LGBT AsylumLGBT Asylum works to improve the rights and living conditions of LGBTQI+ people who are seeking or have been granted asylum in Denmark. We provide counselling, psychosocial support and a strong community network throughout the asylum and integration processes, and we work to influence asylum, integration and LGBTQI+ policy. LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and refugees are an overlooked group facing multiple layers of discrimination. Many have fled violence and persecution because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and arrive in Denmark carrying trauma from torture and humiliation. Some suffer from anxiety, depression or PTSD. Many do not feel safe being open in asylum centres, and they often feel excluded from both the Danish LGBTQI+ community and their own diaspora communities. As a result, many experience isolation, loneliness and discrimination.
Read more hereThe Red Van
The Red Van works to promote the safety, health, and dignity of sex workers. We provide practical, anonymous support to street-based sex workers in Vesterbro, who face barriers to accessing basic rights, healthcare, and social services. Our distinctive red van provides a space where street-based sex workers can receive clients and provide sexual services in safer, more hygienic, and more dignified conditions than those available on the street. The van is staffed by volunteers and open from midnight to 5 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
Visitors can expect a presentation of the van and an introduction to their work, target group and area of specialty.
Read more here SabaahSabaah is an organisation that works to improve the conditions for LGBT+ people with an ethnic minority background.
On your field visit, you will get an introduction to our work, visit our space and a talk that provides knowledge of minority ethnic LGBT+ people's difficulties in society and within the health sector and challenge the myths that surround this specific group.
Kofoeds SchoolKofoeds School is an NGO that helps 3,600 people every year who are outside the job market, socially vulnerable or in difficult situations. Kofoeds School offers work training, education and advice through social workers. At the core of our social-pedagogical work is the principle of 'Help to Self-Help'.
On your field visit to Kofoeds School you will get an introduction on the school’s history, since it started in 1928, and how our way of doing social work has evolved. The visit is arranged as a guided tour around the school, where you will see our workshops and other facilities. During the tour we will get into how Kofoeds School works with health aspects, art, community and social work in the recovery process of our students.
The Migration Health Clinic, Hvidovre HospitalWith a focus on health equity, the Migration Health Clinic (Indvandrermedicinsk Klinik) at Hvidovre Hospital provides assessment and treatment for patients from ethnic minority backgrounds with complex health problems. These patients often present with multiple, interacting conditions, where somatic, psychological, and social factors are closely intertwined, and where prior trauma, migration history, and linguistic and cultural factors create barriers to accessing healthcare.
The clinic works across disciplines and takes a holistic approach based on the bio-psycho-social model. Treatment courses are individually tailored and may involve consultations with a physician, nurse, physiotherapist, pharmacist, and social worker. Interpreters are used whenever needed. We work closely with general practitioners, relevant municipal services, and civil society organizations.
During a field visit, you will hear a presentation on the clinic's work with complex patients from ethnic minority backgrounds, and how we work to create coherent, holistic patient pathways.
Sundholm HerbergA 24-hour emergency shelter and support centre run by the City of Copenhagen for homeless adults with complex social and health challenges. The centre offers temporary housing alongside on-site nursing care, counselling, and coordination with external services, and is one of Copenhagen's primary points of contact for the city's most marginalised citizens.
Flexklinikken, Bispebjerg HospitalA pioneering clinical unit anchored in the Emergency Department, established in 2022 to address unequal access to healthcare for socially vulnerable citizens. Staffed by social nurses, GPs, a social physician, and cross-sectoral coordinators, it has been recognised as a national model for reducing health inequality in practice and has received the Danish Regions' Prize for Best Patient Experience (2023) and the Homelessness Prize (2024).
Read more here
Muhabet
Come and visit Muhabet - a unique community house and NGO for ethnic minorities with psychological health issues. Since 2003 we have provided a relaxed setting, free food, activities and counselling for ethnic minorities with mental health struggles as for example PTSD.
Muhabet is a drop-in center, offering informal interaction with other people across religious, cultural and national differences. The guests come from more than 50 countries, and we are visited by more than 250 guests yearly - in average 45-70 people every day.
Many of our guests have difficulties handling the public system and in addition to this also handling a new language and culture. Guests can get advice, life counseling and guidance from hosts and volunteers for example in dealing with letters from the authorities about housing-issues, health-issues and money-issues. We open every day at 11.30 and serve a free breakfast, and at 3 PM a nourishing meal is served. Guests, hosts and volunteers eat together.
In addition to food and counselling we also offer sports and creative activities during the week. The guests can also be active volunteers in the cafe - a safe known environment to try out their capabilities. Muhabet works with several different social economic partnerships. All meals are based on surplus food, and we get delivery from Fødevarebanken, a bakery, a supermarket and a butcher. Every Thursday evening we run a club for elderly minorities at 65+.
Section of Social Medicine, University of CopenhagenWe already know that health inequities exist. The challenge is understanding how to change them. At the Section of Social Medicine, University of Copenhagen, the Complex Interventions in Public Health research group explores how interventions create change within complex social and organisational systems. Through examples from ongoing studies, visitors will be invited to reflect on and discuss methods and dilemmas in health equity research, with a particular focus on how research can move beyond documenting inequities to intervening for health equity.
Read more here More field visits to follow.