With the unprecedented times we’re living in, it feels more important than ever to celebrate recent successes. Sandwell community project Brushstrokes has won an award at the 2020 Thrive Awards for the work it does supporting the mental health and wellbeing of new arrivals to the region.

Smethwick-based Brushstrokes offers support to the whole community but particularly to asylum seekers, migrants and refugees in Sandwell and the Black Country. It provides practical help, education and housing support, among other services.

The project has welcomed people from over 65 countries and its holistic approach to supporting the mental health and wellbeing of new arrivals to the region has been recognised at the 2020 Thrive Awards.

The awards celebrate the people, teams or organisations that have made a significant contribution to improving mental health in their area.

Brushstrokes aims to treat everyone with kindness and respect, and to affirm the rights and dignities of vulnerable people. It works with people to help them rebuild their lives and settle into new homes, education and work in Sandwell.

The project was launched in 1999 and initially its main area of work was engaging with asylum seekers and helping them to establish a place of safety in the UK. It has continued with this mission but the number of services it offers has grown and now its work is divided into two main areas:

• Teaching ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) and associated skills such as numeracy, employment skills and citizenship.
• Reaching out into local communities by providing practical help to those in need, including food, clothing and baby items.

Brushstrokes was nominated for the Black Country Team, Service or Organisation award at the 2020 Thrive Awards by Healthy Sandwell, the public health team of Sandwell Council.

As well as offering practical help, education, housing support, social activity, information, advice and guidance, Brushstrokes has launched a number of mental health services over the last few years, including the Asylum Early Action project. This helps help people in the asylum system discover and implement services before they reach crisis point.

Hopefully the Thrive award will bring Brushstrokes to the attention of the wider business community and help it to build partnerships with other organisations in the future in order to deliver a more structured approach to mental health in the region, and increase the number of services available to refugees and asylum seekers once the COVID crisis is over.

Currently all non-essential work at Brushstrokes had ceased as the safety of its staff is its priority. It will prioritise the provision of emergency advice by telephone and the provision of food with additional measures taken to address social distancing and the wellbeing of staff.

For enquiries or for emergency situations call 0121 565 2234. To find out more about Brushstrokes visit its website brushstrokessandwell.org.uk.