve to ensure recovery for Survivors. 

Our clients are always at the centre of our work; so we listen to their expertise, advice and lived experience to make sure we are providing the best possible care. 

Combining our clients lived experience and The Helen Bamber Foundation’s all encompassing care, we work internationally to build the guidelines for working with Survivors of trafficking and torture. 

We work together with NGOs and public services to enhance service providers’ understanding of trauma, mental health, human trafficking. 

Our aim is to bring as many people together to ensure the best support for Survivors. 

We want to partner with more people and offer more training for other organisations that require support. 

How we work together with partners 

We like working with people. It’s how we learn. Every partnership brings something new and we learn together how to improve our care for Survivors of trafficking and torture. Each partnership is bespoke and individually tailored to ensure we are all working together in the best possible way. 

Service Delivery Partnerships 

By working in partnership we can learn from each other. We can also offer expertise to other organisations in the hope that we can all provide better trauma informed care. Therefore increasing the number of Survivors that receive care for their whole journey of recovery. 

We are developing our partnerships to include training, coaching, supervision and co- delivery of services. Our aim is to reach out to organisations across the UK to build a network of partners, and from there, increase Survivors’ access to care. 

Young Roots: Action to Grow Partnership 

Young Roots offers vital support to young refugees and asylum seekers – a group which falls outside of our Foundation’s usual client remit. Many of the young people supported by Young Roots suffer from PTSD, just like our clients. This partnership aims to fill that gap by providing trauma-informed therapy to young Survivors. To ensure this happens, the Helen Bamber Foundation provide a Clinical Psychologist and Trainee Clinical Psychologist to work within the Young Roots service. Launched in 2019, this service-delivery partnership has seen considerable success both in clinical outcomes for clients and in provision of consultation and support for staff. The Young Roots team are now seeking to expand their therapy provision thanks to the learnings that have come out of this partnership.

Women for Refugee Women

Women for Refugee Women are an incredible organisation supporting refugee and asylum seeking women to develop confidence and skills. They too saw a need among their client group for trauma-informed therapy. During the coronavirus lockdown period, it was clear that their client’s mental health was deteriorating and they approached the Helen Bamber Foundation to begin a new partnership piloting the provision of a clinical psychologist and an assistant psychologist into their services. We look forward to developing this partnership moving forward as we learn more about the needs in this area.

TRIBE Freedom Foundation: 

#HikeForFreedom Partnership In 2019, a team of Helen Bamber Foundation staff, volunteered their time to set up a pilot hiking project for our female clients. Many of our female clients do not feel comfortable exercising in gyms, but are keen to access other forms of exercise, particularly in a supported group setting. Thanks to the TRIBE Freedom Foundation we were able to deliver this project in partnership. Combining their expertise in outdoors events and our medical, psychological and safeguarding expertise created a fantastic event. Monthly training hikes led up to a final challenge: climbing the three largest peaks in the UK. The clients involved built their strength, confidence and connections and came out of it feeling empowered. This served as a pilot project and is now being developed further to include leadership and peer-mentorship elements . 

Happy Baby Community

The Happy Baby Community was developed, in partnership with Ourmala, to help meet the needs of the Helen Bamber Foundation’s clients who are pregnant or have small children. In 2018, the North London Happy Baby Community outreach project supported over 150 women and their babies and children. After a successful crowd-fundraising drive a second group was added in Croydon, South London. As part of this growth, coupled with the drive to develop as a member-led group, HBF supported the Happy Baby Community in becoming a charity in its own right. The Helen Bamber Foundation now continues to partner with the Happy Baby Community, providing specialist counter-trafficking and therapeutic support to this brilliant peer-led supportive community of families. This partnership seeks to ensure that the provision of services develop and grow in the best possible way.