Social enterprise uses humour to help refugees
A community heatre company is using storytelling as a form of therapy for refugee families after they’ve arrive in Scotland.
Based in Fife, social enterprise Suit and Pace uses humour and fun to tackle serious issues, including mental wellbeing, with vulnerable groups in the community.
The organisation, which has charitable status, was formed at university four years ago by friends Beth Hamilton-cardus and Andrew Coull.
They have gone from strength to strength, performing to nearly 2,000 people last year and recently worked with families who have arrived in Scotland from war-torn Syria.
Beth said: “We work with a lot of different groups, but recently we have done a lot of work with children.
“We have recently begun working with local syrian families,looking at traditional syrian stories and traditional Scottish stories. So far we have only had one session, but we want to learn more about traditional storytelling in Syria to see how it compares to Scotland.”
Beth and Andrew first met at Edinburgh University and with Andrew training as a professionalactor and beth working as a community education worker to support young and vulnerable people, they were inspired to combine their skills to provide learning experiences in a fun and engaging way.
They work with children, from babies to teenagers and other vulnerable groups in society.
They are based in Fife, where they are both originally from. “The support from the local community has been fantastic,” Beth said.
Recently Beth was accepted onto the Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme which supports entrepreneurs with a social aim.
The Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs Programme has helped Suit and Pace to grow and become sustainable.