Plymouth Resettlement Support Services

PRSS

PRSS is a service addressed to people who have come to settle in Plymouth via dispersal or through relevant schemes. It’s designed to help them find stability, join the city’s culture and discover its opportunities. It is delivered by a partnership of organisations with long histories of, and strong commitments to, supporting refugees in Plymouth. Odils are responsible for the delivery of Employment, Integration and ESOL with creche support.

Plymouth has long supported people fleeing conflicts, welcoming in recent years people from Syria, Sudan and Ukraine amongst many other countries. This partnership brings together various services to ensure support for people to enable them to make sense of, and settle into, their new environment. We aim to build links, bolster self-esteem and help people find belonging within the wider refugee community and help people access the wider community.

PRSS is delivered by a partnership of 5 local Voluntary Community Sector Organisations, together forming the Plymouth Resettlement Partnership:

• DCRS – support for individuals in the asylum system, immigration advice, community activities
• START – housing, benefits, access to health, community activities
• ODILS – ESOL, employability skills, employment mentoring, integration support
• Path – housing, move on and tenancy support
• PDREC – community engagement, awareness raising, benefits support, community activities

Each partner provides services and support for refugees and others beyond what it commissioned by PCC for PRSS, so that there are a range of activities and opportunities via members, from access to health care to social and support activities and groups. 

The partner agencies work collaboratively to provide a wide range of support activities that enable individuals and families to:

• meet their aspirations
• feel a sense of belonging
• build on their assets, skills, and attributes,

so that they feel settled, regain their sense of identity, and can participate fully in society.

The service aims to:

• provide support to secure and maintain accommodation
• help people understand and exercise rights and entitlements living in the UK
• support individual self-sufficiency through developing employability skills, English language classes and setting up benefits
• address health outcomes.

Employment

• 1-2-1 mentoring with an Employment Mentor

Clients will be assigned a mentor that works with them on a 1-2-1 basis offering a wide range of person-centred employment support: CV writing, applying for jobs, interview practice, understanding UK employment culture and laws, accessing training courses and more.

• Weekly Drop-In sessions (from September 2024)

Weekly drop-in sessions held onsite at Odils where those eligible for support can have access to a Mentor who can provide information, advice and guidance on a variety of employment and integration related matters. There will also be laptops available for those needing access to a computer for things like creating a CV, applying for jobs and updating Universal Credit journals.

• Employment and skills development workshops (from September 2024)

Employment and skills development workshops covering a variety of areas relevant to the issues faced by those accessing the service. For example, UK employment culture, confidence building, English in the workplace, creating CV, interview techniques and practice and more. Sessions will be adaptable to cover a wide range of language levels. 

Integration

• 1-2-1 mentoring with an Integration Mentor

Clients will be assigned a mentor that works with them on a 1-2-1 basis offering a wide range of person-centred integration support. For example: befriending, focus group discussions, taking part in community activities, volunteering for skills/experience, participation in confidence and self-esteem building training, community walks, faith/church groups, gardening, completing forms e.g. driving licence application, making new friends, other community activities, getting involved in sports and lots more.

Creche

Odils provide English lessons and a crèche for eligible women to PRSS who need childcare. Creche classes are held at our Satellite branch at Catherine Street. The classes are women only which provides a safe place for women to access English.  

Creche – The creche can be accessed by those who fall under the Plymouth Resettlement Support Service eligibility criteria and for children under the age of 3. 

Employment and Integration – Support can be accessed by those who fall under the Plymouth Resettlement Support Service eligibility criteria.

Support is available to:

• Refugees
• Resettled Families
• Ukraine Guests
• Family Reunion
• Humanitarian Protection

To find out about accessing support, please fill in the contact form below or send an email to prss@odils.com.