Services in the North East
The North East Hongkongers Club (NEHKC)
The North East Hongkongers Club was founded in 2021 by a group of BN(O) Hong Kongers, Non-BN(O) Hong Kongers, and British Citizens who are passionate about building a thriving Hong Kong community in North East England.
They host a variety of events and workshops for Hongkongers, such as culture festivals and taxation and immigration law webinars. For more information on upcoming events, please click here.
Barnardo’s
Barnardo’s provides the Boloh helpline for BN(O) Hong Kongers. The Boloh helpline is not just a listening service, it offers practical and emotional support over the phone and via email. They have both English and Cantonese speaking advisors to offer specialist community support, including emotional support, advice and signposting. They can also weekly sessions of psychotherapy, for children, adults or couples. Additionally the service offers;
- A virtual Youth Space for children age 10-13 and 14-17
- National and Regional Peer support networks
- Virtual Family Space resources – This online resource in Cantonese contains information on a range of topics which are particularly aimed at the challenges encountered by families
- Monthly webinars with a focus on mental health and wellbeing
- 4 in person events across England
- Volunteering opportunities for Hongkongers
You can find more information on the services Barnardo’s offer by clicking on the following leaflets via the buttons below.
English
Cantonese
The Growth Company (Job’s for Hongkongers Initiative)
“Jobs for Hongkongers” is an initiative delivered nationally by The Growth Company (a non-for-profit social enterprise based in Manchester). The aim of the initiative is to support Hong Kong BN(O) visa holders find sustainable & meaningful employment through the delivery of an 8-week course designed to improve employability. This course will be delivered virtually/remotely and in Cantonese, allowing everyone who needs support to be able to access it.
All Hong Kong BN(O) visa holders who enrol on the course will be given a dedicated 1-1 Cantonese speaking Key Worker who will offer them information, advice and guidance in CV writing, effective strategies for job searching in the UK, identifying priority sectors, such as mock job interviews through weekly meetings. The course will also support participants to improve their English through informal online ESOL conversation cafes and regular in-person meet-up events. For more information you can visit The Growth Company’s website, here or visit the Jobs for Hongkongers website, here. You can also find some leaflets advertising the Jobs for Hongkongers initiative below.
Hong Kong Well UK
Hong Kong Well UK is an organisation that was started by three mothers from Hong Kong wishing to assist with improving the mental wellbeing/health of children and teenagers newly migrated to the UK from Hong Kong, as well as their parents. Hong Kong Well UK offer fully-funded advisory and counselling services for BN(O) Visa holding families in England. For Advisory Services, you will be able to speak to case officers who had social work training from Hong Kong.
They will provide: Information on special education needs (SEN) support in the area, local emotional health support services; a step by step guide and tips on how to reach out for help with schools, referrals to the HK Well UK triage assessment service and counselling service as recommended by the assessment and contacts of Cantonese speaking therapists and psychologists. They also provide support for parents, resources and information to raise awareness of the scheme. A list of all the services they provide can be found, here, or you can click here to visit their website.
You can also find leaflets for Hong Kong Well and how they can provide support by clicking on the buttons below.
International Rescue Committee UK
The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises. IRC have a Health and Social Care programme in the Northeast that is still active. If you are interested in jobs in Health and Social Care, you can sign up here. The eligibility criteria is listed below:
- Living in the Northeast Region
- 18 years or older
- Refugee status (this includes BNO Visa Holders and if you are under Humanitarian Protection)
- ESOL Entry Level 3
You can visit their website, here.
Protection Approaches
Protection Approaches are a third party hate crime reporting service. They are a consortium of organisations and have created an accessible UK-wide third party hate crime and hate incident support and reporting service for BN(O)s, called On Your Side. To visit the On Your Side website, click here.
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