Polish man sets up Alcoholics Anonymous group in Inverness to support fellow immigrants
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A Polish man who won an immigration battle with the Home Office has set up a support group for alcoholics in his adopted Inverness home.
Kamil Luczak (36), originally from Lodz, Poland, was allowed back to the Highland capital in 2018 after being deported to Poland two years earlier.
His deportation came just a few days after seeing a friend drown after falling from Inverness’s Greig Street bridge.
He had to go back to Poland to serve a prison sentence related to an unpaid fine but was permitted to return to Scotland after an immigration tribunal ruled in his favour.
Suffering from post traumatic stress disorder in the wake of his friend’s death, he has described that period as the “worst time in his life”, but now aims to repay the support he says he received from the local community at that time by setting up an Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) group in Merkinch specifically for Polish people.
“I’ve seen too many deaths and now I want to help as many people as possible,” he said.
Interpreter and legal adviser Aldona Fryc, who works with the Polish Support Group Inverness, says there is a definite need for more mental health support services for migrants in the city, such as the AA group.
“There are many support groups in place but if you don’t speak English at a good level it’s very difficult to access them,” she said.
“There was a massive symposium on the matter in 2016 which made us hope that things would get better, but nothing has been done since and I don’t know how this will change after Brexit.”
The AA group meets every Monday at 6pm in The Room, next to the For All The Right Reasons charity shop in Grant Street.
To find out more call 07513 763811.
