Afghanistan and Central Asian Association Community Advice clinic

Key services provided by the Advice Clinic:

Housing

We can help find suitable housing, or work with you to resolve problems with existing housing and disputes with landlords. This can include filling in forms, phonecalls and legal referrals to other organisations and solicitors.

Employment, finance and welfare

We offer advice and assistance when applying for travel documents, social security payments, loans and grants. We can help you negotiate the welfare system and offer information and advice about your rights and access to healthcare, education and other benefits. We can also help you deal with debt agencies.

Immigration

We help with applications for visas and other travel documents, and can offer legal referrals to other organisations and solicitors.

Mentoring

Our mentors come from diverse professional backgrounds, but they all have some experience or expertise to guide a refugee or migrant and provide them with an understanding of their issues. Mentors encourage new arrivals to develop their skills and fulfil their potential in what can often be a difficult transition to a new country and lifestyle. We offer mentoring to anyone who feels they could benefit, whether they have a specific challenge or are looking for general guidance. The mentor provides the mentee with the confidence and support to develop their life positively. Our mentors can provide support with immigration and asylum issues, mental health, education, employment and skills training, countering radicalisation (particularly in young people vulnerable to extremism) and general guidance and friendship.

Support for young people

We provide support to new arrivals and unaccompanied children, including one-to-one support from our mentors who can help young people to gain the skills necessary for independent living. We work in partnership with local groups and local authorities to create a better platform for positive collaboration, improve the knowledge of people who have recently arrived in the UK through citizenship sessions, provide workshops and training, make sure each young person has a pathway plan and is supported by our mentors wherever they need it, and offer free immigration information sessions by pupil barristers.