About us

Big Leaf Foundation is an award-winning charity working with displaced young people aged 15-25 in Surrey. Our aim is to provide a nurturing programme of activities, projects and events that focus on combating social isolation and improving wellbeing for the young people we support. 
Image © Vicki Felgate/Big Leaf Foundation
We want to engage the young people we work with to be excited about the opportunities available to them, and to value their unique talents and abilities so that they can rediscover their potential and move forward with renewed optimism.

Both academic research and direct experience has shown that to be received with respect and kindness, to meet compassion and understanding in the early days after arrival in the UK, and to build a trusted relationship with an adult can make all the difference to the ability of separated children to find their feet and to move forward with a sense of hope and positivity for a secure future here. It’s this knowledge that drives what we do and how we do it.

Our beneficiaries
The young people we support have all been forcibly displaced from their homes, for a multitude of reasons, including war and religious or political persecution. 

The majority of young people we support arrive in the UK alone as Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC). Each has a unique story of how they came to the UK but the challenges they face once here are similar. 

Separated children arrive alone, often in shock and without language or cultural understanding. They must navigate their new lives and the long and complex asylum system and the experience can be overwhelming, confusing and incredibly difficult.

Our team
We’re a growing team of passionate individuals, determined to support and empower displaced young people to know they are more than their status, and help them find their place within the local community.

​Our team includes refugee care and migration studies experts, experienced youth workers, volunteers with lived experience of forced displacement and finance, project management, communications and fundraising specialists. The team has a combined experience of more than 20 years working with displaced people.

Meet our team