Young London SOS: Place2Be gave me strength … now it’s doing the same for others

The counselling service used by 150 schools in London was invaluable for one girl. David Cohen reports
Today Jasmin is a mother and trained social worker
Matt Writtle

When Jasmin was six and living in a block of flats in Bermondsey, she was playing with her sister when they saw “a fiery monster” lurching down the corridor towards them.

“We shouted “don’t let him in, don’t let him in,” but when my mother opened the door to see what we were talking about, she realised it was my uncle who was visiting us,” said Jasmin. “He’d been set alight and stabbed multiple times.”

Jasmin’s uncle would go on to make a full recovery but for Jasmin and her sister, the event was traumatising. “In the Nineties, Bermondsey was a racist area with National Front marches and as I was from a Muslim family, we were constantly subject to abuse,” said Jasmin, now in her thirties.

“We were regularly assaulted, people made derogatory remarks, we had eggs thrown at us, our windows were smashed and my mum, who wore a hijab, would often have it pulled off her head.”

It was an environment of fear and stress, and the incident with her uncle pushed Jasmin over the edge. “I couldn’t sleep at night, I didn’t want to go outside and I developed a fear of white people. We were able to move to another part of London and I changed school, but I stayed an anxious and worried child.”

At her new school, Jasmin was referred to a counsellor from a new service called Place2Be, which has since been taken up by 150 schools in London to become the UK’s leading provider of school-based mental health services.

They are also the beneficiary of our Young London SOS campaign, launched to address the rising crisis in child mental health in the wake of the pandemic.

For Jasmin, the referral was life-changing. “I would do art and enjoyed talking to my counsellor,” she said. “I recall it with deep fondness, my relationship with my counsellor was so positive. Place2Be helped me develop the resilience to leave my house. When I left for secondary school, I was quite confident and used to go by myself.”

Jasmin can’t envisage her life without that intervention. “I would have developed severe mental health issues. Because of my cultural background, my family don’t believe in therapy. That is why it is so important to have support in school, because they never would have taken me somewhere else.”

Today Jasmin is a mother and a trained social worker. “I like to give back,” she said. “Place2Be gave me something that I’ve carried with me through my life — and that’s the ability to persevere despite hardships.”

Names have been changed.

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You can support the Young London SOS campaign by donating to Place2Be HERE

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