Our Bilingual Community Navigation (Social Prescribing casework) service started in 2018. Since then we have provided much needed casework support for many of our Service Users, addressing social, emotional and practical needs. Here is a recent example of this support.
Service User Q was referred to us by his GP.
He had been suffering from low mood and depression, primarily due to his Housing situation – he had issues with mould, water ingress and insect infestation. His landlord had not been attentive to these repair issues.
Q wanted to learn English and find employment, but the Housing situation was not helping him to concentrate and move forward. He was also struggling financially.
In addition to this, he had recently given up alcohol and stopped smoking and needed to find new ways to socialise and make some new friends.
Having agreed an action plan with Q, our Bilingual Community Navigator (BCN) helped with the following:
- Referred to Safe Haven Sussex with a view to accessing more suitable accommodation.
- Called the National Careers Service and booked an appointment at Brighton Job Centre for Q to get support with creating a CV.
- Referred to Trust for Developing Communities (TDC) for Employability support.
- Applied to University of Sussex, GB Met College and BHASVIC for free English classes.
- Helped Q to complete a UC50 Capability for Work questionnaire for Universal Credit.
- Applied to the council’s Local Discretionary Social Fund for vouchers to help with energy costs.
- Made a referral to Brighton Food Bank.
- Provided some suggestions of social and leisure groups for Q to consider at a later point as he didn’t feel ready for the BCN to contact them yet.
Following the BCN support Q provided this feedback:
“I am grateful for the support my BCN provided. I felt comfortable talking about my situation and needs with someone who speaks the same dialect. Now, I know how to contact SIS if I need support.”
Note: We collaborate with Social Prescribers to write these stories but remove the names of the Social Prescribers, the language used and other details to ensure confidentiality for Service Users.
