Lily came to Laamiga for help to feel more integrated in London. Although she had lived in London for some years, she felt extremely isolated and was unemployed with no sense of how to find employment or make new friends. Lily was paired with Isabella to work together to improve her sense of belonging.

Lily’s first meetings with Isabella were short and frequent in order to get to know one another and develop a sense of trust and safety for Lily. In their conversations over cups of tea, Lily and Isabella discovered they had several common interests and developed a plan to visit busy destinations in central London to help Lily to feel more comfortable in new and public places.

As Lily became more confident, she asked Isabella to help her both expand her social ties and undertake training courses to develop skills for employment. With Isabella’s help, Lily identified her interests and explored courses that could help her learn more while also developing essential skills such as basic computing. They found clubs and social organisations that suited her interests, helped her to meet new people and gave her the ongoing emotional support she needed. Lily is now enrolled in a training course and developing new friendships. She now knows where to go for support, and how to build her community and pursue her interests as her needs change.