Surviving to Thriving

From surviving to thriving

Surviving to Thriving was a unique partnership project between UpRising, British Red Cross and the Refugee Council. The project supported refugees and asylum seekers aged 16 to 25 in Birmingham and the East of England who don't have parents or guardians in the UK. It provided life skills, advice, mental health support and leadership opportunities to help them rebuild their lives and thrive in the UK. UpRising's support focused on helping young people to use film to explore their experiences, challenges, fears and dreams.

The young people took up the roles of actor, script-writer, director, and film-maker to represent the perceptions and challenges they face as unaccompanied refugee and asylum seeking children in the UK. The programmes empowered the young people to unlock their leadership potential and understand how they can affect real change through social action.

Many of the participants returned to volunteer on multiple Find Your Power programmes, increasing their skills development even further.

Below are some examples of their work. The rest of the films are publicly available on our YouTube channel - make sure you have a look and share these amazing projects!