Welcome! We’re glad you’re here.
Thrive Leicester is a small Christian unaffiliated organisation, supporting women and families seeking asylum and with refugee status, in Leicester.
Our vision is for women and families in the asylum system to thrive – based on Jesus’ words in John 10:10 (in the Bible) that He came so that people might have life in abundance, life to the full. We want to play a part in making this possible.
We endeavour to support people to heal from trauma, build life-giving relationships, get stuck into community, and share their skills and talents with others.
To go from surviving to thriving.
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We come alongside people with ongoing practical and pastoral support, and endeavour to create spaces of solidarity where people can foster positive peer relationships. We recognise the wonderful talents, strengths, goodness and inherent value in each person – no individual should be considered a ‘burden’ or a ‘drain’, but an amazing human being full of diverse life experiences, and capacity to make meaningful contributions to society too.
With a trauma-informed approach, we also recognise that some people may struggle to interact in a way that others might expect; some may find day-to-day tasks more challenging than others. The life experiences some people have had can lead to increased difficulty in making healthy choices or engaging with others in a life-giving way. We engage with gentleness, curiosity and love. We look to identify the practical and emotional needs of each person, and use a flexible approach to co-create tailored support in recognition of their individuality and the unique makeup of their situations.
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The UK asylum system can be profoundly dehumanising, and many asylum seekers also carry extreme traumas from the life they fled or the journey over here – but we long for people not just to white-knuckle it through life in the hope of surviving, but to come to a place of thriving. We believe this is possible, even in the middle of really awful situations.
We hope to support people practically, emotionally, mentally, relationally and spiritually, centred around what each individual might need in order to thrive. We aim to support people to become increasingly:
- True to who they are uniquely designed to be
- Hopeful about life and the future
- in good Relationship with people (and with God, where there is interest)
- Invested in their own wellbeing, growth and mental health
- aware of their immense Value as deeply loved individuals
- Empathic towards others, even amid profound differences.
These six things often become more of a struggle in people’s lives when they are stuck in awful situations – but we long to see people thrive, so we work together to create opportunities for growth in these areas. In all things we endeavour to foster choice and agency, supporting people to take action for themselves and make choices that benefit their own lives and other people’s. Many asylum seekers and refugees experience ongoing problems caused by inadequate housing, lack of access to good food, language barriers, physical or mental health problems and many other challenges – but in the middle of all this we believe it’s possible for people to thrive, given the right support.
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So, to summarise:
Our mission: Pursuing wholistic wellbeing for women seeking asylum and with refugee status in Leicester.
Our vision is for asylum-seeking and refugee women to thrive, not just survive – to be true to who they are created to be; hopeful about life and the future; in good relationship with others and with God; invested in their own wellbeing; aware of their immense value; and showing empathy to those around them.
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Thrive 