Stephan’s story
5 year-old Stephan was brought to the UK by his elder brother to seek asylum. His home country was devastated by civil war and the brothers never saw their mum and dad again. Stephan found it difficult to adapt to reception class and was excluded for bad behaviour.
Stephan went to the Neville Street project in Cardiff. The project helped him become more talkative through therapeutic play sessions. He could also visit the local children’s play centre and play with others. This allowed Stephan to calm down after what he went through and he became more aware of other’s feelings. His brother noticed the change, "Barnardo’s has shown Stephan the good way. Now he knows this and he shows other children how to be good."
Stephan is now back at school. At first he only came in for the mornings, with someone from Neville Street giving him one-to-one support. Now he attends school full-time and has many friends in his class.
