What is the Newcastle Sanctuary Forum:

The Sanctuary Forum is a space for people to come together to share, explore and learn about the issues related to migration and seeking sanctuary in Newcastle.

Each forum has a theme and using presentations, case studies and testimonials, and group discussions we explore issues, seek solutions and propose changes to local services and the systems that are within our control to influence.

Why do we think they are important: 

The Sanctuary Forums aim to support those in the city to learn more about local services and systems and how to use them, as well as to try to better understand the needs of those seeking sanctuary, how they interact with local services, in order to shape shared responses and actions across the city.

Who attend the forums: 

For those seeking sanctuary – we aspire to listen to those with direct lived experience of the system, and for people to share the information that they learn with their communities.

For those working in the sector – to bring their experience and examples to add to discussion and to shape responses in terms of how we work within the city.

For those interested in supporting the work – to bring their ideas and enthusiasm to add to discussion and to shape responses in terms of how we work within the city.

How to get involved: 

If you would like to get involved in the Sanctuary Forum as a participant, speaker or organiser please do get in contact – the forums, like City of Sanctuary, are ‘Everybody’s Business’ – you can find out when the next event is on the events page.

Actions, Outcomes and achievements:

At each session facilitators take notes in order to capture the ideas and actions that come out of group discussions. These are collated and added the Sanctuary Forum Actions and Outcomes document that you can find below. This is a working document and we endeavour to keep it up to date. You can find the document here: Sanctuary Forum Actions and Outcomes