Our current projects

The Careif Archive of Refugee Empowerment (CARE) was launched on 20 June 2026 (World Refugee Day).

The archive supports and empowers refugees and asylum-seeking individuals as they navigate the challenges of adjusting to life in a new country.

It provides easy access to a comprehensive collection of information and resources with dedicated pages for children, adults, humanitarian workers and a directory of services and organisations that support refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.

Working jointly with the Ethnic Inclusion Foundation, we have produced a report on Improving the Mental Health of South Asian populations in the United Kingdom.

The report highlights the disparities, inequities and barriers in mental health and related provisions faced by South Asian communities and recommends a range of actions for improvements.

Working with the Ethnic Inclusion Foundation we will influence change at national, local, and individual levels to improve the mental health of South Asian communities across the UK and showcase sustainable change.

Download a copy of our report.

We are delighted to announce a project partnership between The Beth Johnson Foundation and Careif around supporting people with dementia in the UK and in India.

This partnership project is based around developing a model of a “Dementia Friendly Village” in India. We aim to achieve this by empowering the immediate family and supporting carers through education, training, support and developing a bespoke model of care through community participation, inclusion and engagement. Mr Murali Nair, an accomplished film maker who is part of this collaborative project partnership will extend support in making a film with a group of people living with dementia at the Beth Johnson Foundation in Stoke on Trent, England and in Anandapuram Village in Kerala, India at a later date.

Careif believes that such collaborative approaches demonstrate a willingness to share good practice in recognising the global impact of dementia on individuals and their family and friends, identifying important similarities and differences of cultural diversity.

The Beth Johnson Foundation (BJF) is a registered charity which aims to amplify the voices of older people. They work to inform and influence the continuing dialogues around good practice as people age. They inform and support ageing communities through critically consolidating local, national and international evidence and good practice. They work alongside others to promote equality, welcome diversity, and ensure a creative approach to the constant innovation of service delivery. They aim to research, influence and promote a ‘whole life course’ approach, acting as a catalyst for new initiatives that build resilience and promote positive ageing, specifically through life’s challenges. They encourage people of all ages to connect, challenge stereotypes and engage with each other in new ways - for the benefit of all. Careif has been working towards this project partnership since November 2021.

A very successful training event for all the Therapeutic service staff at the Refugee Council was held on 30th March 2022. This was run by Professor Dinesh Bhugra with Professor Rachel Tribe chairing and assisting at the event. The training followed a request from the manager of the Therapeutic Services team, Ms Angelina Jalonen for such training. The topic was Cultural competency and therapeutic work. The training was attended by delegates from all over the country and was very well received and a request for further training and a longer term partnership with the Careif team has been requested.

We researched and produced a scoping review on the Mental Health of the Indo-Caribbeans population in the UK, which was published and launched on International Mental Health Day in October 2025. This Scoping Review offers insights into Mental Health of Indo-Caribbeans and  makes six recommendations which are  needed to improve the mental health of this group of people.  The focus of the six recommendations relate to the importance of the Indo-Caribbean community  being recognised as a separate ethnic category in the next UK National Census and not merely categorised as South Asian. This is important to ensure this community health experiences and outcomes are not excluded from  research, policy, to better inform culturally literate health and clinical practices    

There is a  need to understand and collect this  information  by all statutory services so that culturally appropriate and targeted services can be delivered, whilst at the same time,  recognising the stigma that may be associated with current services.

We are currently supporting the ATTUNE project led by Professor Kamaldeep Bhui (University of Oxford) and Professor Eunice Ma (Falmouth University). This project aims to provide an understanding the mechanisms and mental health impacts of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs).

An exciting aspect of the ATTUNE project is the bringing together of diverse creative-arts, digital and health experts to investigate how ACEs can affect adolescents' mental health and to develop new approaches to prevention and care. It aims to place young people's lived experience at the centre of learning, co-design and planning via creative arts and writing, performance, film, music and state-of-the-art games technology.

See our news story from March 2025 for updates on three of ATTUNE’s work packages.