Displaced people seeking asylum in Greece face a continuous struggle against indifferent bureaucracy and a lack of the resources required to meet basic human needs. Yet these difficulties can be even harder to overcome for those with serious mental health challenges. Neither the Greek government nor the UN offer any kind of meaningful support, and the scarce help provided by other NGOs is usually on the other side of a lengthy waiting list. As someone with mental health difficulties, seeking asylum routinely involves being transferred from camp to crowded camp for being difficult or uncooperative, or being kicked out entirely and told to seek accommodation in the cities where you risk finding yourself homeless on dangerous and unfamiliar streets.

Even if you manage to obtain the basic human right of housing, through programmes such as ESTIA, it will be small relief. In a system that is one-size-fits-all, you could find yourself living with strangers in crowded or unsuitable accommodation that can be withdrawn at any time. While you may be one of those whose resilience has been built up by the adversity you have faced, you may also be dealing with the debilitating effects of severe trauma, and the extended struggle of never having a place where you can feel safe, never having the mental space to begin to reckon with your experiences and imagine a way forward. Your only option for receiving treatment could be institutionalisation, at the cost of any chance at autonomy.

Chamomile provides holistic and supportive accommodation to displaced people with mental health difficulties as the first and most crucial step towards mental wellness. Participants in the programme receive financial support with rent and bills in independent apartments in the city, which guarantees a safe and secure foundation for their lives. In addition to accommodation, the programme includes weekly psychosocial support meetings to help participants to build a plan for their present and their future, as well as weekly seminars on accommodation integration that cover the practicalities of living independently in Greece. Chamomile is entirely person-centred; the programme is built with the active involvement of each resident and in cooperation with the psychologists in partner organisations who support them. Rather than providing temporary shelter without addressing underlying issues, Chamomile is dedicated to providing participants the space and stability to build their own autonomy, their own sense of safety, and a home within themselves, for the rest of their lives.

Psychosocial support means considering a person's psychological wellbeing in the context of their physical and social environment, so as to understand how they might best be helped to cope with the challenges they face, and to develop the means to live fully and independently. Chamomile's psychosocial support meetings focus on the creation of an independent living plan, designed by participants with the help of support workers, that looks at participant's specific needs and desires and helps to map out a path, step-by-step, towards autonomy and wellbeing. Accommodation integration support also helps participants learn to navigate the bureaucracy of paying bills and taxes, and manage interactions with landlords and other parties.

Through helping participants establish relationships with their landlords, neighbours and building managers, the project aims to remove the stigma around renting to displaced people with mental health challenges, and encourage greater future inclusion of this demographic into Greek society by demonstrating a successful model of supported social integration. Although the distancing and increased alienation of the coronavirus lockdown has made it more difficult than ever, Chamomile continues to support participants as much as possible with integration, ensuring their futures on the other side of the pandemic.

The difference that this kind of supported and holistic accommodation can make to someones life is astonishing. From situations in which it can often feel like there is no way forward, some of Chamomile's existing participants have already been supported towards finding a renewed sense of self, of autonomy, and of agency in society.