News

You are cordially invited to:

DERMAN’s Annual General Meeting (AGM)

On Friday 5th December 2025 between 10.30 am and 2 pm

Venue: Derman/Salvation Army hoxton, Ground Floor, 66 New North Road, London N1 6TG

We warmly invite you to Derman’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Friday, 5th December 2025, from 10.30 am to 2 pm at Derman/Salvation Army-Hoxton, Ground Floor, 66 New North Road, London N1 6TG.

Join us for an insightful day starting with registration and refreshments, followed by opening speeches from Dr. Adam Forman, Joe Walker, Councillor-Deputy Cabinet Member for Strengthening Neighbourhoods, LB Hackney, and our CEO Nurullah Turan.

The official AGM business part will commence at 11.15 am.

Talk on “Universal Credit: Updates and Migration Process” by Mikail Kaya, Advice Service Manager of Derman will follow the business part.

Q&A session will provide an interactive platform for discussion.

The afternoon will be adorned with a traditional Turkish/Kurdish Folk Music Concert and lunch. The AGM concludes at 2pm.

We look forward to your presence as we continue serving our communities since 1991.
For more information or to confirm your attendance, please contact us at 0207 613 5944 or email: services@derman.org.uk.

DERMANs-Annual-General-Meeting-2025-Invitation-Programme.pdf

DERMAN CELEBRATED ITS 30TH YEAR!

30 years! 1991-2021. Starting from a small GP room 1991 with a couple of staff, providing most needed and valuable services/projects year in year out for the last 30 years for our communities.

Derman’s Annual General Meeting and 30th year celebrations was held on 12th November 2021 at St Paul’s Church (St Paul’s, West Hackney). Around 100 people, including members, professionals, staff and people from the communities, have attended.

In his annual review, Zafer Kursun, Derman’s CEO, talked about Derman’s Integrated & Holistic services’ success, with statistics, during 2020-21 financial year. He said: “despite the challenges and difficulties of the Covid-19 pandemic, we worked hard and put all the necessary measures in place quickly and effectively; adapted to the new ways of working. During 2020-21 financial year, 2,338 individuals benefited from DERMAN services. Our staff made 8,088 contacts / provided support sessions for those people.

After opening remarks by the chair of Derman, Dr Adam Forman, Deputy Mayor of Hackney Cllr Anntoinette Bramble and Dr Mark Rickets, Chair of Hackney CCG/GP; they talked about Derman’s services and the importance of organizations such as Derman and their help and support for Hackney residence/Kurdish-Turkish communities especially in these difficult times.

After opening speeches and business part of the meeting, Dr Zerrin Atakan, Consultant Psychiatrist / Derman’s Trustee gave a talk on: “The effects of Covid-19: What can we learn from it?”.

Following Dr Zerrin Atakan’s presentation the meeting continued with questions/answers, lunch and ended with Rengin Women Chorus’ mini concert.

DERMAN WON A HSJ (HEALTH SERVICE JOURNAL) VALUE AWARDS 2021

We’re thrilled to announce that DERMAN has jointly won the HSJ (Health Service Journal) awards.

HSJ is the news and insight service for all healthcare leaders working in, for, or with the NHS.

DERMAN in collaboration with the City and Hackney ICP, North East London CCG, The City and Hackney Mind, Bikur Cholim and, Homerton University Hospital FT received an Award for the Mental Health Service Redesign: – Culturally Focused IAPT for Communities by Communities.

Derman was shortlisted for the award in Mental Health Service Redesign Initiative/category. With over 20 different categories/149 teams/organisations across the UK was celebrated in Manchester at the HSJ Value Awards 2021. A celebration to recognise the projects which have driven significant improvements in the health system in the UK

The past and present all Derman staff have their contributions on this award. Getting the recognition of our 30 years of holistic, culturally specific/sensitive way of working is a great achievement for Derman and its staff. Congratulations and thank you to each one of Derman staff for all their outstanding commitment and hard work year in year out.

THE WAY WE’RE OFFERING OUR SERVICES IS CHANGING

We understand that many of our service users are worried and concerned about Coronavirus.

Please be assured that our services are still up and running. In order to support the health and wellbeing of all our staff and clients; Derman, from Monday the 23rd March, will be providing its services in different ways. These services will take place digitally and over the phone.

The health of everyone in our communities is of the highest importance to us, and we urge everyone who is experiencing symptoms to follow the NHS guidance.

Those who use DERMAN services

Our service users are at the heart of everything we do at Derman, and we are working hard to ensure that we have measures in place to continue offering you help and support.

Mental Health Services: We will offer telephone counselling/ individual support intervention or zoom (webcam) sessions where is available. If you have any questions, please contact us from 07956495427 Monday to Friday between 9.00 – 13.00 pm.

Health Advocacy Service: We’ll continue our health advocacy service at 13 different GP surgeries in Hackney as long as GP surgeries are open and running. Our health advocates will carry out the consultations with the doctor through phone mostly and follow GP surgeries instructions.

Advice Service: We will mainly offer telephone advice. If you need any help please contact us from 07921327476 Mondays between 13:30 – 16:30,
Wednesdays between 9.30 – 13.00 and Fridays between 9:30 – 13:00 pm.

VIDEO: BEAUTIFUL CURE (DERMAN)

Beautiful Cure/ Güzel Derman is a short documentary about a Turkish & Kurdish women’s handcraft group in London. The film weaves together each woman’s knitwork with their memory of moving to England. Through shared migration struggles and a passion for knitting, the women create for themselves a ‘beautiful cure’.

The documentary focuses on how refugees and migrants live, work and move in and through the city, and their own experience and perception of living in a global city like London. It was directed and produced by Nataša Cordeaux, Cheyenne Ritfeld and Ricarda Theobald in collaboration with Derman and in association with ‘London in Motion’ which is a documentary film workshop initiative created by the partnership of London International Documentary Festival and the Department of Anthropology and Sociology, School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London. If you want to find out more and watch the film, please click the link below.

VIDEO: BATTLE WITH LANGUAGE

Our health advocate/she is also a film maker, Mizgin Mujde Arslan, made this short documentary on Turkish/Kurdish people’s-second generation-difficulties/problems with the Language. Language is a key to identity, a key to freedom, recognition, even happiness or sadness. It is also an important sign of integration for immigrants. Since it has such a significant impact on lives, the film shows the Kurdish-Turkish people’s reactions to English.

If you want to find out more and watch the film, please click the link below.