Mental Health and Social Care for Asylum Seekers and Refugees

Abstract

This chapter describes the results of a study (Walters et al, 2003) which was carried out for the European Commission (European Refugee Fund) during 2002 and 2003. The aim of the project was to promote the international exchange of good practice, experience and expertise concerning interventions aimed at the psychosocial well-being of asylum seekers and refugees. The project contained two elements. One, the 'identification study', was concerned with making an inventory of practices in selected countries. Alongside this, the 'implementation study' set out to transfer promising interventions from one country to another. The following considerations motivated this project. In recent years, countries in Europe have been faced with the challenge of providing adequate health and social care for growing numbers of asylum-seekers and refugees. Despite the many problems for which the latter are 'at risk', their access to services may be impeded by a variety of factors. In addition, the help they receive may be less than optimal. Professionals often lack the training and experience necessary to recognize and deal with the specific needs of this group, while cultural and language differences may exacerbate problems of service delivery. In response to such problems, agencies all over the world have devoted considerable effort to developing expertise and 'good practices' in this area. To date, however, this has mostly been done within the borders of each country: there has been little systematic international exchange of experience. This project examined the problems of identifying good practices and facilitating their transfer between countries. We believe that the best way forward in this field, as in most others, is through an international exchange of ideas. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)