Our History

“SERVING OUR COMMUNITIES SINCE 1991”

The journey started in September 1991 with a few Hackney GPs and a few staff in a small room of Lawson Practice.

Derman, a registered charity and company limited by guarantee, was set up in Hackney in 1991 by members of the Turkish, Turkish Cypriot and Kurdish communities in partnership with local GPs and the health authority. Its aim was to provide bilingual health advocacy to enable our newly arrived community members to access urgently needed health services. Formerly known as Health Advocacy and Counselling Services for Kurdish, Turkish and Turkish Cypriot Communities.

Despite the undoubted challenges ahead, there remains great potential for DERMAN to make a positive difference to life in Turkish, Kurdish, Turkish Cypriot and EU Turkish communities in the coming years.

Working collaboratively with other voluntary agencies to build consortia of alliances.

Since 1991 Derman has grown and thrived. Looking back, we are thrilled over our achievements
and feel very proud that an organisation that started in a small room in a GP surgery in 1991 has managed to develop so many valuable services for Kurdish, Turkish and Turkish Cypriot communities.

Derman now provides a range of health and well-being related services to Kurdish, Turkish, Turkish Cypriot and EU Turkish people. Each year we deal with more than 15,000 requests for help mainly in Hackney, but other London boroughs as well depending on funding/funders’ specifications.

HERE IS THE STORY OF DERMAN YEAR BY YEAR WITH KEY ACHIEVEMENTS AND CHANGES OVER THE YEARS:

SEPTEMBER 1991

Health Advocacy Services for Turkish and Kurdish speaking communities was set up in Hackney by members of the Turkish, Turkish Cypriot and Kurdish communities in partnership with local GPs and the health authority.The aim was to provide bilingual health advocacy to enable our newly arrived community members to access urgently needed health services.
Yıldız Biray and Ahmet Kocaman became the first employees of the organisation.

1992–1993

Counselling Service started. Offering a bilingual and culturally sensitive counselling to Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Hackney whose understanding and expression of emotional distress is addressed within the
context of their own cultural background.

1994-1995

Mental Health Conference The event was very successful in highlighting main mental health issues for our communities.
The Health Fairorganised to promote a healthier life style for the Turkish and
Kurdish Communities. The variety of services presented to the community, such as
healthy eating advice, breast screening, support and advice for those who wish to give up smoking, information on contraceptive methods, dental services, physical exercise.
We incorporated as a company

1996

Changed our name to Health Advocacy and Counselling Services for Turkish and Kurdish speaking communities.
We registered as a charity
New projects added.
The activities of the organisation diversified into exciting new projects including the
Healthy Hearts Project, the Sexual Health Project with Statham Grove Surgery and the Turkish/Kurdish Refugee Mental Health Adolescent Mental Health Project.

1997-1998

We began to expand our services/projects. First business and action plan developed.
Hear Our Voice Project– Video project, discussing issues of culture, identity, family
and other social relationships. A video was produced to highlight the issues affecting the mental well being of Turkish/Kurdish refugee adolescents. 50 young people had participated.
Parenting Project (pilot)– Addressed and investigated the nature and extent of the difficulties faced by Turkish/Kurdish in bringing up children in the UK.

1999-2000

Algın Saydar was appointed as the new manager/director (part-time). New services continued to be developed in response to the emerging needs of our communities.
Mental Health Support Teamwas set up.
The Welfare Rights and Benefit Service
Smoking Cessation Servicestarted to help people to give up smoking for health improvement.

2001

It is our 10th year anniversary. New name, new office, bigger organisation
(8 services, 18 staff)
New name: DERMAN for the wellbeing of the Kurdish and Turkish Communities
A full time Director

New services:

Derman Education Advocacy– Offered to Kurdish and Turkish parents, children and their schools to help them raise the educational achievement.
Derman Probation Support– Aimed to work with offenders in our communities
and those release from prison to stop them from re-offending.

2002

Derman in Haringey
Haringey Derman Bridge Project This pilot project took our expertise in making health and related services accessible and appropriate to the Kurdish, Turkish and Turkish Cypriot communities in Haringey Borough by providing bi-lingual health advocacy service.
Teenage Pregnancy project started.

2003-2004

Expanded services for a growing need. We started laying the foundations of a stronger, a more efficient and effective Derman by organising our work into teams. (Health Advocacy and Mental Health Teams)

2005-2006

Major changes in the commissioning and provision of Health Advocacy Services in Hackney.
Education Advocacy Service came to the end.
The Probation Support work also came to an end after 3 very successful years.

2006-2007

Mental Health Conferenceheld– We organised a very instructive conference to mark World Mental Health Day. The focus was on suicides amongst men in Turkish/Kurdish communities. The key message was suicide is preventable.
Voice of Men –We also introduced the brief research Derman had conducted
amongst men on the subject.

2007-2008

Derman leads the way in a number of areas. One of them is user involvement.
Our Mental Health work expanded to include Mental Health Outreach alongside Mental
Health Support. Our counselling provision proved to be an indispensable service for our communities.
Our Advocacy Services reached again phenomenal numbers. We provided service to
10,756 individuals which is culminated in 17,812 contacts in Hackney and Haringey.
Expert Patient Programmedesigned, organised and run successfully in Haringey.
This self management course specifically designed for Turkish Speaking Communities.
It aimed to give people the confidence, skills and knowledge to manage their condition
better and bemore in control of their lives.

