Mohammed Aden (pictured) and his peer Mohamed Abali fled the civil war in Somali for life in the UK. Since arriving here however they have discovered that many members of their community are not experiencing the peaceful lives they had hoped for but instead struggle with cultural differences, language barriers, a lack of opportunity, poverty and in many cases post traumatic stress from the horrors they witnessed back home.
Both men identified that in many cases these struggles lead to mental illness and depression and that their community faced barriers in understanding these conditions plus a lack of awareness of the support and services available to them. They have been thinking of ways they can help for many years, agreeing on an awareness and signposting body called MENTREF.
“ACTive Walworth have provided us with training and have set up meetings with local service providers to help us map out the services that our available to support our community in Southwark. They have also offered to help us with start up costs and space in kind which is the difference between us being active and just having an idea”
New print for MENTREF created by ACTive Walworth:
