Our Support Worker in our Gateshead Separated Children and Young People Service (SCAYP) Jabar shares his own story and how he came to work for Changing Lives.
I was an asylum seeker back in November 2016 when I was only 16 years of age. I was put in a foster family placement on the 5th of January 2017 and became independent on the 13th of November 2021, I was in a care placement for 4 years and 10 months. I achieved five GCSEs and Access to HE at the canterbury College during my time in the foster care placement.
I started to work full-time until I manage to sort out my university tuition fee, I started off working as a Technical Advisor for BT at their Gosforth Customer contact Centre for a year and 2 weeks, then I moved to work for Changing Lives SCAYP service on the 3rd of January 2024.
I have been a floating support worker for the SCAYP ever since the 3rd of Jan 2024, my role has been to oversee the 16 and 17 aged asylum seekers and deal with any necessities that are within the range of my ability and ensuring that they have access to all the types of supports Changing Lives provides. I enjoy working in such an environment where I can apply my living experience as an asylum seeker at such a young age and being in care to supplement the lives of the young people who have recently come into this country.
My aim is to help the young people achieve their potential by finding the right and best path to doing so. With hindsight, I have the knowledge to suggest the young people how they can spend their time and daily lives the best, I indulge in seeing their success and them getting on track.
The first year after arrival in the country is the most crucial and vital time window for the young people and they will be best advised on how to build a foundation in the country; A strong and rigid foundation is indicative of a lifetime stability and integration into the country and assimilating in the community.
It is also understandable that all the young people who have fled their countries of origin have been through traumatic events like I have, and that there might be a lot to cope with and absorb once they arrive such as their asylum application, education, and finding activities to keep them engaged.
This is the reason I work for this organisation, which is to mitigate the severity of the barriers the young people have due to their past experience or trauma therefore take the opportunities and progress in life.
