The Residence Workplace has supplied border officers with psychological well being workshops to assist them handle the stress of coping with the small boats disaster.
Spending knowledge launched by the Residence Workplace reveals it employed psychological well being professionals known as “resilience practitioners” for UK Border Power workers who had been coping with small boats.
The periods had been held this spring with border officers in Folkestone, Kent, the place asylum seekers travelling on small boats usually land.
In social media posts seen by the Guardian, one of many resilience practitioners described the officers as coping with a “humanitarian crisis”. One other stated on their web site that their periods usually concerned “positive psychology and cognitive behavioural theory”.
The Public and Industrial Providers Union (PCS), which represents authorities staff, stated the workshops had been provided after trauma assessments had been carried out on workers by fellow educated officers. The evaluation is obtainable to these concerned in doubtlessly traumatic crucial incidents.
Final October, when an immigration centre in Dover was petrol bombed, the PCS stated all workers concerned within the incident had been provided the evaluation.
The Residence Workplace has spent £7,696 on the workshops for employees “involved in the small boats activity” to this point this 12 months.
The PCS normal secretary, Mark Serwotka, stated: “While we welcome workshops to support our members in the Border Force, we would prefer the government stopped putting our members in this position in the first place.
“Rather than the prime minister continuing to promote his unpopular, immoral and failing illegal migration bill, he should instead support our call for safe passage – a humane solution to the dangerous and uncontrolled situation in the Channel.”
The federal government final month handed its unlawful migration invoice, which can enable the Residence Workplace to ship asylum seekers who arrive on small boats to Rwanda.
Earlier this month, the federal government launched its “small boats week” to coincide with its use of the Bibby Stockholm barge to deal with asylum seekers. By the tip of that week, all these dwelling on the Bibby Stockholm had been evacuated after legionella was discovered onboard.
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The subsequent day, six asylum seekers drowned after their small boat capsized throughout an tried Channel crossing. Two British ships had been concerned within the search and rescue operation.
A Residence Workplace spokesperson stated: “We take staff welfare extremely seriously and are committed to supporting our staff who work in incredibly challenging environments.
“We are committed to delivering the best value for money for the British taxpayer and all spending is carefully scrutinised to make sure that every pound of taxpayers’ money is spent in the most effective way.”
