Wellbeing Drop-ins in Initial Accommodation (IA) Hotels

Bristol Mind has been delivering trauma-informed wellbeing drop-ins with 3 Bristol hotels since 2022.  Delivered by our Community Wellbeing Coordinators, our service works alongside a practical drop-in service offered by Borderlands, and includes:

  • A warm welcome to newly arrived residents
  • One-off or up to 6 sessions of emotional support to help with anxiety, stress, sleep, parenting, and isolation
  • Group wellbeing activities (arts and crafts/ football/ games), depending on additional funding
  • Signposting and supported referrals to counselling and further mental health/ trauma support.

For information about our Hotel Drop-in Service, please contact our Community Wellbeing Manager, Tokunbo, at [email protected] or 07376 484110.

This service is funded by Bristol City Council.

Equitable Wellbeing Project

Our Equitable Wellbeing Project is designed to work with Refugee Leaders who want to change the way they live in accommodation – whether in Initial Accommodation Hotels, or Dispersal Accommodation.

We have started by consulting with people in hotels to find out what affects their wellbeing and what they would like to change: so far, this includes room allocation, equity and diversity issues, food provision/ flexibility, and training for residents on mental health, trauma, and UK safeguarding.

We are now looking to build our group of Refugee Leaders and will run leadership and public speaking workshops to support this. If you are from a Refugee background, have lived in IA Hotels, and would like to take part, we can fund your time, your travel, and your training to be involved.

Please contact Emma at [email protected] or on 07450965369.

This is a new project, funded by Lloyds Bank Foundation as part of their Local Collaborations Programme.

This project is also listed under our Impact section – so if you’d like more information on our systems change progress, please click here.