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Why a regular Sunday does more than tutoring alone

Young people with a trauma background more often struggle with anxiety, low mood and stress. Research shows that a safe, predictable place where you belong is one of the strongest protective factors — and that is exactly what a study day can be.

September 2026 · 7 min read

What is going on

In a large review in The Lancet, Fazel and colleagues compared more than forty studies on children and young people with a trauma background building a new life in high-income countries [1]. The picture is clear: these young people are at increased risk of post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depression. That is not only because of what they went through before arriving, but at least as much because of what comes after: uncertainty about the future, discrimination, poverty, a long period without school and a sense of not belonging. The authors call these 'post-migration stressors', and precisely those can be influenced here in the Netherlands.

School as a protective factor

The same review also names what helps. Alongside a stable family situation and support from one's own community, one factor stands out: school [1]. A sense of connectedness to school, support from teachers and contact with peers are associated with fewer symptoms and more well-being. Kia-Keating and Ellis studied this among young people with a trauma background in the United States: a stronger sense of belonging at school went together with fewer depressive symptoms and more self-confidence — regardless of how much they had been through before [2]. In other words: today's environment can make up for some of what happened then.

Resilience lives in relationships

Dutch research by Sleijpen and colleagues, a review of 26 qualitative studies, shows where young people with a trauma background themselves draw their resilience from [3]. Not from one big intervention, but from support from others, a place where they feel at home, a sense of control over their own lives, and the chance to mean something to others. The researchers describe a tension between 'power and powerlessness': young people do not want to be seen as victims but as someone who can. A place that confirms that does more than a place that only cares.

What a study day takes from this

A study day is not therapy and should not try to be. But the research points to exactly the ingredients a good study day has: a fixed rhythm, the same faces, tutors who have walked the road themselves, and the feeling that your progress is visible. That the tutoring is about maths is an advantage: you come for the test, and you get a place to belong. Nobody has to talk about the past to be welcome; the sum on the board is the topic, and the rest comes by itself or does not — and both are fine.

What does not work

The research also warns. Changing tutors, unpredictable times and groups that are too large remove precisely the factors that protect [1]. And help that is emphatically 'for vulnerable young people' can stigmatise: the young people in Sleijpen's study want to do normal things with normal people [3]. That is why we call ourselves an academy and not a care service, and why the door is also open to students without a special background. Mixed groups are not a concession but part of how it works.

What we take from this

We keep the group small and the Sunday predictable: same time, same place, same tutor. We start with breakfast, because eating together is the fastest 'belonging' there is. We do not ask about anyone's past, but we listen when it comes up, and we know when to refer to school or a GP. And we measure progress in small steps the student sees for themselves: a test passed, a chapter understood, explaining something to someone else for the first time.

References

  1. [1]Fazel, M., Reed, R. V., Panter-Brick, C. & Stein, A. (2012). Mental health of displaced and refugee children resettled in high-income countries: risk and protective factors. The Lancet, 379(9812), 266–282. doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60051-2
  2. [2]Kia-Keating, M. & Ellis, B. H. (2007). Belonging and connection to school in resettlement: young refugees, school belonging, and psychosocial adjustment. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 12(1), 29–43. doi.org/10.1177/1359104507071052
  3. [3]Sleijpen, M., Boeije, H. R., Kleber, R. J. & Mooren, T. (2016). Between power and powerlessness: a meta-ethnography of sources of resilience in young refugees. Ethnicity & Health, 21(2), 158–180. doi.org/10.1080/13557858.2015.1044946

These articles are editorial summaries of published research, written by the foundation. Talent East Academy is not a care provider and gives no medical or psychological advice. If you are worried about a young person, contact a GP or the school.