2008-2009

We organised a Parenting Conference. The parents who attended a minimum
of 3 of our Parenting Classes were awarded with a Certificate of attendance.
The Parenting Book, as a guide at the end of the project in Turkish called Bringing up Children covering all the topics dealt with through the parenting classes, lunched.
New project – Counselling service for children and young people. We offered early interventions to Turkish, Kurdish and Cypriot children and young people and their
families in order to prevent deterioration in emotional wellbeing.
Lots of work on our infrastructure. Developed and updated our policies and procedures including employment conditions. Database system set up, IT system upgraded.
Website improved and updated.
The Parenting Service came to an end due to lack of funding.
Health Advocacy and Counselling Services came to an end in Haringey due to lack of funding.

2009-2010

First Derman Newsletter– To maximise Derman’s reputation we have published Newsletters to provide information on Derman services, seminars, awareness sessions, activities and trainings.
Derman provided a culturally specific consultancy service for L.B. Hackney’s Children & Young People’s services.
Mental Health First Aid (MHFA)– We delivered 5 training courses, which is a two-day course for people who want to know how to support someone with mental distress. The courses were provided to frontline workers across Hackney with the partnership of Shoreditch Spa.
Drugs and Alcohol work project to increase awareness and knowledge of drugs and alcohol issues among the Kurdish, Turkish and Turkish Cypriot young people aged 12-24 and their families in Hackney.
Counselling for Problem Gambling-Partnership work with GamCare started to help overcome gambling problem in Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot communities.
New Business Plandrafted
An External Evaluationof Derman was carried out. “Users express a high level of satisfaction with the service. Professionals comment that it would be impossible to give a good service to members of the Kurdish, Turkish and Turkish Cypriot communities
without support that Derman provides.”
Derman has gained a reputation for providing high quality services for Kurdish,
Turkish and Turkish Cypriot people since its foundation in 1991.
We said good bye to Algin Saydar (manager, director, CEO) as she retired and we said
hello to Nursel Tas as she became the new CEO of Derman.

2010-2011

It is our 20th year anniversary.
Derman makes a difference – Derman is one of the most established community organisation. We have deep roots in the community.
New Project – Domestic Violence Outreach and Support: We provided service to improve the lives of victims of domestic violence, forced marriage and honour based violence within the Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot communities.
We achieved Healthy Hackney Standard Award by Shoreditch Spa.

Derman faces its hardest period in its history. We are faced with double whammy.
On the one hand Cuts; on the other hand growing needs of people.
The structural reforms within the NHS will have an impact on the voluntary sector.

2011-2012

Derman has achieved the PQASSO quality mark. PQASSO (Practical Quality
Assurance System) is the leading quality standard developed for the third sector.
Achieving PQASSO level one provides a reflection of the high quality or services
offered by Derman and the ways in which the organization is managed.
Derman also received a Community Award from the Centre for Turkey Studies and Development.Derman was nominated for this award by members of the public and it is an acknowledgement of our reputation for providing high quality services since 1991 to the Turkish, Kurdish and Cypriot Turkish Communities.

2013-2019

Derman, despite the economic crisis and significant changes within the sector over the years, continued to provide the best service for Kurdish, Turkish and Turkish Cypriot communities through person centred integrated services. It means we place service users at the centre of our services and consider all the needs of the person.

We conducted Community Insight Research about: “Smoking related behaviour and attitudes in Turkish and Kurdish communities in Hackney” in partnership with the Shoreditch Trust.
We conducted a brief survey on “Impacts of Welfare Reform on the Turkish, Kurdish and Turkish Cypriot Communities Living in London” in autumn 2013
We produced a story book called “Reunion Stories” about family reunification of mental health service users attending the handcraft group funded by Big Lottery Fund-Awards for All programme.
Website: We completely renovated our website to make it simpler to navigate, more visually appealing, and more engaging.
We conducted a survey about the “Impact of language barriers on usage of the healthcare services by Kurdish/Turkish communities” funded by Healthwatch Hackney and City and Hackney Clinical commissioning Group (CCG). One of the key conclusions of this report was: “Derman’s services have proven effective in improving Turkish/Kurdish people’s quality of life” due to our continued work on breaking these language barriers among the Turkish and Kurdish communities.
The new City and Hackney Wellbeing Network is formed of eleven specialist mental health organisations together to provide a range of services and activities for adults with mental health problems. Derman started working in partnership with these organisations to provide Mental Health services in reduced capacity from February 2015. The reduction of mental health service meant redundancy for some staff members. The loss of experience and valuable Derman staff was met with great sadness and regret.
British Association for Counselling and psychotherapy (BACP) accreditation: Derman was awarded the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) accreditation. This is a significant achievement for Derman as a small charity. This demonstrates Derman’s commitment to provide the best possible high quality services to people experiencing mental distress.
Catriona Scott, Chair of Derman, retired after 9 years on the committee. “I have felt very privileged to have been part of such a successful and respected organisation. Although this will be my last report as chair of the Trustees Board I will follow the progress of the organisation with interest and I wish Derman every success in the future”.
Nurullah Turan became Derman’s Chair.
Derman has been awarded the Trusted Charity Quality Mark . Trusted Charity quality mark is part of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and is the only UK quality standard designed to help third sector organisations operate more effectively and efficiently. DERMAN was assessed against the 11 standards of effective practice in Trusted Charity, including in governance, leadership and management, managing staff and volunteers and managing money, and proved to meet all standards.
Derman also successfully became a IAPT compliant organisation. Derman’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is a partnership delivery model between Homerton IAPT, Tavistock, East London Mental HealthTrust, Mind and Bikur Cholim, which is part of the national IAPT scheme. We are now working very closely with the NHS to deliver culturally specific psychological therapies to Turkish/Kurdish speaking communities.
Achieving BACP Counselling Service accreditation status, Trusted Charity quality mark and becoming IAPT compliant organisation provide a reflection of the high quality of services offered by Derman and the ways in which the organization is managed.