Reflective Practice

My Time is an independent counselling practice based in the inner city ward of Small Heath, Birmingham.

Birmingham and Solihull Learning Skills Council and Birmingham City Council European Department worked with the other EU partners in developing the concept of professional workers (working with asylum seekers) undertaking study visits that would develop a transnational model of reflecting practice.

A reflective approach to professional practice involves changes in the way we usually perceive our practice and can produce changes in attitudes and awareness which can benefit professional growth.

While experience alone can be insufficient for such growth, that experience coupled with reflection can be a powerful impetus for development. The ultimate aim was to reflect how professional workers working with asylum seekers could learn from each other and directly change their practice.

Specific points of similarities

Discussions between partners identified four specific points of similarities as follows:

• 75% of asylum seekers reported psychological and emotional symptoms indicating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
• Three of the partners (Italy, Germany, and UK) had asylum seekers/refugees originating from similar countries of origin (Bosnia, Iraq, Eritrea, Somalia, Iran, Palestine, Congo). Poland’s asylum seekers originated principally from former Soviet bloc countries in particular Belarus and Chechnya. However, these asylum seekers were mainly Muslim and this linked with the high percentage of Muslim asylum seekers in the other countries.
• The psychological and emotional needs of asylum seekers were seen as of paramount importance in enabling integration.
• All EU Partners had specific psychological projects within their own DPs
  

Project Visits

The DPS agreed to send professional workers from psychological based projects to visit each other and reflect on their own practice. Two UK psychologists visited Berlin,Birmingham and Warsaw. One German psychologist visited Birmingham and Warsaw.

Two Polish psychologists visited Berlin and Birmingham. Each worker spent time being inside one specific project and were shown all aspects. There was a particular emphasis on ‘a day in the life of an asylum seeker’ and the ‘day in the life of a professional worker helping asylum seeker’. Visits were hands on, realistic, practical and enabled the visitors the chance to talk with clients and staff at all levels.

Reports from all the study visit participants indicated a strong sense of learning and some clear outcomes of future collaboration and workplace development.

Find out more by downloading the full study (PDF file)