GPS Community Programs

GPS for Refugees

For individuals and families beginning life in a new country, the journey is often defined by both resilience and strain. Navigating unfamiliar systems, cultural adjustments, and the weight of loss or displacement can leave people feeling isolated or overwhelmed. At the same time, these transitions hold enormous potential for growth, healing, and new beginnings.

Creating Connection, Healing, and Belonging in Times of Transition

GPS for Refugees offers a trauma-informed, peer-led model that complements your existing services. By equipping your staff and community leaders with training, curriculum, and facilitation tools, GPS helps you provide group spaces where individuals can share their stories, strengthen resilience, and build belonging.

For partner organizations, GPS is not a replacement for existing programs — it is a scalable, adaptable extension that integrates seamlessly into resettlement initiatives, health services, schools, and community centers. Together, we can ensure that people rebuilding their lives have access not just to practical resources, but also to the human connection that fuels resilience and hope.

How GPS for Refugees Helps

GPS strengthens your organization’s capacity to meet both the emotional and cultural needs of newcomers, offering practical tools for integration and healing.

Safe and Welcoming Spaces
Groups create a trusted environment where individuals can express their fears, challenges, and hopes without stigma or judgment.
Culturally Grounded Support
Sessions honor traditions, values, and languages, fostering familiarity and belonging while respecting a range of identities.
Tools for Resilience and Navigation
Participants gain practical strategies for managing stress, adapting to new environments, and navigating complex systems like healthcare, education, and employment.
Community-Building Connections Shared stories and experiences help participants form meaningful relationships, reducing isolation and building mutual support.
Support for Families Across Generations
GPS helps families adapt together, strengthening communication and resilience between parents, children, and elders during transition.
Integration With Your Services
GPS is designed to plug into existing programming, enhancing rather than duplicating the critical services you already provide.

Why Choose GPS for Refugees

Partnering with GPS means giving your community members access to care that is relational, culturally responsive, and scalable. Here’s why GPS stands apart:

Culturally Attuned from the Ground Up
Groups intentionally incorporate participants’ values and traditions, ensuring support feels authentic and relevant.
Accessible Across Community Settings
GPS fits into resettlement agencies, schools, clinics, faith-based organizations, or virtual platforms, meeting people where they are.
Proven to Reduce Isolation and Strengthen Belonging
Participants consistently report feeling more connected, supported, and confident in their ability to adapt.
Led by Trusted Community Facilitators
Groups are facilitated by peers or leaders with lived experience, creating credibility and empathy that resonate deeply.
Sustainable and Scalable
GPS equips your organization to run groups independently, with ongoing coaching and curriculum updates for long-term success.
Holistic Impact Beyond Logistics
By addressing the emotional and social side of resettlement, GPS strengthens not only individual resilience but also family stability and community cohesion.

With GPS, people rebuilding their lives don’t just find support — they find a new sense of community, belonging, and hope.

“Before the group, I felt like I was the only one who was having hard feelings around being a refugee, feeling like it’s just me having those feelings but when I heard from friends that they have the same things going on, I felt like I’m not alone.”
“The groups were a really good opportunity to express whatever I was holding inside of myself and my feelings. It’s very common to keep everything inside, but GPS groups gave us a space to express those feelings.”
“I will remember how to take care of myself and use all of the rights which I have as a human being, including the right to say no. I am aware that I am important, I am valuable, and I deserve to live the way I want to.”
“One thing I will never forget about GPS is that we would tell ourselves that we are important, that we are valuable and that we deserve to live a good life.”

Support Groups for Refugees

The GPS model is adaptable for people navigating the challenges of migration and resettlement, including:

Cultural Adjustment: Helping participants navigate new cultural norms while honoring their heritage.
Language and Connections: Providing spaces for participants to connect with others while building confidence in language skills.
Trauma Recovery Support: Offering safe spaces to process the emotional toll of displacement, war, and migration.
Family Resettlement: Supporting families as they adjust to new roles, systems, and routines in a new country.
Youth and Education Support: Helping young immigrants and refugees navigate school systems, build peer connections, and overcome challenges.