Many of the women and families who attend our creative workshops are travelling a significant distance in order to get support and continue the friendships they have built with other members. Combating isolation and loneliness, and assisting our families to get to groups and events then home again is essential.
We have been able to provide travel expenses in 2022, thanks to a grant from St Nicholas PCT Fund from the Archdiocese of Glasgow. This has recently been boosted by the 'Together Again' Microgrant from Creative Lives, allowing us to launch our Travel Empowerment Programme. This has allowed us to engage with harder to reach families, isolated women with no English language skills, arranging to bring them into our base by taxi and begin building relationships.
The financial situation of of those navigating the asylum system is precarious, and non essential travel is unaffordable. But funding travel is only part of the process. We provide a step by step service to help each individual build a toolkit of skills they can use to allow them not only to attend our activities in Paisley… but navigate the city and beyond.
Our goal is to mentor the women in travelling until they can come to our activities independently and feel confident in doing so. We also when possible pair up two or more members who live in close proximity.
The rewards of our travel empowerment process are hard to measure. But we feel that by giving participants this independent experience, they can then share these skills with others in a similar position.