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In this episode of Shoulder to Shoulder, Cate is joined by Emma Bamber, co-lead of Cafe Laziz, a peer-led community space supporting asylum seekers and refugees in St Helens.

Café Laziz welcomes people who are socially isolated, traumatised, and living with long-term uncertainty, many of whom are survivors of war, displacement, and dangerous journeys. What they find there isn’t assessment or diagnosis, but warmth: a shared meal, routine, kindness, and people who understand.

The episode explores why peer-led mental health support works so powerfully in community settings, and how peer support happens naturally when people are given space to connect. Emma talks about food as a universal language, the importance of routine and purpose, and why kindness and consistency can stabilise lives shaped by trauma and uncertainty.

We also confront the wider context: misinformation, hostility, protests, and the dehumanisation of asylum seekers. Emma speaks with clarity and compassion about the harm this causes — and the extraordinary solidarity that can emerge in response.

At its heart, this is an episode about peer support mental health, not as a service, but as a shared human practice.

You’ll hear about:

• Building peer support through community and food
• Supporting asylum seekers living with trauma and isolation
• Why shared experience matters more than professional labels
• Peer support beyond services and systems
• Language, belonging, and mental wellbeing
• Challenging myths about refugees and asylum seekers
• Community as protection against despair
• What hope looks like when people come together

Show Notes:

Cafe Laziz links: https://linktr.ee/cafelaziz

Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

With-you consultancy: www.with-you.co.uk