Derbyshire County Council: Supporting Asylum Seeking Children & Young People

During the February half-term, the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) Team at Derbyshire County Council ran a holiday club session, with male unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Buxton between 12-16 years of age. Through this session, the young people not only learnt a lot about healthy eating and the importance of a balanced diet, they were also given the opportunity to make friends and meet other young people in the UK claiming asylum.

“Our young people are very lonely and vulnerable, so establishing these links, friends and support networks is very important to improve their mental health and well-being.”
Nichole Dickens, UASC Team

To kick-start the session, the young people were asked to design their own holiday club. During the design process, they were also encouraged to think about the wider requirements of creating a programme, such as equipment, staffing, training, partnerships etc

The session then moved on to the topic of healthy eating and nutrition, first starting with a group quiz, ‘identify the fruit or vegetable from a very magnified photo’, which created fun, informal conversations about fruit and vegetables.

“The interaction between all the young people and staff was truly lovely to see, they all started working as a group and trying to be the first to find the answer.”
Nichole Dickens, UASC Team

Information was then passed around on food groups; the Eat Well Plate; understanding food labels; which foods can positively impact our emotional and physical well-being; how nutrients help our bodies; and my active week ahead diary. These handouts were well received and encouraged some wonderful discussions around foods we eat and what is and isn’t healthy.

Food and refreshments were provided followed by an afternoon session with a drum instructor.

“At first, some of our group were a little hesitant to join in, but as the session progressed, you could see them start to gain confidence. One young man offered to be the dancer for the group and was sensational, as soon as he started to dance, the energy in the room lifted even higher and by this time everybody was joining in with the singing and the playing of an instrument. During the drumming session, one of our young people contacted a friend who was another Derbyshire UASC child in care and was showing him the activity and telling his friend he should have come as his day had been amazing!”
Nichole Dickens, UASC Team

To end the day, the young people were all gifted a slow cooker to make the most of what they had learnt about healthy eating. Staff explained what they were and how they can be used, staff are going to use support sessions to further explain the usefulness of slow cookers.

The feedback received on the day was extremely positive and the consensus was that they can’t wait for the next one.