Mental health nurse develops online refugee resource project
Mental health nurse, lecturer and refugee Philomene Uwamaliya to give online demonstration on 31 January for healthcare professionals on how best to help and support refugees and asylum seekers
Picture: Barney Newman
Nurses are being offered the opportunity to find out about the rights and well-being of asylum seekers through a project developed by a mental health nurse.
Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) faculty of education senior lecturer Philomene Uwamaliya, who is herself a refugee, won a Mary Seacole Leadership Award in 2016 to develop an online resource hub for professionals caring for asylum seekers and refugees.
Ms Uwamaliya will be giving an online demonstration at the project’s dissemination conference, which will take place in Liverpool on 31 January.
Hub to promote cooperation and learning
The online resource hub is designed to help in several ways, including providing up-to-date information on the legal asylum seeking process and the role of professionals.
It also aims to provide information to promote health and well-being and create opportunities for interprofessional and interagency cooporation and learning.
Ms Uwamaliya, who came to the UK as a refugee from Rwanda in 2000, said: ‘Many health professionals can become anxious and frustrated about not knowing how to deal with refugees and asylum seekers.
Much-needed information
‘Health professionals enter the sector to care and hopefully the online hub and conference will give them the information they need.
‘When I arrived in England I couldn’t speak English and I also had to learn about English culture. It’s important for nurses to learn as much as they can about the people they care for.’
The project has been funded by Health Education England and is supported by LJMU.
A number of keynote speakers are due to attend the conference including Public Health England senior scientist in migrant health Alison Crawshaw and Refugee Council chief executive Maurice Wren.
Further information
Read more about the conference
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