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Thursday, July 24, 2008
What are Reception Houses?
A Reception House is a safe, supportive and educational facility, which provides transitional housing and services to refugees and immigrants to facilitate their settlement and integration to their new community.
The Reception House serves to bring together, in harmonious collaboration, all of the people involved in the community network to work from within the facility rather than having the newcomers venture out in the community alone.
Reception Houses will provide a wide variety of services to make the newcomer's adjustment to the community as effective and uncomplicated as possible. For example:
- Meeting the refugee on arrival
- Providing initial, temporary accommodation and meals
- Attending to basic needs (medical & physical needs, enrolling children in school)
- Establishing contacts with the various settlement workers and counsellors
- Providing basic orientation and information on Canada and Hamilton
- Linkage with formal or informal community networks who can teach culturally appropriate social behaviour.
- Specialized counselling and therapy resources to deal with issues such as post-traumatic stress from torture, effects of war, violence, sexual abuse etc.
- Establishing relationships with (and entry into) community networks which provide access to a wide range of resources such as job training, employment opportunities, housing and other necessities of life required for self-sufficiency.
- Providing counselling and follow-up assistance to help newcomers build successful lives here in Hamilton and Canada.
Return to the New Dawn Reception House Overview Page
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