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The value of personalised support

Ubuntu Canarias · Psychosocial support

Why listening before guiding makes a difference in integration processes.

Throughout my professional career, I've listened to many people who arrive carrying a story with them. And if I've learned one thing in all this time, it's this: before telling someone what to do, you have to understand what has happened to them.

It sounds obvious. It isn't. When we set up Ubuntu Canarias, I did it with exactly this in mind: that the first gesture wouldn't be a form, but a listening ear.

Guidance isn't giving instructions

I see it constantly: people who arrive expecting to leave the appointment with a list of steps to follow. And yes, that list does come, at some point. But something else has to happen first.

That person needs to be able to tell, in their own words and at their own pace, where they've come from and what they've left behind. We shouldn't interrupt them to fill in a box. They need to feel that what they're saying matters before we tell them which papers they need.

That's not a luxury or a matter of "good manners". It's simply what makes the support that follows actually work.

What changes when you listen first

When you truly understand someone's situation — not just their file, but their story — referrals stop being generic. You know whether that person needs reassurance first and paperwork later, or the other way round. You know whether behind a question about employment there's actually a different, more urgent need they haven't dared name yet.

This is something I'm seeing confirmed right now, almost in real time. We've only just started — we're still operating tentatively, taking our first steps — but I already see it with every person who walks through the door: we don't work with "cases", we work with people, and each one arrives with their own timing. Forcing that timing, going faster than the person can go, doesn't help: it breaks trust exactly when it's needed most.

Support means holding, not just solving

There's a difference between resolving a piece of paperwork and supporting a process. The first is closed in a day. The second can take months, sometimes years, and it isn't always a straight line: there are steps forward, steps back, moments when the person simply needs to know we're still there.

That's why at Ubuntu Canarias we insist so much on follow-up. We don't want to be a one-off contact in anyone's life. We want to be the people you can call again.

If there's one thing I'd ask of anyone reading this — whether you need help or you want to offer it — it's the same thing I ask of my team every day: listen a little more before answering.

— Soraya Mohamedi Mohamed, President of Ubuntu Canarias